Day 15 on Captiva

My Sunday morning began with a walk to the beach just at sunrise.  Al was already on the porch with his coffee.  Again the beach was quiet but I enjoyed the walk and took some  photographs.

 

 When I got back to the cottage I snapped some shots of the nest.  Only this chick was seen.

I saw that Pam was up and Mike had already gone to Jensen's to  pick up his brother, Fran. Pam and I joined Al upstairs and had coffee while we waited for Mike and Fran.  After we became acquainted with Fran and had more coffee with pastries, bagels, and fruit, we went outside to check on the pool and the eagle family on what was a beautiful day-warm and very sunny.  It was an enjoyable morning keeping a watch on the nest and hanging out poolside.

 

 The five of us then took a walk up the street to take a view of the bay from Margarethe and Rene's dock.  There was one white pelican, who soon flew away, along with terns, gulls, and brown pelicans sitting on the sand barge.  A fishing boat with some people was anchored near the deck.....we watched as a swimming brown pelican tried to steal a sheep head fish from one of the fisherman as she pulled in her line but the pelican lost.

 

 Some of the scenery along the way:

 

After our walk we all decided it was time to eat breakfast or lunch.   We went to the nearby Sunset Grill just beyond the Blind Pass on Sanibel Island.  Our timing was perfect as we had no wait and arrived just ahead of the lunch  crowd

 

Mike and Fran each ordered corned beef hash and two eggs. Pam ordered cakes and eggs-two buttermilk pancakes, eggs, hash browns and meat of choice. Al had his usual order of Bagel and Lox-toasted bagel served with smoked Salmon, tomato slices, capers, onions, and cream cheese.    I ordered Eggs Captiva -homemade crab cakes and poached eggs on a toasted English muffin

\ topped with hollandaise sauce which was enough for two people.  I should not have ordered so much.  The food and setting was delightful and a good breakfast was enjoyed by all.  This restaurant certainly has an island feel about it and a great view as well.

 

Mike and Pam said their farewells and then headed with Fran in tow to visit Mike and Fran's sister for dinner before driving back to Naples.  We enjoyed their visit but it was much, much too short.

 

Al and I then took a drive through Ding Darling.  I will continue in another post with more details on the rest of Day 15.

Day 14 0n Captiva

I was out to the beach early again to check for shells but found nothing but broken pieces and the birds were very few.  Where have all the birds and shells gone this February?

This is a photo of all the willets that were here last year.

 

2016

 

Our friends and neighbors from home, Mike and Pam,  arrived for a visit this morning around 11:00.  They are spending 2 months this winter in a condo in Naples about one and a half hour drive to here.  We settled in at the pool under the cabana catching up on life in Florida and other events enjoying conversation and the warm, but not sunny day. We had a lunch of sandwiches, potato salad, and ice tea at the pool while watching the eagles in the nearby nest. 

 

 

We spotted 2 chicks in the nest....up to now we had only seen one chick at a time as in the picture above and were surprised that there were actually 2.   The afternoon was a bit overcast with clouds but we took a walk over to the beach about 3:00 and found an almost deserted beach but we did spot a dolphin in the gulf.

 

 

We returned to the porch for gin n tonics and chips with salsa and more conversation.  Mike left at about 6 to meet his brother and his fishing buddies for dinner at the Timbers.  Al, Pam, and I went to Doc Ford's in Captiva for dinner.   The place was busy and we had an 18 minute wait for a booth but the service was friendly and prompt.  Al ordered a half dozen oysters on the half shell and Calamari salad -lightly battered calamari tossed with mixed Everglades greens, cucumbers, tomatoes, a sweet and sour vinaigrette dressing and topped with crispy wontons.  Pam ordered Ford’s Famous Clam Chowder-a rich, creamy chowder chock full of sea clams, sweet onions, carrots and diced potatoes and Captiva Crab Cakes-pan-fried beach-style, served with jicama cole slaw and finished with a  Key lime butter sauce.  I opted for the Chicken Taco Salad-crisp romaine lettuce tossed in avocado feta vinaigrette and topped with Jack and cheddar cheeses, Cuban black bean salsa, grilled chicken and tomato pico de gallo, surrounded by corn tortilla chips.    I liked my salad but prefer the Calamari salad which I nearly always order here.

 

We all four  arrived back at the cottage about the same time.  We spent the rest of the evening on the porch until Pam and Mike retreated to the bedroom suite downstairs. 

 

Note:   We have renamed the cottage to "Red Bucket" Cottage since we hung a red beach bucket to the post with the house number so that everyone can find the cottage more easily with this "landmark".