December-2 2007

December 2007
We booked our short vacation on Sanibel Island via the internet and settled on the Seaside Inn which promised to be on the beach and yet affordable. Armed with Google maps we crossed Florida in our hired Chevy Malibu and found the traffic on I-4 to be extremely heavy. We managed to arrive just before dark but very tired.
In the morning we were indeed on the beach in gorgeous weather and a long stroll revealed the sea shells and bird life for which the island is rightly famous. The wildlife tolerates human presence well and that makes photography a little easier. The camera does not yet have a telephoto but using the raw camera images at 10.1 mega pixels enables good close-up images in most cases - certainly good enough for websites! A zoom telephoto may appear next year if we are solvent...

The Inn had bicycles for the guests so we cycled everywhere by day. 8 miles on day one and 16 miles on day two. The second day took us right down to the north end of the island through the J N “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge. The bird life was amazing and much easier to spot from a bike than a car. The roseate spoonbills could be taken for flamingos in the distance as they also go pink from eating seafood. They are much smaller and the resemblance is superficial.
The mate had undertaken sufficient cycling and was glad to rest before supper. We ate out using the car and found a great fish restaurant one night and had a handmade cheeseburger with great ingredients like sun-dried tomatoes and artichokes on another.
The time passed all too quickly and then we were off to Stuart to visit Paul and Shirley. The drive round Lake Okeechobee took us through sugar cane fields on raised roads.

It reminded us of the Fens in East Anglia with black soil, trucks filled with cane and the steaming factories. Just cane not sugar beet!
The visit to Stuart was great fun. Paul is a retired ophthalmologist so the skipper and he had lots to talk about, especially with the US presidential primaries in the offing. He is an accomplished pianist and they have electronic pianos at home and on their trawler.
They were pleased we rode bicycles because they had planned their usual 13 mile bike ride in the morning with friends. This all leads to brunch at a local restaurant. So we did some more cycling and looked forward to some rest!
Christmas dinner was a very tasty duck this year while the family were spread about elsewhere. Good fun anyway. We are almost ready to sail south on New Year’s Day so A HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all. We hope to be in the Bahamas in a week or two if the weather is kind...