Scenes from the beach

Saturday February 5
Our day didn’t get off to a very good start. When Roger went out to the car after breakfast, he discovered our bikes had been stolen from the back of the car. They had been padlocked up with a heavy duty cable, and the car had been backed up against a fence, but the thieves must have bent the fence out of the way and then used bolt cutters! Fortunately, Roger had brought his old mountain bike from our first French days (the 90s), rather than his newer and more expensive road bike. My bike too was 20 years old, but still in good condition. However, Roger felt we wouldn’t get much for them on the insurance, so whilst we reported it to the hotel, Roger decided he didn’t want to bother waiting around for the police. So our mood was rather subdued as we completed our journey to Sanibel. We couldn’t get into our condo until after 3pm, so we went for a drive around Ding Darling Wildlife refuge, which takes up a good portion of the island. It was low tide, which is a good time to visit, since the birds are then feeding on the exposed mudflats. I have put a collage in the extras of some of the birds we saw here as well as later at the beach. I was particularly happy to get a decent picture of roseate spoonbills, as although I have seen them before, they’ve always been in the distance. (Top left and clockwise, Yellow crowned night heron, roseate spoonbill, tri-coloured heron, little blue heron, and a Dunlin on the beach, another first for me to photograph.
After the Refuge, we went for a very late lunch at the Sunset Grill, not far from our condo, and down the far end of the island just before the pass, which separates it from Captiva. Then we got to check in at our condo, and carry our stuff in. Once that was done, we walked to the beach, a fairly short walk, crossing a lagoon on a wooden bridge. A good day after it’s rough start!