Island Girl

I woke up to foggy morning, so I went back to sleep. An hour later I woke up to sunshine. Organized my things and drove crosstown to Blair’s place for the day's photo adventures. It was nice not to have to pack up everything for a change.

Blair and I headed across the causeway to Sanibel Island and the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge. It's a 4 mile wildlife drive with many stops to get out and take photos, there are lots of people who ride their rental bikes around the drive - they looked hot! We were hot enough just getting in and out of the car. I saw mullet (fish) jumping out of water and decided I need to catch one in the air. Blair and I would laugh every time one jumped in a direction where I wasn't focued! I persevered and was successful. We were lucky to see roseate spoonbills - Blair set me up with his scope as my camera lens for some great photos, I was quickly spoiled by being able to get some wonderful shots of the birds that were across the water. I walked part of Indigo Trail, Blair sat in shade and enjoyed shade and breeze. Ding Darling Pix here. Our next stop was the Bailey Tract on another part of Sanibel, again I walked while Blair sat in the shade. This time I tried Blair’s close-up lens and looked for wildflowers. I saw 2 alligators, turtles, and found a variety of other things to photograph. I was hot and sunny, but the breeze reached most of the trail.
After that it was on to the beach ~ first Gulfside City Park, then Lighthouse Beach - walked barefoot in the sand and it felt like vacation. Blair spotted a dolphin in water as we walked down to beach. A few minutes later suddenly there was a huge wave at edge of shore, crazy splashing - it was dolphin chasing fish to shallow water - I managed to get some pix of the experience. It was such lucky timing -5 minutes earlier or later and we never would have known it happened. We joined the exodus of island, traffic on the few main roads seems to always be stop and go. We did a drive by of the house where Blair's parents lived on Sanibel and were able to stop and say hello to one of their former neighbors. Back in Ft Myers we had supper at Sonny’s and then back to Blair’s to get my car. It was a long and busy day - we were both ready to sit down and relax. A few more pix from my other camera.There was lots of time in sun = sunburn despite applying sunscreen several times. Oops.