Too Much $$$, Rookery Bay, 10,000 Islands, Fakahatchee Strand, & Big Cypress

After finishing a couple of really fun weeks in Sanibel, we moved down to Naples for the remainder of December.  We’ve been in Naples several times in the last 10 years or so, therefore, it is not a place we are unfamiliar with.  The question becomes: “What can you learn from a place in which you have spent a fair amount of time?”  The answer, of course, is complicated.  You can learn a great deal more from a place with which you are familiar, but it usually isn’t profound.  The same is true for us in Naples.

As a starter, we took the trolley to rediscover the lay of the land.  This place, like much of America, has had the audacity to change significantly while we were away, but some things remain the same.  Naples is a playground for the superrich and, hence, abounds with up-scale shopping areas; which has gown almost as fast as the mega-mansions.  Most towns have one or two high end shopping areas; Naples is lousy with them.  Needless to say we worshiped them from afar.  The automobile de jure is the Bentley—a nice little set of wheels running in the mid to high six figure range.  We did splurge by attending a film (Lincoln) at Silverspot, a movie theater that pretty well defies the name.  It has a restaurant, a bar, popcorn that requires a second mortgage to acquire, and wide, leather seats reminiscent of a La-Z-Boy showroom.  The price of the flick was pretty amazing, too.  Fortunately, the movie was really outstanding. 



City Dock from our luncheon restaurant





Naples Pier



Rookery Bay Reserve Natural Estuarine Research Reserve is an 110,000 acre reserve abutting the Everglades National Park on the south and the City of Naples on the north, excluding Marco Island.  The curious can learn all they care to about the estuary (the zone where fresh water and salt water collide).  Mangrove forests, birds, alligators, and too much vegetation to attempt to describe reside in this region and participates in a symbiotic dance that, when functioning properly, assures the survival of all of the fauna and flora.  We spent a productive several hours in the education center, took a hike along a trail through the grounds and signed up for kayak tour late next week.  Other than a few Black Vultures we saw no wildlife outside the education center where we did paw around in a touch tank full of fascinating critters.  Perhaps the kayak outing will yield more observations.

You've been "mooned" by a conk in the Rookery Bay touch tank

"Right Hand" & "Left Hand" shells



They grow 'skeeters big in Florida



Supplies ran low and we were forced to make a Costco run on Sunday.  Wow!  We live in a world largely devoid of shopping mania, so we were stunned to find the place crawling with thousands of people (all of the shopping centers we passed on the way over there---some 15 miles—were also totally packed).  There was grid-lock in most of the aisles and the little old ladies handing out food samples were swamped by greedy, shoving old people.  The range of language made us feel like we were trapped on the upper floors of the tower of Babel…and very little of it was English.  Since we were stocking up for our next leg of travel that will include two months in the Keys, we stocked up on staples and spent a fortune—we felt like we fit right into the massive hoards.

Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary owned and operated by the Audubon Society is another of those natural gems that foresight helped preserve.  In the dawn of the Twentieth Century, ladies' hats were the rage and those hats were bedecked with the plumes of wild birds.  Many of those birds made Florida their home.  Like a lot of things in this country that will yield a profit, profiteers set about to get rich and to decimate the bird population all in one fell swoop.  Appalled by this behavior, Audubon and others set out to right this egregious wrong.  They did it by pushing the government to pass laws forbidding the harvesting of bird plumes and then set up wardens that supervised the nesting grounds to keep the scofflaws at bay since the government couldn’t be bothered.  Later in the 1950s loggers decided to continue their relentless pursuit of old growth Bald Cypress trees in Southwest Florida.   Alarmed by the further decimation of wildlife habitat and the clear-cutting of trees in this region, the Audubon Society set about to purchase some 2,800 acres of land northeast of Naples to keep it pristine; thus we have Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary.  Thinking that Christmas Day would be a good time to have the place to ourselves, we packed a lunch and headed out for a field trip.  Two thirds of the human population of Southwest Florida thought it was a good idea.  The Sanctuary set a daily attendance record on Christmas Day.

Is that a 'gator back there?

Corkscrew Swamp

We spotted this one on the roof of a car as we
went through Macdonald's drive thru
 

While it was a pleasant outing and we enjoyed our stroll around the 2.25-mile boardwalk, there was little wildlife and lots of humankind afoot in the refuge.  We saw a few birds (and not a single Wood Stork, who have historically made this area its primary nesting area), but not much better than one can find in almost any area of standing water anywhere in the state.  Apparently global warming is contributing to the movement of Wood Stork further north into Georgia for nesting in huge numbers leaving the historic areas bereft.  There are those who claim that this no such thing as global warming, but apparently, they forgot to tell the birds.  There are also those who will allow that things are warming but that it is simply a matter of natural cycles…except that natural cycles take thousands of years, not  short decades, to accomplish much.  These folks don’t want to concede that humankind’s activities have any hand in all of this fairly rapid change because then they would have to question their economic model or change behavior.

Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge, Fakahatchee  Strand Preserve State Park, and Big Cypress National Preserve are just three set-asides along with Everglades National Park and the aforementioned Rookery Bay RNERR that strive to preserve the natural area that comprises all of South Florida.  Immortalized as the “River of Grass,” the Everglades region is an amazing area that historically supported a vast variety of wildlife quite unlike any other place in the country.  It has had its ups and downs over the years and the developers, hunters, and agriculturists almost succeeded in completely drying up the entire region and killing off the fauna that, at one time, comprised much of the southern third of the state.  Fortunately, saner folk prevailed and much of the region is being reclaimed, although it will never be like it once was.  All of the current mitigation efforts cannot undo decades of pillage, and climate change is adding to the further degradation of the “Glades.”

10,000 Islands

Bald Eagle in Fakahatchee Strand













A few 'gators in Big Cypress Preserve





 We spent a day this week exploring pieces of each of these set-asides.  A short nature trail in 10,000 Islands yielded a few shots of egrets, ibises, and wood storks.  The 22-mile gravel (pot-holed) track through the Fakahatchee Strand showed us lots of swamp land and a few birds and a couple ‘gators.  Big Cypress had lots of viewing areas for alligators, and the bird population (egrets, wood storks, herons, anhingas, ibises, bald eagles, ospreys, king fishers, and cormorants) was fairly abundant.  Like other outings here in Naples, the places we went were very crowded with the exception of the Fakahatchee Strand fairly primitive road; otherwise it was packed.  English is not the language heard most frequently on these outings.  Many varieties of European tongues are present, along with mucho Español.
 


The view outside our front window in Naples

COOLPIX

Our stay on Sanibel continues to be fun, and we have explored new places daily.  We’ve learned that the best way to get around is on a bicycle.  Parking is at a premium and traffic is always dense.  There are no stop lights and few stop signs, but motorists are alert to cyclists and pedestrians, and we always feel safe.  We may have to refer this visit as our ‘get close to nature trip.’  None of the NFL teams we follow were on TV Sunday afternoon, so that freed us for some more exploration.  We took the bikes to the Bailey Tract of the “Ding” Darling NWR.  This was land privately held and had been dammed to create a fresh water catchment for the purpose of attracting wildlife.  It was a pleasant ride, but only yielded a turtle and an alligator.  We were hoping to see more birds than we had the other day at the main facility, but it was not to be.

Monday found us off island running shopping errands to Costco, Camping World, and Publix.  Costco had a Nikon Coolpix camera on sale, one that Susan had been wanting for some time, so we decided that since ole St. Nick would probably not be bringing it to us, we would treat ourselves.  When one gets a new camera it is necessary to try the thing out; hence, we hit the aviary here at Periwinkle Trailer Park and the beach to see how well the camera worked.  The camera worked fine, but the operators need some OJT to sharpen their skills.  However, we managed to get a few pretty good shots which we will share with you.  The Periwinkle aviary contains some very exotic birds that are bred by the owner.  Two birds that we met and got to know pretty well are Piper and Peaches, Moluccan Cockatoos from Australia.  These are colored differently than the Sulfur Crested Cockatoos we were familiar with in Canberra, but just as noisy.

Still chomping at the bit, Susan talked me into taking her to a fresh water catchment operated by the City of Sanibel to control storm water.  The evening drinking crew at Periwinkle had told us about the catchment and that it usually had quite a few birds and an alligator or two.  There were no alligators that we could see, but we did see some Wood Storks, Egrets, and Anhingas.  It is amazing that this little wild place is located right in the heart of the main business section of Sanibel and few people know about it or go there.

Rain has come to Southwest Florida--an event much welcomed by the denizens of the region.  It has been drier than usual in this the dry season.  For example, November was the driest November in many moons…they only go 29 inches of rain.  Egads, Colorado would float away with that much rain in a year.  Temperatures remain in the low 80s during the day and low 60s overnight.  Some slightly cooler, but drier weather will show up  tomorrow with the passage of a frontal system…this is the same one that has dropped temperature into the teens in Texas and brought snow to Colorado and New Mexico earlier in the week.  The best thing about rain is you don’t have to shovel it.

 

Erata, Mad Hatter, "Ding" Darling, SCCF, & CROW

It is uncommon for us to make a blatant error in our blog.  We rarely do things on the fly or make stuff up as we go.  Historical and factual references are researched and are believed to be accurate when they are posted.  However, occasionally something will slip in that is dead wrong.  Frequently, readers will notice the error and will correct us, at other times we find the mistake ourselves.  In our last blog we were waxing elloquently about Sanibel and mentioned a couple of notable residents.  Oops, it was the late, great Dave Brubeck who resided on Sanibel, not Stan Getz.  We had Christmas Eve dinner at Ellington’s Jazz Club here in 2004--a club that Brubeck played at and was associated with for a number of years.  Alas, Ellington’s is temporarily closed, so we'll have to celebrate elsewhere.

From our table at Mad Hatter

At almost every longish layover we will treat ourselves to a really nice meal at a top rated restaurant.  Friday night it was at the Mad Hatter.  As many of these places are, it was kinda pricey.  Actually, the food wasn’t too bad, but the wine list was outrageous; the lowest priced wine was a lowly Pinot Grigio at $30 a bottle.  The food, we both had Grouper, was fantastic and the service was better than pretty good.  Mad Hatter is located right on the beach near Blind Pass, which separates Sanibel from Captiva.  It presents a wonderful place from which to observe a spectacular sunset with a glass of wine, free from no see-ums.

Front entrance to Mad Hatter

Earlier we mentioned the “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge and other conservation efforts on the islands.  The NWR was created by Harry Truman in 1945 and the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation was formed in the 1960s in response to Lee County (where the islands are located) approving wide-spread housing develop on the islands.  To head off this development, the SCCF began acquiring land to hold in its natural state.  The NWR comprises some 6400 acres and SCCF has more than 1300 acres of land set aside for natural protection--all on an island 12 miles long and 5 miles across at its widest point.  It is one of the things that sets Sanibel off from her brasher sisters.

We spent a couple of days this week re-exploring these natural wonders.  This time of year the bird population is relatively low, so it wasn’t as spectacular as it has been on other visits, but it was quite satisfying none-the-less.  For the first time, we visited C.R.O.W. (Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife) which, essentially, rescues injured wild birds, reptiles, and some small mammals and returns them to their natural habitat once they are healed.  CROW was also founded in the 1960s. (Who said that these were worthless times occupied by worthless people?)   There are dozens of interns and other volunteers from colleges and universities around the country as well as a staff of veterinarians that reside here.  They do remarkable work and have rapidly expanded their operations on Sanibel.  Indeed, they operate two daily pickup runs to local vets and animal control agencies throughout Ft. Myers and Lee County.

 

The weather this year has been remarkable.  It has been in the low 80s most days and dips into the high 50s overnight.  Two years ago it was much cooler and actually felt like winter.  The balmy weather has enhanced our beach wanderings and bicycle excursions.  We are thoroughly enjoying Florida this time.  We had lunch at Doc Ford’s Sanibel Rum Bar & Grille after visiting Ding Darling and picked up a new Randy Wayne White novel.  We discovered novelist White in 2004 while having lunch at Doc Ford’s.  We have since read most of his offerings.  Doc Ford is the protagonist of all of White’s novels.  The good doctor is a marine biologist who lives, fictionally, on Tarpon Bay.   We recommend his books for those who like fiction and who particularly relish books set in this part of America, as well as a pretty good yarn, too.  As Susan recently said, "Reading RWW is like sitting down and chatting with an old friend."



Black Swans at Periwinkle Trailer Park

 

Sarasota Reunion & Sanibel Stoop

When we last left you, we had just arrived in Sarasota for a week-long stay.  We’ve done this many times over the years, but this year was exceptional because my siblings and I were going to get together for the first time in 10 years.  My brother and his wife live in Sarasota, so visiting them has been fairly common as we have traversed the state, but my sister from Colorado was coming to join us for a belated Thanksgiving.  It was very nice having us all together once again.  Rochelle, my brother David’s wife, and sister Sandra whipped up a delightful Thanksgiving feast for us and we all had an opportunity to catch up in person rather than by phone or email.  Additionally, we managed to carve out some time for a water-side lunch and a tour of Casey and Siesta Keys.

Los hermanos - Thanksgiving/Birthday Dinner 

Los hermanos en Siesta Key

Sanibel Island is our home for the next two weeks.  The last time we were here Hurricane Charley had just devastated the place.  It has completely recovered and things look to be back to pre-storm normal.  Indeed, there are many new restaurants and all of the beach resorts have been repaired.  In December of 2004 there were lots of blue tarp roofs, and debris, both natural and manmade, littered every street.This year, our first order of business after setting up in our RV park was to walk the short distance to the beach and enjoy a long stroll along the Gulf of Mexico--an activity that has become a daily ritual.

A 12-mile spit of sand, shells, and silt jutting out into the Gulf of Mexico, Sanibel is world famous for its shelling. Up and down every beach are people doing the “Sanibel Stoop”--that bent over crouch that signals the finding of yet another prize. Because of geography, Sanibel is uniquely situated and shaped to scoop shells from the Gulf. Rather than lining up north/south along the coast like its more compliant barrier island cousins, Sanibel is comma-shaped and juts out into the Gulf. That unusual configuration makes it ideal for those who love shelling, and who doesn’t? We’ve been told that there are some 275 kinds of shells found in the shallow waters of Sanibel and approximately another 500 species found further out in the Gulf of Mexico, many of which wind up on the beaches here after a strong northwestern winter blow. These mollusks are an integral part of the Gulf’s life chain.

Guess who!

When asked why we like Sanibel Island so much we usually reply with banalities, but the truth is that it is hard to put into short, distinct reflections.  However, I will now try to be succinct:  Sanibel’s culture is what makes it exceptional.  Started in the 1830s as a colony established by land developers, it has become a place where the elite come to play and, occasionally, live.  For example, a former CIA Director and jazz great Dave Brubeck have made their homes here.  There is also plenty of room for regular folks like us.  We stay, not in one of the hundreds of resorts and vacation rentals, but at Periwinkle Trailer Park here on the Island.  It is far from the usual up-scale places we prefer, but it’s the only place on Sanibel to park and live in a motorhome.  One parks on the sand, but they’ve recently added cement patios to most sites, which is an improvement over what we had in 2004.  It is also a short walk to the beach and has excellent access to the myriad bike paths scattered throughout the island.  The park’s owners are wild bird breeders and have extensive aviaries in the park.  There is a fascinating array of fowl to peruse…they screech, honk, and whistle at passersby.  One pair of exotics here that we don’t see in the USA often are black swans that were common when we lived in Australia.

Real people live on Sanibel and they run bicycle shops, book stores, restaurants, and sea shell shops.  Most are understated and are not garish like one would find at Fort Myers Beach on the other end of the causeway.  There is a $6 toll to cross the bridge, so that probably keeps some folks at bay.  Sanibel dwellers are ecologically aware and have preserved a great deal of real estate to protect wildlife…the renowned J. N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge comes immediately to mind, but there are also several other organizations protecting nature’s habitat right in the midst of the head-long race to amass the almighty dollar.

Sunday was a day of rest lazing around reading the Sunday newspaper and watching NFL football on TV…we were stunned that both the Cowboys and the Broncos won their respective games; actually, we weren’t stunned that the Broncos won.

On Monday, we renewed our exploration of the islands; yes, there is more than one.  Captiva, a small, exceedingly upscale island on the northern end of Sanibel where the ultra-rich relatives of the Sanibel dwellers reside, can be accessed by a short bridge across Blind Pass or by boat only.  Since our yacht is in for repairs, we took the jeep up to Captiva for a look around and to have lunch at an award-winning restaurant we read about.  The Key Lime Bistro did not disappoint.  We had Crab Cake Benedicts for a mid-afternoon brunch accompanied by a fruity rum drink for me and a pretty good Pinot Griego for Susan.  For company, a jazz flautist kept us entertained while we dined al fresco on the bistro’s intimate patio.  Well above our heads, a sea eagle of some sort had his/her brunch of some variety of sizable fish…we think he/she enjoyed the music, too.

 

Hangin' on the beach with that jolly old elf!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two years ago when we last visited Sanibel-Captiva, we stopped off at an open house for a place that was for sale on Captiva. We don’t recall how many millions of dollars they wanted for the place, but it was more than we had in petty cash, so we passed. However, we were impressed with its size and the fact that there were two houses on the property as well as a pool and a covered boat slip. The four-car garage was under the main house. We couldn’t find that specific house again, but took a shot of a similar one for you to appreciate.

Captiva beach shack