Sanibel, 'A Rainy Day Woman"

7:35, Tuesday Morning

7:35, Monday

Shore Birds, Monday Morning

Both Evie and I are up early, 6:30, because we knew rain was forecast so we wanted to get our walk in before it poured.  We were out on the beach, gray skies and water by 7:00, along with lots of others enjoying the early morning cool, either walking, shelling, or just meandering on a cool morning.  It always amazes me how many people, mostly older I might add, are up enjoying the pre dawn morning. I even noticed one woman had a headlight on her cap, obviously she had been out when it was still dark.

Walking, Early Morning at Sanibel

Great Egret

Osprey

We walked about an hour out, to the Lighthouse and beyond, to the fishing pier, then another hour back.  Fortunately, we had no rain and it was delightfully cool, both coming and going.  We were back to the condo by 9:30, ready for a healthy breakfast of homemade granola, yogurt and blue berries.
We relaxed for until about 11:30 because it was raining, so Evie helped Linda with her iPad, showing her how to use iCloud for sending pictures.

Sneaking A Late Morning Beer While The Girls Shopped!

Around 11:45, Evie and Linda went off to a local shopping center, braving what could have been heavy traffic, while Rich and I took advantage of a lull in the rain, to walk down as far as the SunDial Resort and back, about forty five minutes, stopping like bad boys, for a beer at the neat Sundial's bar. Everyone was back at the condo by 1:00.  Linda found a new bathing suit, Evie just helped look.  We had lots of leftovers for lunch, chicken and noodles for Evie and me, a burger for Linda, and a breakfast sausage sandwich with soup for Rich.  I think we must have been hungry.

Wilson's Plover?

Estero High Rises From Sanibel On A Stormy Afternoon

After lunch, we read, napped, watched some TV, and played on our iPads until around 4:00 when we decided to we needed to get outside.  Evie and I went down to the beach; I read awhile,  took pictures of numerous shore birds, the darkening sky and Evie went for a walk down to the Park and back.  Linda and Rich came down a bit later, to take a walk and we just relaxed on the beach, people watching.  It started to rain, however, so the walk was shortened and we were all up to the condo by 5:45.  We showered, got spiffed up, because we were going out to Cips, a cool restaurant on the island, about 15 minutes away.  Both Linda and Rich had been there the previous week and loved it, especially the poke martini.

Dinner Al Fresco At Cips, Sanibel Island

We had late reservations at Cips, 7:45, to avoid the crowds. Even so, we sat at the bar till 8:15, waiting for a table outside on the terrace,  It's a fairly new restaurant, set in a shopping area, but really quite nice, especially outside. It's like eating at the edge of a natural landscape.  We had a great time, and ordered two appetizers, calamari and the Teriyaki poke martini, cut up chunks of tuna, with avocado, chips, and interesting spices, like coriander, giving it an Indian taste.  Evie and I both ordered the seared tuna for dinner, Linda snapper, and Rich a ginger seafood medley on pasta, all great.  For dessert, we had a concoction of cheese cake, carmel, and sea salt, perhaps some chocolate thrown in as well.  We sat outside, enjoying the sound of a heavy rain on the roof until about 9:30, when we braved it to our car, and drove home in more heavy rains.  In fact, it rained much of the night but this morning, it's cloudy, lots of threatening looking clouds off over the Gulf but behind us, it looks like it's clearing up.  Let's hope for the best today, some cooler weather but also some sun.