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Captiva for New Years — 123018

Posted on Jan 5, 2019 by in family, travel | 0 comments

Kayaking Buck Key

Sunday 12/30/18

-SW flight from Midway at 7:30am. UA flights all booked
-Limo pickup at 5pm
-Taylor taking care of cats, starting new job soon.
-flight only slightly delayed. The day before was snowy, slushy
-Delays at Hertz. Really low inventory. We were lucky to get our mini van. Thanks to Melissa
-Mike and Liane landed shortly after us. Melissa helped them get their car
-Quick stop at Starbucks
-The mini van was full of people but we stopped to get groceries  at Jerry’s anyway
-We got to Southseas. the room wasn’t ready, but they told us to go to our room anyway
-Warm weather, maybe 85. Perfectly clear
-Lands End 1666
–It looked like the previous guest had just left.
–Dirty dishes everywhere.
–Christmas tree, wrapping paper, decorations, garbage everywhere
–We cleaned out the refrigerator, put our perishables in and put the rest of our stuff in a corner and waited for the cleaning crew to come
–We went to the shoeprint pool and ate crackers
–At 5pm, there were 4 people in the condo cleaning.
–I tipped the main person and thanked her “Merci beaucoup” I heard her say seize soixante-six on the phone earlier.
-Dinner at Mucky Duck. Didn’t get served until 9pm. Really busy
–Bacon shrimp on the patio before hand

Dressing up for New Years

Mad Hatter

Monday 12/31/18 — New Years Eve: Kayak, Golf, Beach and Mad Hatter

-Kayaking at Tween water
Adventure Sea Kayak and SUP

–Melaya was our guide. 7 of us
–new boat wreck, new burned-out boat
–mangrove trail
–slight breeze, Roosevelt channel only
–out at 9am, back by 10:30am
–fun, easy paddle
-Headed to the beach by 11am
–I drove and then walked back. I really miss the bikes
–setup Liane with my mobile hot spot
–crowded beach but well staffed
-Mike and I left to go golfing
–1:40pm tee time
–warm, high 70s. very breezy
–crowded but no waiting
–Met Mom and the beach and gave her her hiking poles
–back to the condo by 3:45
-Sat around for awhile
-Got ready by 5pm, took pictures then went to Mad Hatters
-Mad Hatters
–arrived at 5:30pm, just in time
–table for 7 nicely layed out on the right edge of the dinning room, at the window
–Sunset was 5:42pm. Clear sky, nice orange colors
–6 course fixed price menu
–Champagne, 3 bottles of wine and after dinner drinks… we had lots of fun!
–excellent food. I had the fillet
–Done by 8:30
-Stopped by Captiva Provisions to get more champagne
-Watched TV, played games until midnight
-We watched CNN; Times Square rockin eve, switched to local news?!
-At midnight, we could see the fireworks show from Sanibel and Pine Island from our roof top patio
-We went to bed right afterwards; the kids stayed up until 1am
-Happy New Year!!

Dressing up for New Years

Tuesday 1/1/19

-I got up by 8:30. Most others were up by 10am
-Cathie and cleaned as best we could before the cleaning person arrived
-Clear sky, slight breeze, about mid 70s; maybe 80s by mid afternoon
-Hug out at the shoe print pool until noon
-Took Liane to the main pool for a going away lunch at the Pointe. Crowded but approachable
-Walked over to the Marina and there were several baby manatees with a couple (3?) adults.
-From there, Liane went back to the condo and drove herself to the airport for a 5:30pm flight.
-The rest of us walked over to the beach.
-We spent all afternoon at the beach, back at the condo by 5:30… just before sunset
-We rested a little, then headed out to Lazy Flamingo.
–I was crowded, we had to wait outside, but that was ok
–Ohio State Rose Bowl Game was on TV
–Disney was overfull and had to turn away people
-Liane got back ok, her flight was delayed by an hour
-We then went to Bubble Room,
–Dessert: nothing has changed. Key Lime pie still good
–Tunnel of Love pictures.
-Scoops and Slices: They were closed but still let us in
-I had a tough night. This time it was not mosquito bites

Lazy Flamingo

Bubble Room, Tunnel of Love

Wednesday 1/2/19

-I got up at 6am, slowly feeling better
-Kayaking at 8:30
-Weather: clear skies, slight breeze, low 70s
-Kayaking
–Launched at 8:45, going South along Roosevelt Channel
–calm waters, low tide, clear sky
–shallow, stayed in the channel
–Headed down to Blind Pass
–People fishing; we saw dolphin, close up!
–stopped just short of the bridge
–Turned around and heading North along the far side of Buck Key
–Turned into mangrove trail. Timothea took lots of pictures with her good camera
–Head a bald eagle
–Saw two Ibis’s
–Headed back to Tween Waters in after 3 hours!!
–We also saw: Osprey, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Great Blue Heron, Little Blue Heron, Yellow Crown Night Heron, Ibis, Pelicans
-Headed back to Condo
-Went to the pool
-Mike and I went golfing at 1:10.
–Light wind, clear sky, lots of crows
–good pace of play, we kept up with the group ahead and the group behind only waited a little for us
–Mike hit a few greens and has really improved his ball striking ability. Very cool.
-Headed back to the condo
-Met everyone at the pool until 4:15
-Ding Darling
–We got there at 4:45.
–Two great spots to see White Pelicans
–The second spot included Roseate Spoonbills and Tricolored Heron.
–Timothea got to attached her camera to my 500mm and 300mm lens
–Also saw a green heron, Snowy Egret, and Little Blues
–RIght at Sunset, the Little Blues all flew away?!
-Drove to Sanibel, had dinner at Matsaluna
–Everyone did art work.
–I had vegetables for dinner
–We learned that there was a power outage on Captiva. Power was restored just as we drove up.
-Stopped at Jerry’s to restock
-Stopped at CVS to get cold medicine.
-Great day!!!!

Sunset at Ding Darling Roseate Spoonbill Roseate Spoonbill White Pelican Little Blue

 

 

Thursday 1/3/19

-Wake up at 7am, slept better
-Clear sky, slight breeze, mid 70s
-Kayaking at 8:30
–Normal setup, but Mike on a standup paddle board
–Paddled against the wind and tide and went South along Roosevelt Channel… a little bit of work
–First birds were seen down by the Southern tip of Buck Key
–Headed North along the far side of Buck Key
–Much easier: with the wind, with the current
–We saw dolphin, White Pelicans, Yellow Crowned Night Herons, and
–6 Osprey were flying with one eagle. The eagle was flying by it self and quickly it was swarmed by Osprey
–no direct attacks
–At Northern tip, we saw an eagle hiding in the trees
–Only 2 hours on the water
-Headed back to the condo
-Had lunch at condo
-Mike and I golfed at 1:10pm
–Mike played really well!
-Everyone else went to the beach. No bike riding for Cathie
-Back by 2:45.
-Left for Ding Darling at 3:15
-Ding Darling
–Earlier than yesterday, saw the birds before sunset
–Mostly the same birds: White Pelicans, Roseatte Spoonbills, Tricolor, Redish Egret
–Timothea borrowed my 18-200mm
-Dinner a Sunset grill at 5:30; sunset at 5:43pm. Nice! Good food.
-Watched Blackhawks game, they lost in OT against Boston

 

Kayaking Buck Key Kayaking Buck Key Kayaking Buck Key Kayaking Buck Key Liz, Nora, Timothea Mangrove Trail Pelicans Green Heron

Friday 1/4/19

-I slept the best of all nights
-Woke up to fog, with some rain; pretty breezy — not quite windy
-Called kayak people: We are waiting for the fog to burn off
-Kayaked starting at 10am
–Very windy, out of the SouthEast
–We paddled with the current to the North of Buck Key
–Looped through the Mangrove Trail.
–And were swooshed back to Tween waters by high winds and tide
–Sort of amusement park ride, fun, but almost a wash out.
–Clear skys
–Mike was on a stand up paddle board
-Back to the Condo and hung out at the beach for a while
-Mike did front flips into the big waves
-He caught a 2:15pm limo to the airport and was in Charlotte roughly on time
-Cathie and I went golfing at 2:40.
–Really slow, we skipped 1 and 2 and started on the 3rd hole
–I lost a couple of balls to the wind
–Otherwise, nice last day of golfing
-Took clubs straight to the shipping place. Jammed extra stuff into the golf bag
-Wine and cheese snacks.
-Dinner at RC Otters at 7pm
-Star Wars on TV

Saturday — 1/5/19

-Clear skys, 68, windy
-Kayaked at 8:45am
–Just kayaked to the north tip of Buck Key
–We witnessed a pelican feeding frenzy.
–A school of fish was passing through and 10 brown and 4 white pelicans were dive bombing for fish
–The flew right over us, into us!
–We also saw 3 osprey, 6 cormorant and 2 dolphins
–A brown pelican caught a big fish. 4 white pelicans surrounded it and tried to make it cough up the fish
–One Osprey caught a fish, and a couple of white pelicans chased it trying to get the osprey to drop its fish
-Done by 11am, but two miles of paddling
–Said good bye to the staff

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