February 9, 2012

We made another trip to Sanibel Island today. This time, we went earlier because our main objective was to take a tram tour through the J.N. “Ding Darling” National Wildlife Refuge. We found out from our previous trips there that without a reservation the tram tours fill up quickly.

While we were waiting for our tour time, we drove to the end of Sanibel Island and onto Captiva Island which is much smaller. Boy did we see some fancy homes! Quite a few houses were for sale and we saw some new ones being constructed. The landscaping is absolutely beautiful. I cannot fathom the amount of money it takes not only to furnish these homes, but to pay for the upkeep of them—and the insurance must be really, really high.

We bought sub sandwiches for lunch in a small strip mall that had some other fast food eateries. We were able to eat in an area provided outside. I think if some of our shops in Maryland would create outside eating places like these they would be very popular.

We began our time at the refuge with the tram tour through the Wildlife Drive—a distance of 4 miles that lasted almost 2 hours. You can take your own vehicle along this drive, ride bike or even walk. We noticed people scanning signs along the way with their smartphones and they were able to receive videos or other information. This makes me want to go back and try to do it with Cordell’s iPad.

We saw an abundance of birds during our ride...

...a gopher tortoise....

...tree crabs...

...and alligators, of course.

 

I especially liked the Anhinga bird. We saw a lot of them sitting on tree branches with their wings spread out. Their feathers become completely wet upon contact with water and they lose body heat quickly. Sometimes they are called “turkey birds” because while drying their feathers their tail resembles that of a turkey when it is fanned out. They are also known as “snake birds” because their small head appears like an extension of its snakelike head when it is swimming. Others call it the piano bird because it has white feathers mixed in with the black ones on its back which resemble piano keys.

The Roseate Spoonbills are often mistaken for flamingos. But, we learned that flamingos are not native to Florida.

We got off the tram and walked back to an area that our guide told us was the way that all south Florida looked like before it was developed. They are doing a great job of preserving this area, but it is a constant struggle and the future, like the Everglades, is not certain. I like this island so much precisely because it has no high rise resorts and condos. The guide told us that no structure can be build higher than the highest tree on Sanibel Island. I hope it stays that way forever!

This refuge has many interesting things to do, including canoeing, kayaking, pontoon boating, hiking, fishing, nature and sea life cruises, sunset tours and touch tank explorations. There is a very informative nature center that has a Children’s Discovery Area with interactive exhibits and lots of items for touching.

We often check for geocache sites wherever we go and there were several listed on Sanibel Island. We chose 3 of them to search for and again we were successful by locating 3 out of 3.

Cordell found the Cache Cow tucked up in the base of a tree in parking lot of The Island Cow Restaurant.

I found the Gulf Side City Park Cache just steps off the pathway to the beach. We were approached by a group of people who were leaving the beach. They were curious and so we were able to explain the sport of geocaching to them. There was a traveling bug named "Boba Futterfly" inside that I took and now I must place it in another cache. This bug's mission is to win a travel bug race that ends in the Tampa Bay area.

I found the Cousins Cache which is an ammo box placed at the base of a tree and covered with a slab of wood. I think that Cordell purposely walks past these easy finds to give me a chance to discover them!

While walking to the Cousins Cache, we passed this mailbox that I suppose you could say has been "dedazzled". I took this photo for my granddaughters in case they might want to try doing something similar to their mailboxes.