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Old 7 May 22, 02:04 PM  
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anji
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The ‘Suns’ Road Trip – 13 – Sanibel sunrise shelling, Tortoise rescue, nature drive

Florida 2022 – The ‘Suns’ Road Trip – 13 – Sanibel sunrise shelling, Tortoise rescue, nature reserve, dolphins and beach

One of the plus points of going on holiday in February (although it was now 28th) is that the sun also stays in bed until a reasonable hour! Last time I was up at stupid o’clock to go sunrise shelling.

I set the alarm for 6.30am and was off out about 6.50, leaving Will in bed. The beach was much closer than last time and it only took a few minutes to reach. The first thing I noticed was that there were a lot of people already there. The second thing was that they were all standing still and looking out to sea – at dolphins in the bay. They were too far away to take a proper photo of sadly.

I was so taken up with watching them that I forgot all about the sunrise and when I looked it had already appeared, almost entirely! Doh! Never mind – it was the shells and seabirds I was interested in most.

The tide was coming in. I’d not been to this part of the beach before (normally further down towards the lighthouse) and not at this tide level. I saw that there was sandbank a little way out and that a lagoon had formed a bit further down the beach, where there were lots of people and seabirds. You can see them on the horizon in this photo.


I paddled along towards them and noticed that there were a LOT of small sea urchins – both with spines and without – and little starfish. I picked up a few sea urchins (hoping they would make the journey home) and realised that really I should put my flipflops back on in case I trod on a spiny one!


I made a big effort not to pick up too many shells as I have so many at home already. There were a lot of bivalve shells which were still together, some really big.
The seabirds were feeding in the shallows and the sanderlings were avoiding getting their feet too wet. I love how fast they run.


I had such a great time on the beach but realised I should get back. On the way back (after going up the wrong beach path!) I saw a woodpecker, a red cardinal and there was an Osprey in the big pine tree outside our room! Guess who was STILL asleep when I got back about 9am?!


Will got up and into the pool for a wakeup swim.
I realised that the two starfish I’d picked up as they were stiff were actually still alive, so I went back to the beach to put them back in the sea! We got ourselves together and set out for the Lighthouse Café. If you go to Sanibel you MUST go here for breakfast.

We’d only been driving a couple of minutes when I saw something in the road up ahead and yelled ‘Tortoise!’ To be fair, it did seem to be going full pelt across the road so may have known of the danger. Will was driving and managed to steer the car over it so that the wheels went either side of the poor thing. We pulled up and looked back. It looked fine but had tucked itself away – don’t blame it!

I ran back up the road towards it. Me running is not something often seen, if ever. I flagged down 2 cars coming towards me and one in the other direction and a cyclist. I picked up the tortoise and took it across the road and popped it into the vegetation. Hopefully it is still happily there today. We had a tortoise when I was a child and he lived until he was 40+. Here it is – still in a state of shock at being lifted up. Very pretty markings and much smaller than the others we had seen.


The Lighthouse Café was busy, as expected, and they called our names after about 20 minutes. We spent this time to nose around the Parrot Nest cottages, where we stayed last time, to see how they had changed with the new owners. I relive my steps to the beach from here and my walk along it when I can’t sleep! 😊

The Lighthouse didn’t disappoint us. I had Cinnamon & Raison French Toast and Will had his usual big breakfast. Scrummy.


We tried then to go to the Lighthouse area but the car park was full, which we’d never seen before. We decided to go to the nature reserve instead and headed back towards the Island entrance road, where the poor policeman was still directing the traffic coming in!

The Ding Darling Reserve is 4 miles of drive through roads. You can get a bus round but it doesn’t stop too often and we like to stop wherever we want to. There are loads of pull-ins available.
We didn’t see any alligators this time but there was plenty more wildlife. There was an Osprey nest just by the road!
You can go round as many times as you wish to.

Tree crab.


Night herons.

From here we went to the little Periwinkle Place mall and had a browse of the shops and ice creams from Pinocchio’s.
We then drove back down to the Lighthouse and did find a parking spot. No Osprey nest this year on the lighthouse ☹
We had a walk on the beach and then went onto the fishing pier. There were 3 dolphins, which we watched for about 20 minutes. Beautiful.


We returned to the pool for a while before getting ready to go out. Dinner was at the Blue Giraffe restaurant, which we had outside on the patio. A good day!

Tomorrow – Swim at Warm Mineral Springs Park and Venice

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Old 15 May 22, 05:49 PM  
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What a great report for the day!
The pictures are amazing, particularly the scenic ones.

I so wish that on our recent trip, we had seen this area. I would more than happily have sacrificed one of our 7 Orlando days to have done this.

Those are also some incredible shells. Beautiful!
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Old 15 May 22, 11:28 PM  
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Originally Posted by cornishfrogboy View Post
What a great report for the day!
The pictures are amazing, particularly the scenic ones.

I so wish that on our recent trip, we had seen this area. I would more than happily have sacrificed one of our 7 Orlando days to have done this.

Those are also some incredible shells. Beautiful!
To me it is a 'must do'. I just love the place and getting up at dawn is one of the joys of staying there. It's called the 'Sanibel Stoop' to go along the shore picking up the shells. There's also a shell museum there. I was very thrifty on what I brought back this time as it is so easy to get over-enthusiatic! Plus the seabirds on the shore ...
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Canada/Pacific NW Road Trip 2022
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Old 9 Jan 23, 12:15 AM  
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What a great day! When I can't sleep, in my head I walk to Bean Point on Anna Maria Island! Great minds!
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Old 10 Jan 23, 12:39 PM  
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Originally Posted by littletink View Post
What a great day! When I can't sleep, in my head I walk to Bean Point on Anna Maria Island! Great minds!
Great minds indeed! I now have two paths to take myself down, having stayed at a new place!
The devastation from Hurricane Ian is just heartbreaking 💔 Hopefully the beaches will be open by 2024 and things can be rebuilt, but it will never be the same 😭
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Index to all trip reports here https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sho...3#post15913083
Seattle to San Francisco
Road Trip Florida 2017
New England Road Trip 2019
Florida Road Trip 2022
Canada/Pacific NW Road Trip 2022
Cyprus Chill week May 2023
Road Trip California & Arizona 2023
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