Cast away on a desert island!

Thursday
....well almost! We had a great trip today, taking a boat trip from Captiva Island, which is north of Sanibel and linked by a bridge, to Cayo Costa, further north in the chain of barrier islands, and only accessible by boat. Whilst there are a few houses at one end of the island, most of the island is taken up by the State Park, and is unspoiled and undeveloped, and gives you a slight glimpse into Florida as it was, before it was developed. The beaches - about 9 miles of them - are beautiful - lots of shells, just like Sanibel, and lots of birds - we particularly enjoyed watching the brown pelicans and least terns diving into the water for their lunch. There's no food on the island, so we took a simple picnic and had it on the beach, in between beachcombing, bird watching and swimming. The water was wonderful  - so calm as you can see in my blip - and so refreshing. We had about four hours on the island then it was time to head back to the boat. On the boat, one of the crew filled us in on the history of the islands and looked out for dolphins, of which we saw several. When we got back to the marina on Captiva, we got a glimpse of a manatee, just occasionally coming to the surface to breathe. We strolled across the road to a coffee shop/ice cream place and bought an ice cream, then went for a stroll on the beach, before returning to Sanibel.

One year ago: Valea Viilor fortified church