November 22, 2005 - Lovers Key State Park, FL

In the last update, I mentioned that "later" I'd have pictures of our latest toy.  Then yesterday (or was it the day before?), friend John asked when "later" was!  I guess that's a hint that I really better continue with the story.  And some others to boot.  Been keeping busy, don't you know.

AARRGGHH!!  Here it is the 27th already.  Good grief, what a lazy bum I am.

Anytime I'm fishing near this little palm tree, I can hear these lizards running around (see both of them?).  Finally had the camera out with me.

A minus tide will bring out the shellers and the sandbar gets dry enough for people to party on.  No, the world isn't tilted so much these people are going to slide off.  I just forgot to think about the horizon.  Sheese!  Usually, this is a pelican roost when the tide is out, but no birds today because of the kids.

This big tree has been uprooted for some time as there are no roots small enough to still contain any sand/soil.  We were amazed at all the intricacies that lay beneath our feet.  I liked the way the roots have grown together or split apart.  Hard to tell the difference.

We were out feeding the no-see-ums, and glad to see the sunset so we could scramble back home.  We're at the south end of Lovers Key, and there are several of these large trees here.  The one Barb is hunkered down on isn't as old as the earlier one because you can still see the sand/soil in the root system.

OK.  There's the $50 canoe.  Without any thwarts, some odd angles in the gunnels, and a big wow on the forward port side.

Hard to imagine the forces that would pull one rivet out and break the other one.  I cannibalized the thwarts I needed from the other beat-up canoe that was there by grinding off the rivets with a dremel tool.  Sometimes I marvel at the advances in the world that happened before that little tool was invented.  It's one of the handiest tools I have, and now that the speed control/on-off switch is broken, I'm in real trouble.  Sort of sorry I took those thwarts, even if it was with permission of the seller.  Turns out our neighbor Ron bought the other canoe!  Of course, he only paid $20 for it, but still............

The picture of the ends of the thwarts is as much for my reference as anything.  And then as I was getting them riveted in, I heard a familiar voice behind me.  Turned out to be Bill Mast.  A great friend from waaaaaay back.  We first met in 1987 or 1988.  Neither of us are sure.  He was an employee of Weyerhaeuser and I was a consultant with them doing some work with his wife.  His folks are here in Ft. Myers.  He was out east on business, and took some time to visit family as well, and we were lucky enough to have some time with him for dinner as well as breakfast the next day.  Sure was good to see somebody from back "home" in Washington State.

The thwarts are all clamped in position so I can re-rivet them, and most of the dent is knocked out.  At least enough so she should track fairly well.  Sure was fun to be working on a boat again, even if it is aluminum.  Not my favorite material to work with.  And there's Barb thanking Bill for buying our breakfast the next morning. 

Yeah, the grins are real.  We've had some great times together.  Bill was instrumental in getting me back into the shooting sports and, along with Steve Pribnow, we've had lots of good times on the range and in some competitions.

Next day while we were driving down the nature trail to get to the place where we'd left off clearing it, we spotted this gopher tortoise in the trail.  I got out of the EZ-GO, fished around in the back to get the camera, and the tortoise started coming in our direction.  Toward us, rather than away from us.

It kept on coming, and got so close I couldn't take it's picture with the lens I had on the camera.  It didn't quite run into my boot before making a sudden right turn, and struggling through the tall grass (hissing at me in the meantime) and brush.  As I peeked down to see where it was going, I discovered it didn't want to visit me, it wanted to go home!  It's hole (nest) was in there, well hidden from casual observation.

Take my word for it, this next photo is a mama manatee and her baby.  The baby is behind its mother and getting some air; you can see its nostrils toward the upper right corner of the picture.  These "sea cows" range from 7-13' in length, weigh about a ton, and are tricky to take pictures of.  They lay just below the surface most the time, and the reflection makes picture taking a challenge; when they come up for air (about every 4-8 minutes), it's only a second before they're underwater again. They are very gentle and are vegetarians, feeding on water plants at about 60-100 lbs. a day.

Well, mama's back came up for a moment, and I got a picture of it.  Sure looks like an old log, doesn't it.  And then Barb caught me goofing off on the trail we're cleaning up.  Sure a pretty place to be, we think.

Later that day or the next, Barb caught Chris, Dave (Chris's dad), and me doing some fishing from the bridge connecting Black Island with Inner Key.  It's pretty much the main bridge to the beach.  Chris and Dave are from a state up north that I can't remember the name of.  They came fishing nearly every day for the two weeks Chris was visiting.  Apparently Dave spends the winters down here.  Then on the right Barb caught the backsides of the people she went on a bird watching walk with.  Cheryl, on the left in the dark shorts, is a volunteer naturalist with the park.  She does a bird walk; another lady, Pam, does a beach walk which Barb is scheduled for tomorrow.  These nature walks are both informative and entertaining.  What makes it even nicer is that the time spent doing that is considered "work" hours as the more we know about the park the better equipped we are to handle questions from the guests.  Ya, it's a tough life.

HA!  We're tourists again!  This time, we're on Sanibel Island.  The next barrier island north of us, more or less.  "Ding" Darling was a political cartoonist, and when the island was beginning to be developed, he (with lots of others) lobbied to keep it natural.  President Truman named the refuge after him for his successful efforts.  Barb wants to see birds and do some shelling, and I want to see some alligators and do some bike riding.  Eight miles of bike riding and we were both happy and tired, as you'll see.

I was hitting the shutter nearly as fast as I could to get this series of shots.  Not easy to get this close to a full sized alligator and not have it run back to the water.  At least the 'gators that are truly wild.  This one seemed satisfied that it was in the water enough, as it settled right down once it got to this level of immersion.

A Yellow-crowned Night Heron and a fun sign for the tortoise that we never did see.  Wonder why they call it a "night" heron.  We only see them during the day!  Of course, we're not out bird watching at night either, so that may explain it.

OK, confession time.  We rode the bikes for the eight-mile loop, and didn't stop all that often to take pictures.  Then when we got back to the car, Barb wanted to go back to get a picture of a mail box she'd spotted, and we saw these fish chairs en route.  We'll be adding a page to the site of Barb's mailboxes when we get a few more.  Already added a page for the "For Sale" stuff that we'll be updating as needed.

Anyway, after leaving the refuge for a bit, we went back to take the drive on the part of the loop we'd missed while taking the bike trail, and here's where we got some more bird shots.  Above right appears to be a Great Egret; a common size is 3'3" tall with a wingspan of  4'3".

Snowy egret in flight (yellow feet are a hint), about 24" tall.  A White Ibis follows (about 26" tall), then a Snowy Egret (also about 24") with a bit of mating plumage beginning to show, and, finally, the Anhinga (about 34" tall) drying itself after "flying" underwater to catch its meal.

One of my favorite shots that Barb took that day, a Little Blue Heron just taking off....... and then it landed again.  The black tip of its beak and slate blue coloring are the hints for identifying this bird.

The white pelicans are just beginning to arrive.  They'll hang around until about May.  And the neat thing about that shot on the left is that Barb didn't realize she'd caught a mullet in mid-jump until we got home and were looking at the pictures on the computer.  What fun!  Is this a great lifestyle or what?

It's my belief that one of Barb's favorite birds are the Ibis.  I'll admit they're fun to watch.  Pretty versatile bird--must be that beak!.

Not sure why it was walking up that tree, but it eventually disappeared in the foliage.  And another Anhinga.  From a distance it can be tricky telling the anhinga from the Crested Cormorant; they are about the same color and size.  Cormorant is more widespread geographically, and the Anhinga is pretty much a Florida bird.  The Anhinga ("snake bird" because it'll swim underwater except for its serpentine neck and head sticking up), though, has no hook in its bill.  Both birds have to climb out on something and dry off, as neither has any oil sacks like a duck or goose.

This is a common scene.  Cormorants ("water turkeys" in Texas) are groupies whereas Anhingas tend to be loners.  And a Willet looking for something to eat.

Now you see them, now you don't.  Plovers (can't tell for sure what they are) all turn at the same time, wheeling over the water in unison.  Florida ducks (look like female mallards) in the water and Cormorants on the beach.

Another Snowy Egret with its yellow feet (looks like its wearing galoshes for wading) and a head on shot of a drunk Cormorant sitting along side the road.

You can easily see the hook in its beak with the profile shot.  It's possible to pick up a drunken Cormorant and it'll be totally submissive.  I've heard they get this way from eating too much (kinda like people after a great Thanksgiving Day feast), and for several hours they're really kind of goofy.  Not sure if it's true or not, but have seen them lethargic like this on many occasions.

Then Barb went shelling while I caught a quick nap.  She wasn't too impressed with the "dirty" beach, compared to what we have at Lovers Key.

An inquisitive Plover, and more dirty beach..... with many small, common shells.  Nothing unusual.

She did manage to catch some sea slugs in their various forms.  Personally I think they have only one form.  Uggggly!

And then we visited Santaland.  Well, not quite, but the hotel was putting on a good show anyway.

Well, that's what Christmas (the secular version) looks like in Florida.  Along with one of their cute street lamps.  Captiva is the name of the island adjacent to Sanibel.  We went there, but didn't stop.  Pretty much limited beach access, and fully developed.

On the way home we got to wait for the draw bridge to let these boats through.  First time since we left Seattle we've had to wait for boats before we could continue our journey.  I was thinking about singing "Red Sails in the Sunset" to Barb, but she was busy getting this great sunset shot.  Pretty good for a snapshot from a moving car, eh?  The horizon is even straight!