Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Sanibel, Day Three

Days on cruise:  276

Craig, Barbara, Bob and Cathryn convened at 8:30am to travel by bike to the Bailey Tract of the Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge, a section we missed yesterday. We were hoping to catch lots of birds who might be active earlier in the day before it got so hot.

Like yesterday, we enjoyed the birds we did see, but there weren’t nearly as many in species or number as we’d hoped.

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But we did see lots of butterflies, herons, ibis, and ducks of many kinds, as well as

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more shore birds, and

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a bee on a thistle, and an

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ALLIGATOR!

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Only 40 feet offshore this 5 or 6-foot guy was holding still, hoping the nearby ducks wouldn’t notice him!

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Lots of tiny lizards, and

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some gorgeous turtles, big and small, sunning themselves.

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Stephen and Charlotte from “Jackets II” arrived at Sanibel Marina late in the morning, hopped on their bikes and joined us. Mid-afternoon the six of us rode bikes to the historic lighthouse on the beach, and the women collected shells while the men did whatever men do in the way of male bonding.

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This photo didn’t turn out great, but was a very pretty Seahorse made of sand with shells pressed into the entire surface.

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After docktails on the sundeck of Next To Me, including Charlotte’s legendary margaritas, we again had dinner at Grandma Dot’s 50 feet away from our boats. It was great to be with some of the earliest and dearest friends we’ve made on the Loop: Stephen and Charlotte, Barbara and Craig.

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