Sunday: Red sky at morning...
I woke up very early on Sunday, for reasons unknown, and went for a walk. The place where we were staying was about half a mile down the road from the Boca Grande Lighthouse. I brought along my camera and got some stunning pictures of the lighthouse at sunrise:
That beautiful sky made for some great pictures, and it also meant trouble - an approaching storm that turned the skies gray and showered us with rain a few times throughout the day. The winds kicked up and made the seas a little choppy, too.
Even so, the mingling of clouds and sun made for a few more nice photos:
We were very lazy on Sunday. Late in the morning, Chelsea and Ginger went out looking for shells. Chelsea wanted to bring back some shells for each of the kids in her preschool class. They ended up with a bonanza:
In fact, they were spoiled for choice. Boca Grande is legendary for its excellent shelling grounds, and in fact most of the beachfront looked like this:
While they were searching for seashells on the shore, I took a wander up the beach toward one of the range lights. Boca Grande Pass is marked with two range lights on the island; if you're at sea and need to come through the deep part of the pass, you line up with the range lights for the right approach. The lights have been standing since 1927 and they have a great old-and-battered look about them.
The skies looked properly ominous all day... I snapped this picture right around noon:
Despite this, we decided to go out on the boat again for lunch.
We rode across Charlotte Harbor to North Captiva Island, which is only accessible by boat. As we approached the island, we saw an old icehouse, where commercial fishermen would store their catch as they went back out on the water for successive runs during a day:
Here is our trusty ride moored at the island:
When we walked into Barnacle Phil's, the dockside restaurant, we learned that the entire island had lost power the night before. Turns out they've been having problems for weeks with intermittent power failures. Fortunately for us, the lack of electricity wasn't going to get in the way of their cooking, so we sat for a nice (if dim) lunch in the dining room.
Back on the boat, the cool breezes were starting to turn downright chilly:
We stopped here and there on the way back to do a little fishing. I went up top on the tower for a look around... yup, water everywhere:
Richard cast out the bait net to pick up some bait fish:
And we got back more than we bargained for... first time out the net picked up a catfish, and then the next time, a stingray:
All good things must come to an end, and before long we had to head back to the dock. We got our ice cream again, and then packed up to hit the road. Richard and Ginger went back to Tampa, while Chels and I continued on to Siesta Key, near Sarasota, for the next part of our adventure.
Tomorrow: Bikes on the beach.
That beautiful sky made for some great pictures, and it also meant trouble - an approaching storm that turned the skies gray and showered us with rain a few times throughout the day. The winds kicked up and made the seas a little choppy, too.
Even so, the mingling of clouds and sun made for a few more nice photos:
We were very lazy on Sunday. Late in the morning, Chelsea and Ginger went out looking for shells. Chelsea wanted to bring back some shells for each of the kids in her preschool class. They ended up with a bonanza:
In fact, they were spoiled for choice. Boca Grande is legendary for its excellent shelling grounds, and in fact most of the beachfront looked like this:
While they were searching for seashells on the shore, I took a wander up the beach toward one of the range lights. Boca Grande Pass is marked with two range lights on the island; if you're at sea and need to come through the deep part of the pass, you line up with the range lights for the right approach. The lights have been standing since 1927 and they have a great old-and-battered look about them.
The skies looked properly ominous all day... I snapped this picture right around noon:
Despite this, we decided to go out on the boat again for lunch.
We rode across Charlotte Harbor to North Captiva Island, which is only accessible by boat. As we approached the island, we saw an old icehouse, where commercial fishermen would store their catch as they went back out on the water for successive runs during a day:
Here is our trusty ride moored at the island:
When we walked into Barnacle Phil's, the dockside restaurant, we learned that the entire island had lost power the night before. Turns out they've been having problems for weeks with intermittent power failures. Fortunately for us, the lack of electricity wasn't going to get in the way of their cooking, so we sat for a nice (if dim) lunch in the dining room.
Back on the boat, the cool breezes were starting to turn downright chilly:
We stopped here and there on the way back to do a little fishing. I went up top on the tower for a look around... yup, water everywhere:
Richard cast out the bait net to pick up some bait fish:
And we got back more than we bargained for... first time out the net picked up a catfish, and then the next time, a stingray:
All good things must come to an end, and before long we had to head back to the dock. We got our ice cream again, and then packed up to hit the road. Richard and Ginger went back to Tampa, while Chels and I continued on to Siesta Key, near Sarasota, for the next part of our adventure.
Tomorrow: Bikes on the beach.
