Day 31 Videos at DDNWR

These are some videos that I took on the Drive at Ding Darling.  Click on the arrow to view.

 Hope you enjoy the short glimpses  of the birds feeding....sorry the quality is not the best but wanted to share anyway.  Was a beautiful morning seeing all the wonderful birds of DDWR,

Day 31 on Captiva

This morning I again went to the beach at daybreak to check out the shells at low tide. I collected just a few including some sea urchins and small  pen shells that I normally do not collect.  Found several whole cockle shells. After less than an hour on the beach, I went back and Al and I decided to head to Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge to check out birds feeding at low tide and we were not disappointed.  Hundreds of birds were feeding on both sides of the drive....so many ibis, egrets, herons, white pelicans, gulls, ducks, and other shorebirds were busy feeding. Love to watch the white pelicans swimming and feeding as a group.   We only saw one lone Roseate Spoonbill....and he flew off just as Al aimed his camera....was the one who got away.....still in search for more. There was one lonely Yellow-crowned Night Heron feeding in the flats....we do not see them away from the shore line often.  Another rare sight was a Black-Crowned Night Heron in flight who flew over us at the cross dike. Another one was roosting or nesting? in a nearby tree.  There was also heavy traffic of bird watchers.  Guess everyone comes out for low tide.



Brown Pelican



White Pelican

Pied-billed Grebes

White Pelicans

Willet

 For lunch, I fixed homemade chicken salad that I served to Al in a sandwich with ciabatta bread and I served mine stuffed in a tomato. Yummy...love homemade chicken salad.

We spent another quiet afternoon on the beach. It is surprising that we were about the only ones here enjoying the beautiful weather and tropical breezes.

Tonight I prepared a light dinner of Sauteed Shrimp in a wine and lemon sauce. I served with roasted asparagus, fried corn confetti, and sliced tomatoes. I was tired tonight after a full day and fell asleep watching TV.  I think Al did too but how would I know??

Day 30 on Captiva

After the high wind and waves yesterday and low tide early today, I knew this had to be a great day to look for shells and it was!  I was on the beach by daybreak bundled up as it was on the cool side and still a bit windy. To name a few of the shells, I found olives, angel wings, whelks, figs, fighting conchs, a star fish, tulips, murex, augers, and of course the beautiful calico scallops in many colors. My favorite find was a large whole sunray clam shell. I spent about 2 hours picking up shells always looking for the convetted junonia which I have only found once.

Al was busy on the porch catching up after a day of being without internet connection.  After lunch of soup and sandwiches,  we spent time on the beach.  It had warmed up to low 80's and the wind had calmed down to a nice tropical breeze.  It was exciting to see a flock of Black Skimmers with a couple of Royal Terns on the beach.  Usually to see the Black Skimmers in numbers, we have to go to Bunche Beach in Ft. Myers.  They worked their way down the shore until they were out of sight.

Closeup of   Black Skimmers



Was a beautiful afternoon on the beach and we were almost the only ones here.....a very quiet day.

Tonight I made a baked Chicken Tetrazzini with leftover chicken and mushrooms....I added Parmesan cheese and  stuffed green olives for extra flavor, color, and texture.  Served with green salads and wine.

Day 29 on Captiva

It is early here on Captiva on Sunday morning, 7:00 AM to be exact as I write.  I was up early to head out to the beach after a night of high winds to collect shells at low tide.  But just as I opened the screen to exit the porch, it began to  rain in downpours and is still going strong 30 minutes later.  So here I sit with my coffee in hand  writing on my diary.   For those who are following our adventures on this tropical paradise, I apologize for not posting for the last week but my sister, Cecilia, has been here from Tennessee and what a great week we had....no time for computers when we are together!  This is the first time in several years that we have been together for more than a couple days and it was wonderful just being with each other for a whole week. At times this week, I am sure Al has felt left out of our chatter and girl stuff.  But we three spent most of our time laughing and just enjoying being together.  A happy week for all!

I plan to back track and catch up on posting entries for the missing days.  Check back for earlier events.
Continued:
After spending time posting on the diary, the rain finally stopped and we went to the Farmer's Market. It was very windy and the merchants were holding their tents to keep them from blowing away.  Despite the heavy rain earlier, all the merchants were set up for business.  We purchased fresh ciabatta bread, tomatoes (can't get enough of these fresh ones), and a bouquet.
We stopped at Sanibel Cafe for brunch - shrimp quiche for me and French Toast for Al. Great as always even with a 20 minute wait for a table.  The rest of our day was spent inside because the wind has reached about 30 mph....I checked out on the beach and the waves were even too strong for the surfers but one guy was doing sail surfing. The beach was empty.

 The internet connection was knocked out for the rest of the day.....Al was lost but he had his Blackberry to check for email and send messages.  I worked offline to do some picture editing and writing for this blog.

For dinner,  Al roasted a chicken with lemons and onions and I made roasted asparagus and buttered noodles with ciabatta bread.  He makes the bestest chicken! And the best part is we have leftovers for tomorrow.  We enjoyed our evening inside watching some TV and falling asleep on the couch.

Day 28 on Captiva

Up by 5. Out by 6. Airport by 7:15.  That was our mantra on Saturday morning as we prepared to go to the airport for Cecilia's 8:30 flight back to Knoxville. It was dark when we left but the sun was rising as we crossed over the causeway into Ft. Myers.

It was very foggy as we arrived at the airport but that was burned off by the time Cecilia's flight took off on time.  I wished her a safe trip home but hated to see her leave so soon. We stopped at Publix's Grocery Store on the way back to Captiva to  buy groceries for dinner.  It was a cloudy afternoon so we stayed in the rest of the day missing Cecilia.  For dinner,  we began with some fresh sushi and Al pan seared a ribeye steak and I made whipped potatoes and salad with rolls.

Day 27 on Captiva

Today was a restful day.....we spent the morning with coffee on the porch and working out the use of chatting using Gmail.  I made a late breakfast of leftover pasta with eggs ( an Italian recipe), bacon, fresh fruit bowl, biscuits and juice which we enjoyed on the porch. Spent most of the afternoon on the beach reading and relaxing.

The path to the beach across the street.

At the end of the beach path.

 Tomorrow, Cecilia flies home and it has been too short a visit. For her last night, we decided to take her to The Lazy Flamingo for a fun casual dinner. The place was busy so we sat at the bar which is really the best spot to

sit.  Cecilia tried the Fried Grouper same as the sandwich, just a little more grouper and no bun. Al had fried shrimp with fries. I enjoyed the peel  n eat shrimp, a bit messy but so good.

After eating,we drove up to end of Captiva to show Cecilia some of the island that she had not seen. We made it an early to bed night since we have an early wake up tomorrow.

Day 26 on Captiva

Today we went to the 75th Annual Sanibel Shell Fair and Craft Show which is a juried show, both scientific and artistic divisions, with participants from all over the country. The displays offer an education in shell identification and an appreciation for the artistry of shell arrangements. This is held  on the grounds and inside The Community House on Sanibel Island. One room holds scientific exhibits and another holds craft exhibits. Below are some of my favorite crafts made with shells on exhibit.

We enjoyed the fair seeing all the wonderful exhibits and crafts.  We also met Christine Lemmon, an author who lives here on the island.  We purchased another one of her books, "Sand in My Eyes", which she kindly autographed for us.


Cecilia and Al at the Shell Fair.

 We then stopped at Sanibel Cafe for lunch.  Cecilia had the shrimp quiche, Al ate the Reuben sandwich, and I had the shrimp salad. This restaurant has shell exhibits in all the tables as shown below.
 
We then shopped at the Tahitian Gardens where I bought gifts for Jacob and Hannah's birthdays...knit shirts from Life is Good shop.

We headed back home and spent some time at the beach. Dinner tonight was at The Mad Hatter, one of our favorite restaurants on Sanibel/Captiva where we enjoyed the sunset as we dined. We started by sharing an appetizer of Truffled Oysters that were roasted with truffles, garlic ,lemon, and thyme beurre blanc.  Cecilia and I had Spiced Watermelon Salad, fresh watermelon tossed with roasted pine nuts, cayenne pepper, fresh mint and feta cheese served atop organic baby arugula . Al had the Mad House Salad, mixed organic baby greens, sliced pear & candied walnuts tossed with the house shallot & red wine vinaigrette, garnished with raspberry coulis & crowned with tempura Gorgonzola. For entrees, Cecilia and I had the crab cake dinner with spicy remoulade and yucca fries.  Al dined on Dayboat Scallops pan seared  and panko and black truffled crusted,carmelized beurre blanc with yukon mashed potatoes. We finished our great dinner by sharing a dessert of Menagie Trios, a combination of creme brulee, death by chocolate, and ice cream with raspberry sauce. What a great dinner and day we had!