Captiva 4/24/18

Friday 4/20/18 — Travel to Captiva

-UA742, upgraded, departed 7:48am, nice flight
-Rented Ford Edge from Hertz. Good SUV, smaller than usual, but workable for the two of us
-Stopped at Jerry’s; I forgot to pack white t-shirts. I bought two.
-Checked in to Lands End 1633
–Nice room, great view of blind pass and the gulf
–On the 6th fairway
–Cleaning staff still working
–spartan decor, but workable
-No time for lunch, went straight to the beach.
–Stayed there until after 5pm
–no more “cliff”
–clear sky, in the 80s
–got a little windy
-Lazy Flamingo for dinner, crowded, much more so than in Nov17
-Sunset at Blind Pass (watch out for the enforcement officer)
-Desert at Scoops and Slices
-Watched Lost in Space on Netflix

Saturday 4/21/18 — Kayaking, Golf, Ding Darling
-Got up to overcast skies, they cleared and we got up to 89 degrees, great day!
-Kayaked from 9:30 to 11:30.
–Went south along Roosevelt Channel, then back around the far side of Buck Key
–lots os Snowy Egrets, a Bald Eagel, lots of osprey, delighted to find a little green Herson, at tne end we saw a huge majestic Great Blue
–I had the green Old Town Loon. It has an open cockpit and a tall back. Really comfortable
-Came back for lunch.
–The osprey right out side our condo were posing beautifully for pictures in great lighting
–I used the 500mm lens. The osprey were almost too close
-We went golfing early
–Beautiful day for golf, course not crowded, but we did have to wait a couple of holes for a slower foursome
–By the end of the round we were tired
-Back to the condo to cool down
-Left for DingDarling
–Stopped at CVS first
–bar soap
–York Mint Patty… not “Yorky”
–We saw a pair of osprey in a nest; otherwise, nothing
-Drove back to Captiva and had dinner at Mucky Duck. Served right away at 5pm
-Back to condo. I took a nap and woke-up in time to see the sunset
-Watched two episodes of Lost in Space.

Sunday 4/22/18 — Kayaking, Golf, RC Otters

-clear windy day high in the 80s, clouds over Pine Island
-Kayaking delayed until 11:20.
–Someone called in sick. We had to wait for them to come back from a tour
–We started late, but everything went fine.
–Started heading South along Roosevelt Channel
–The water was deeper than the day before
–saw dolphin and lots of other wading birds
–rounded the bottom of Buck Key, the wind was heavier and the water choppier
–Kingfisher, pelicans, dolphin, Great Blue, Snowy, and Great Egret, lots of osprey (quieter)
–When we made the bend around the top of BUck Key, waters became claim again, we had the wind at our back
–We ran into the 11:30 guided tour. They were excited to see some dolphin
–We paddled in, the Yoga instructor helped us out
-We went back to the condo to cool off
-We had a 2:50pm tee time
–We just beat the two large foursomes
–much windier
–Moorhens were grazing on the golf course, but they are water fowls
-Headed back, changed, and went to the beach
-Stayed at the beach for an hour or so, listening to nice steel drum and flute music
-Showered and went for dinner at RC Otters
–They had a realy good vocalist who did two songs, then she left and the guy did Niel Young and other classics
–It wasn’t that crowed, but we did have to hurry back
-Westworld, Season 2 started
–Very violent, fell asleep before the ending

Monday 4/23/18 — Kayaking, Golf, Ding Darling, Sunset Grill

-Slightly overcast day, forecast high of 85. Winds from the South, tide coming in
-Kayaked normal time, 9:30
–Again, paddled South along Roosevelt Channel. It was tough: going against the tidal current and the wind
–Around the other side of Buck Key, it was easy paddleing.
–We saw most of the birds on the far side of buck key, including our favorite Little Blue Herons.
–Much to our delight, Carl the cormorant, greeted us on the way back, hunting for fish as we paddled
-Golf at 1:30. Noone ahead or behind. Delightful round, but a little windy
-Drove to Ding Darling for low tide. Nothing to see, again. Sorry
-Had dinner at Sunset Grill for the first time. Top-notch, nice, outdoors, facing the gulf, breezy, not hot.
-Headed back to condo, watched sunset. Cathie took a nap

Tuesday 4/24/18 — Kayaking, Ding Darling, Green Flash

-Again, the morning started overcast. It looked like it rained last night, not alot of wind
-We kayaked around Buck Key, but went clockwise, going around the North tip. The water was smooth.
–Dolphins popped up right next to us
–We saw 3 manetees at the end
–We said good bye to the staff and said we’d be back in November
-I spent 1:30 on the phone with my work, prepping for a Sprint meeting in Reston
-We went to Ding Darling, one last time.
–Yeah, The Rosatee Spoonbills were there!
–There was a whole crowd of people and many took turns looking through our 500mm lens
–We also saw our first Yellow-crowned Night Herson
–A manetee family is living near the “Indian Mounds”
-Celebrated my birthday at Green Flash
–I got calls from both Liz and Mike
-Watched episode 5 of Lost in Space
–Happy Birthday!

Wednesday 4/25/18 — Travel back home

-UA2404 12:40 to 2:44