Monday, Monday!

Monday was my day off. There were a thousand things I needed to do at home, but my restless soul needed to be outdoors. So, after dropping Sonja off at work, I ventured out to the beach. Sometimes I love the fact that on days that I have no assignment and when Sonja works, I can just meander. So, I meandered. I started from Santini Marina Plaza (where the shop my wife works at, which is called "Island Girl", is) and walked 10 plus miles round trip up to the north tip of Ft. Myers Beach to Bowditch Park.

This is not a new thing for me on a restless, bored day. I will take that journey about 3 or 4 times a month. I hate sitting inside or doing inside things. I hate living in a box. I hate TV. I dislike, no, I HATE schedules or plans. I like meandering. So I meandered. Did I say that already? So, I took off with camera in hand, wearing shorts, running shoes (with socks, YUK!), a long sleeve tee shirt, and a sweatshirt. It did not take me long to shed the sweatshirt. However, it was cool and breezy out on the beach, even though it was sunny.

As I walked the beach, I scanned the surf, wrack line, and the coastline trees and plants for anything of interest.

One of the best gifts we received at Christmas (since I have not yet got mine from Sonja, which is a new bicycle, model and make yet to be decided) was a book from my good friends Mike and Cristina Denegre, called "Florida's Living Beaches, A guide for the Curious Beachcomber". This book is full of all kinds of helpful information about the things one can find on the beach, and it certainly can clear up a lot of mysteries. I have used this book numerous times already to help identify curious objects found on the beach. It is incredible what you can find if you look with the intent to actually find things. I watch other people pass by very nice things that never are discovered, because they are not looking. So, I meandered. I looked, I took my time. It took me one hour to walk the first 1.5 miles. Should have taken me 30 minutes. That's what meandering can do for you. It slows you down but you find treasures.

So as I traveled in my slow motion way, I saw birds of all kinds enjoying the beach, Tunicates in their bright colors lazing away the day as only they can (a Tunicate is a "filter feeder" creature that just sets in the water and takes in water for its nutrition and spits it out. No legs, no fins, no mode of transport, being tossed and turned by the winds and waves). I always think these things look like brains or lumps of tar laying on the beach. Oh well, God certainly was bored at some point to churn out these creatures. I saw sea urchins, crabs, a bird eating a "brittle star", and many many more wonders!

I found a very large Jelly Fish laying on the beach that was incredible to look at. I'm not sure my picture does it justice but it was a spooky creature.

Prior to finishing off the first half of my journey I stopped off at Times Square on Ft. Myers Beach and had a quick bite to eat at Burrito A Go-Go. So after a couple of Dos Equis and a "Bye Bye Birdie" (shredded chicken, rice, black beans, lettuce, tomato, and sour cream), I continued my trek. My friend the Osprey was still on the nest and I had a wonderful time chatting with the Gopher Tortoise. There were a couple of women from Germany who were sitting right beside the tortoise and they had no clue that this large creature was even there until I stopped to snap a few shots. That's how stealth these creatures can be. What a rush it is to see animals like this. Shes a beauty!

I have not even begun to do some of the things I would like to do in my life! One of my BIG goals, as a boat Captain, is to enhance my credentials by getting my Sailing Endorsement. I want to be able to teach sailing as well as do sailing charters. So, as I sat on the high ridge at Bowditch and watched the sailing vessels glide by, I dreamed of the day that I too would be at the helm guiding those quiet, sleek machines along their way. I can almost hear the sheets snapping in the wind now.

As I headed back south to complete my adventure I continued to see and experience the wonders of our island home and could not help but whisper thanks under my breath to whomever was responsible for allowing me this opportunity to be a part of yet another South Florida Adventure!

I hope you enjoy the myriad of photos included in this post. It is just another day in paradise and I have enjoyed it tremendously.

Walking on the Beach!

My day started with me preparing to head to the Everglades with a couple of folks on a half-day tour. I put new wiper blades on the van and gassed it up before heading to the first pick-up (we pick folks up at their hotel or prearranged locations and haul them to the Everglades for an airboat ride on our half day adventure or a full day of fun and adventure on the full day tour).

I arrived at the point of pickup about 10 minutes early, which is normal for me, where I set up my iPhone to play some good music to get us in the mood for the day's journey. Today I selected James Taylor. So I waited. And I waited. I made a phone call to the phone number on the info sheet that Cristina gives me, and no one answered. So I waited again. About 25 minutes after the pickup time passed I received a call from the owner and we discussed the situation and decided to cancel. We never would have made our 10:30am airboat ride anyway. Later I found out that one of our guests had a medical issue at the last minute and they had to cancel. Although it is always nice to get advanced warning on stuff like this so that time and resources are not wasted, it certainly is understandable and it made my time seem unimportant in the scheme of things.

Since I now had some free time on my hands, seeing that 4 hours of my day had just been freed up, I headed home, switched into a pair of zip -off Columbia fishing pants (the kind that the lower legs zip off to make shorts if you so desire), of which I elected to turn into shorts, and took off, camera in hand, for a walk on the beach. You see, our home on Estero Island is right on the Gulf of Mexico, so a walk on the beach starts in my back yard.

It was a little cool but before my 4 mile hike was over I had my shirt off and was soaking in some rays. I had plenty of photo ops today. The "wrack line" was full of good stuff. For those of you who do not know the terminology of beach living, the wrack line is that line of "junk" along a beach that is where the high water mark of high tide washes up all kinds of stuff on the beach. In general its mostly natural things. However, it is also where you will find man trash. You know what I mean by "man trash". Bottles, cans, six-pack plastic thingies, and all kinds of discarded items that man (the monster) throws out in nature. Anyway, the wrack line is actually a little eco-system, full of things that attract all kinds of birds, crabs, raccoons, and other wildlife that feed on things that float in with the "junk". In addition to these visible predators, there are tons of microscopic things that feed on the junk too. So, it is really a wonderful environment teaming with life.

I completed my walk, satisfied that I had absorbed enough sun, sand, and seashells for now (its like coffee you can get enough NOW but tomorrow you will need more!). Sonja texted me and said she was headed to Subway to get lunch and so I walked across the street and joined her for tuna fish sandwiches. OK, so tuna, after seeing and smelling all the treasures in the wrack line may give you the impression that fish, especially tuna, would not be my first choice for food today, but R-O-N-G, WRONG! I actually LOVE tuna and it will take a little more than rotting tube-worms, dead and decaying sponges and coral, putrid smelling dead fish, nasty, slimy, dead horseshoe crabs, and stinky feet to keep me from eating tuna. Well, OK, maybe stinky feet would.

The afternoon was filled with two boat tours including a 3:00pm Dolphin Watch and a 5:15pm Sunset Cruise. I am including many different photos tonight. Hope there are not to many, but I had a lot of good things from my adventures today that I thought you may want to see.

All in all, dolphins treated me right today and the sunset was absolutely MARVELOUS! I love living here on this beach and feel certain that there is not anyone in the world with a better job than I have. Enjoy the photos, tell me how you like them.