Even Rainy Days Are Fun in Florida!

We wanted to ride scooters! Given the excellent experience we had at the Billy's Bikes on Sanibel, it seemed the place to go for scooters. Then the weather started to roll in. We opted for some driving.
 First stop was the J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge. It is this refuge that makes up a large part of Sanibel that remains undeveloped. It is accessible on foot, by car, and by bike. The mangrove "forests" can be explored by canoe and kayak for a first hand education about the importance of this eco-system.

Darling was a Pulitzer Prize winning editorial cartoonist who advocated natural resource conservation. He was the founder of the Federal Duck Stamp program and the National Wildlife Federation. His work is the foundation of today's system of National Wildlife Refuges. This link will provide more detail. http://www.dingdarling.org/

Our walking plans got rained out so we drove on up the length of Sanibel and crossed over to Captiva Island. The only road is a two laner with lots of sharp curves and low speed limits. Nearly all the properties were behind walls so we couldn't see much, although it was enough to be certain that this locale was well beyond our means.

The road dead-ended at Alison Hagerup Beach Park. Access to all properties beyond the road -- and there are many -- is limited to golf carts. The beach was nearly deserted, probably largely due to the rain, and that was all to the good. The birds were plentiful and seemed accustomed to the occasional beach walker.

Our sunset this day was a splash of sun peeking through clouds as we drove back toward the causeway and off the islands, headed for home.