Day 18 on Captiva

Rain and more rain today!   This is the first really rainy day of our stay on the island.  Great day to spend on the porch with coffee and books.   I served a hardy breakfast of sausage, eggs, and bagels with cream cheese and grapefruit.  Al read emails and did surveys on his computer and I caught up on some blogging.
I decided to create some cards in my away from home studio set up downstairs but did not post to my blog yet.  We gathered back on the porch for drinks and leftover calamari at 4:30.

After a rainy and somewhat lazy day,  Al grilled steaks from Bailey's for dinner and I sautéed mushrooms, roasted potatoes with garlic and rosemary, and tossed a green salad.

Day 17 on Captiva

Today after coffee, we headed to Bailey Tract for an early morning walk around 9:00.  We were surprised how low the ponds were especially the ones near the entrance.  The temperature was perfect for walking and looking for birds and other wildlife.  We spotted several Blue-winged teals mostly feeding in pairs, a pair of mottled ducks, coots, moorhens, tri-colored herons, ibis, brown pelicans, ospreys, one kingbird,  and one green heron hidden in the brush. I was unable to get a good picture of the green although I tried.  There were also alligators sunning in the ponds.

Photos that we took at Bailey Tract

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had lunch at the new Doc Ford's in Sanibel directly across Bailey's on Tarpon Bay.   The place was very busy and we opted to sit at the bar and we ordered a beer and a glass of wine to start.   Al had Doc Ford’s Original Lime Panko Crusted Fish Sandwich-seared, baked and served on a fresh baked Kaiser, topped with house slaw and spicy remoulade.  I had Fried Calamari-lightly breaded, hand cut tender calamari served with our tangy cocktail sauce.  We shared our orders but the calamari was too much for us to eat so we took some home.   The new restaurant is very roomy and has 2 outdoor areas.

 

We shopped at Bailey's for groceries for a couple of dinners and arrived back to the cottage about 3:30 and sat on the porch reading until time to cook.  I am now reading Still Alice. Al prepare scallops on the grill....this is one of his specialties .... we served with green beans, sweet potatoes and hot roll.  

Day 16 on Captiva

Monday began with the sighting of a lot of birds from the porch as we enjoyed our early morning coffee.  This was the most birds we have seen at the cottage since we arrived.  There were several cardinals, red-bellied woodpeckers, doves and a gnatcatcher.  I manage to capture a few photos through the screens which I will share even though they were not that great.

Video of Cardinal:

 

We had lunch under the gazebo at the pool watching the eagles as we ate.  We enjoyed the afternoon swimming, napping and reading by the pool until it was time for drinks on the porch. I finished the book Maude and Al finished Sex, Lies, and New Money.

We walked over to the beach to watch the sunset around 6:00.  It was a beautiful sunny day and ended with a beautiful sunset.

 

 

Taking a lazy way out, I prepared a frozen dinner of P.F. Chang Orange Chicken-White meat chicken is paired with carrots, water chestnuts and edamame glazed with a spicy orange sauce and served with rice and egg rolls(also frozen).  

 

Day 15 on Captiva Continued

Continued Sunday:

This was a beautiful day in Captiva.

  After the Cullens left, we drove through Ding Darling. These are some of the photos that we took.

 

 I captured this video of a Black-crowned Night Heron feeding:

 

Spent some time at the beach  and ate dinner at our fave dive Lazy Flamingo.

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.