Sight and Sounds Sixty-Three

So we are home. Just over 1500 miles clocked up on our road trip. It didn't seem too bad at all. We left Sanibel on Monday morning about 7:30. We drove up I-75 then cut through on Hwy 301 at Ocala. This was the route the Navigator on my phone said to go and it was pretty good. We made it to Jekyll Island by 2:30 and we made two stops. It was very smoky along the Georgia/Florida border due ti all the brush fires. The temperature was a blistering 104 degrees. once at the resort we checked in and relaxed for a while by the pool. We ate dinner at the Crane restaurant which was wonderful. A juicy fillet cooked to perfection hot the spot. We took a couple of pics of the sunset through the smoke and after Dusti got some ice cream it was bedtime. We hit the road again this morning about 8:30 and we were home just about 12. It was a great holiday with fun memories. It's back to work tomorrow and my routine has to switch back from lazy days drinking beer on the beach to work!

Parting shots of Sanibel.

The sunset last night.

Sights and Sounds Sixty-One

So our week is drawing to a close. I must admit i have really enjoyed doing absolutely nothing for the last several days. I was truly capable of switching off and not really thinking about anything other than if the tide was coming in or not or if i had packed enough beer in my cooler. We have two more days here in Sanibel. I think Dusti is getting a little restless. She is currently working on a shell/art project of whichI am sure she will be blogging about later today.

So today's post is dedicated to some of the friends we made here on Sanibel Island.

This is Isabel and Ivan. Two friendly Ibises who wandered in front of us just about everyday.

This is Eddie the one legged Egret. We felt quite sorry for this guy. He hopped along in hopes of catching fish and wasn't so elegant until he took off in flight and then he was just as majestic as the other birds.

This is another Ibis which i named Imogen. This bird allowed me to get very close while she hunted for fish. Fortunately, i had my Canon at my side and was able to get a nice shot of her in action. Too bad i chopped off her tail but it's still one of my favourite pics from this trip.

Perhaps the most most beautiful of our friend was this guy. He's a Snow Egret we named Sammy. He was simply beautiful. I think this is my favourite pic.

Finally, last night we had an unexpected visitor. He just walked out from the mangrove tress right next to our bbq grill. He was a baby perhaps a two feet long.
This is Gus the gator. Upon sighting this dude I was obligated to run inside the condo and shout "GATOR COUNTRY" to Dusti (see Dusti's blog for full explanation).

Hopefully in our final two days we will meet a couple more of the local inhabitants. Not sure I want to meet Gus's parents much though!

Sights and Sounds Sixty

The first half of day three on Sanibel was spent checking out some of the shops. There isn't a whole lot which i was pretty happy about. There was a couple of pretty cool art shops though. We also had to go back to Jerry's Grocery store to buy some more supplies which included lots of water. The island water tastes pretty bad and makes tea and coffee taste a little odd too. After a lunch of fried chicken we headed back out on to the beach for while. I sipped on a few ice cold ciders and watched the pelicans and seagulls diving into the sea for fish. Dusti only lasted about 45 minutes before heading back inside. She was a worried about getting too burned as she got a little too much sun the day before.

In the evening we booked a trip on the Tarpon Bay Explorers sunset cruise. It was a 1.5 hour trip of viewing wildlife and was very educational. The entire bay is no deeper than 5 feet and is basically the ecosystems nurturing ground for all the young wildlife from fish to dolphins to birds they are learn their trade in this shallow water before going out into the Gulf of Mexico. The bay is surrounded by Mangrove trees which are the only trees in the world that can grow in salt water. We saw a turtle, a couple of Manatees and countless number of birds. The sunset cruise is apparently the best one as all the birds return to the rooks for evening. It was quite a site watching them all fly back. The guide pointed out how the young pelicans were still learning how to land on the trees as they weren't as experienced at navigating through the strong breeze as the grown up pelicans were. All in all it was a fun although i was a little disappointed not to see any Dolphins.

Sights and Sounds Fifty-Nine

So this is the view from our condo.

Pretty decent huh?

This is the view i had for most of the afternoon.

Again, not too shabby eh?

Here are lots of shells.

Those pics were taken with our little waterproof Olympus. The next shots were taken with my Canon on the beach this evening as we went on our leisurely stroll.

The mission today was to do as little as possible. I'd say mission accomplished.

Sights and Sounds Fifty-Eight

So i know you all can't wait for the next episode of our holiday. So here you go. Dusti graduated yesterday but due to the dodgy outfit she had to wear she would not allow any photos. She claimed she looked like an elephant. Her robe was grey and blue and she had a big hat. I thought she looked fine but what can you do.
Following that debacle we ate then went for a walk on South Beach's Ocean Drive at dusk to take some pics of the beach and the art deco hotels. We saw a cool rainbow over the ocean!

Overall we were pretty impressed with Miami Beach. It was a little nutty for us but the people were nice the beach was pristine and we enjoyed ourselves but we were ready to hit the road and get to the Gulf coast and Sanibel Island.

We took I-75 along Alligator Alley. Dusti swears she saw several gators but i cannot verify this claim. The trip wasn't bad at all. We found ourselves on the Gulf coast side of Florida by 1:30 and actually in Sanibel by 2-ish. The drive over the causeway onto the island was amazing. The view was awesome clear blue water and sunshine...we definitely felt like we had finally found our holiday paradise. We checked in and hit the local grocery store to stock up on supplies. We then headed out to beach for a couple of hours. The beach was beautiful. No one within 50 feet of us and gentle waves of turquoise water lapping up in front of us. I had a couple of Strongbows/Becks Lager (Snake Bites)and waded in the warm Gulf of Mexico. It was so peaceful after the chaos of Miami and we get to enjoy seven days of it.

We grilled steaks and bell peppers and also had corn and baked potatoes for dinner. It was majestic.

We will keep you posted.

Sights And Sounds Fifty-Seven

So it's about time that I updated the blog and what better time to time do it than while on holiday. I am sitting in the lobby of the Essex House Hotel in South Beach, Miami. The art deco hotel is pretty cool and the chill music playing throughout the nice air conditioned reception area can make you forget how hot it is outside. It actually hasn't been too hot since we got here but i have a feeling today is going to be a scorcher. Anyways....to catch you up. Dusti and I decided to get a head start and left on Thursday evening after work. We managed to get as far as Brunswick Ga. This was a very wise idea as the next day we left at 7:30 and were in Miami before 2 and that included a stop in Daytona for some Cracker Barrel breakfast. FYI-There is a Cracker Barrel at just about every exit on I-95 in Florida.
So on Friday afternoon having checked in we walked one block to the beach just to check it out. I was pretty impressed on how clean the beach was. In fact it was spotless. It was also beautiful. The water was that lovely aqua color you see in all the postcards. I was pleasantly surprised as didn't realize it was going to be clear like it is in Mexico and the Caribbean.
Having briefly checked out the beach i was in diehard need of a cold beverage of the alcohol variety. We bellied up to the bar of the Clevelander which is the Essex House sister hotel but as we could clearly see and were told is also the party hotel. It was Jersey Shore meets Las Vegas meets Myrtle Beach with an overall international flavor.
People were very friendly. A young chap from Colombia named Andres insisted on us doing Patron shots with him. I despise Tequila but he convinced me to do it and it actually went down okay mind you it was extra chilled. Drinks at the bar were very expensive and i couldn't get my head around how people afford to party like these people were. Apparently Andres had been there all day and had rung up a $300 bar tab already. The bartender told me he usually spend about $600 to $1,000 when she is working. I saw Andres running around flirting with large groups of girls buying them bottles of Champagne. He was quite the dude at the party. 4 Coronas later it was nap time.

Cheers to Andres.

I woke up about 8 and decided to head back out to take some photos. Dusti stayed in bed and slept through the whole night until morning. I wondered around had a couple of $14 Jack and cokes and took some pics.

Saturday morning i was a little worse for wear but manged to get up and we got some breakfast on Ocean Drive at a little coffee shop called Cafe News. After eating we headed out to Key Biscayne. The drive was awesome. The views of the downtown Miami were really cool and the water everywhere looked so inviting. We hung out on the beach at Crandon Park for about an hour. It was very peaceful. There was a kids beach soccer tournament going on. We heard very little English and one of the teams were decked out in Brazilian national jerseys. These little kids were very good too.
Then we drove to the Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park and visited a really old lighthouse. The water around this area was crystal clear and i could see the fish swimming around. The park ranger at the lighthouse told us we should visit Vizcaya Museums and Gardens so we did just that. It was pretty cool. The house was built in 1914 by John Deering and was decorated with the influences that he had seen all around the world. We weren't allowed to take pics inside but i took some of the gardens.

We drove back to the hotel and went for a swim in the ocean. It was lovely.

Finally, the last thing we did on Saturday was walk up to Espaniola Way to an Italian restaurant that had been recommended to us. The place was hilarious. Everyone was singing and shouting in Italian. There was one bloke who tried to charm all the women into coming into the place. The food was okay but the atmosphere was awesome.

On our walk back to the hotel we went up to Lincoln Lane which was really buzzing with people in bars and shops. There was a Hooka bar where a bunch of people were eating/drinking and smoking Hookas. We also walked into the Ritz Carlton just for kicks. It was pretty amazing. You could smell the money and in my case see it as i found a AMEX Platinum card on the floor. Being the honest man i am i turned it in!

So as i sit here i am preparing for the next event of the weekend...Dusti's graduation. We are heading up to Sunrise and Nova SE University this afternoon for the ceremony. Stay tuned for pics.

Sights and Sounds Fifty-Six

This is interesting. This guy lives a few miles outside Charleston. I think he may have been hitting the moonshine a little too often!
Great documentary short though. I wish i'd thought of it.