First Couple of Days

First Full Day at the Beach

Well, after a tiring ride on Saturday we finally reached Ft. Myers Beach where we will be for the next four weeks. After not having been here in two years, I forget how beautiful this place is.

The weather today was pure sunshine with a high temp of about 80. The water temp is 77 and very inviting. I took almost 100 pictures just this morning sitting drinking my coffee. About three came out well, but I am learning!! Background with these wonderful water birds is everything.

The place where we stay is at the north end of the island and sits on the canal where all the water birds are each morning. About two hundred yards on the other side of the road is the beach for swimming!

We have no wifi except at the local library so I will update when I can and hopefully get some of my bird pictures up as well. I have some good brown pelican and great grey heron pictures but most of the night heron and egrets suffered from poor background and lighting. The great greys and the pelicans seem to pose for you.

I picked up my first shells as well at low tide this afternoon – pretty small but what I would expect. The birds on the beach were phenomenal though – there were hundreds of terns, gulls and brown pelicans all feeding on the fish caught in the low tidal pool between the sandbar and the shore. What a racket!! will definitely take my camera with me for my walk tomorrow. It is about ¾ of a mile down the beach to a nice park where you can watch the boats go in and out and view Sanibel across the divide. I really think the shelling is as good here in Ft. Myers Beach as it is on Sanibel and the beaches are nicer for swimming.

Well, I guess I can still get sunburned! I forgot to put suntan lotion on my legs and am paying the price!! But it’s December and Rochester is buried in snow!! The weather here is again gorgeous – blue blue skies and nice breezes – perfect weather.

Again I took more bird pictures this morning. I am indeed a camera geek now. There were quite a few ibis which I hadn’t seen in our two previous years (in the canal – I had seen them elsewhere). At one point there were four different species of water birds sitting on the boat lift across the canal – Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Little Blue Heron and Ibis. There was also an anhinga sitting nearby! I did manage to get a couple of decent pictures of all of the above. I know where the sun and background is best now from looking at the pictures from yesterday. I barely get any reading done, I am so busy taking pictures in the morning with my coffee!!

I walked down the beach (where I got my burn) and picked up shells as usual and a really pretty starfish. There were quite a few starfish which I hadn’t seen on this beach before either. There are also a number of very colorful sponges littering the beach as well. It has been low tide during the middle part of the day which probably accounts for the hundreds of sea birds on the sand bar – I don’t think I have ever seen so many pelicans sitting on the water before.

Well a cold front is coming through tomorrow and (oh my gosh), the high will only be 74 instead of the usual 80. Of course wonderful sleeping temps at night as it cools down at sunset.


This is my favorite bird down here in Florida - the brown pelican. This one is just beginning to get his mating plummage and his head will be bright gold in another monthl.



This is the view down the canal from where I sit and drink my coffee.




This is the Great Blue Heron that visits me each morning. He practically poses for me just feet away from where I sit.