Monday, February 7, 2022
Sanibel Island
Today, Tom and I took a day trip from Fort Myers to nearby Sanibel Island. Even on a weekday, traffic crawled across the two-lane causeway onto Sanibel, but we had a plan. Immediately upon reaching the island, we secured free parking at the Sanibel-Captiva Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Center and spent the rest of the day biking on Sanibel's large network of off-street pathways.
Biking on Sanibel Island
Roughly one-third of Sanibel Island is preserved in the 6,000-acre J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge. We paid a buck each to bike along the 4-mile Wilderness Road, the only road passing through the preserve's mangrove jungles, bayous, and wetlands.
J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge
Observation tower
Fuzzy headed heron (as named by Jana)
We made a few stops in the refuge to walk short boardwalks to wildlife viewing platforms. At one point, a friendly gentleman asked me if I'd seen the tree crabs. I thought he was putting me on until he pointed out the numerous quarter-sized crustaceans several feet up in the mangroves!
Boardwalk through the marsh
Mass of mangroves
Close-up of a tree crab
After leaving Ding Darling, we continued west as far as the channel separating Sanibel Island and Captiva Island. After riding out onto the connecting bridge, we turned around and stopped at Blind Pass Beach, where we ate a picnic lunch and I touched the chilly Gulf of Mexico.
Unusual warning
Jana claims the Gulf of Mexico
Beach turtle
From Sanibel Island's western end, we then biked back across the island to its easternmost point and most striking landmark, the Sanibel Lighthouse, first lit in 1884 and still in operation today.
Sanibel Lighthouse
A closer view
Beautiful blue
The lighthouse was less than two miles from the visitors center where we'd parked earlier in the day. By the time we made it back to the car, we'd biked the entire 15-mile-long island end to end and then some, totaling over 31 miles.
A Sanibel Island canal
This was our last night staying with Bill and Patti. For dinner, Patti cooked a delicious pork tenderloin and opened a bottle of wine. Later, we had cocktails and watched Olympic downhill skiing on TV. A nice ending to a nice day!
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