Day Tripping with Capt. Brian

One of the highlights of any of our Sanibel Island trips, is the day we schedule with Captain Brian.  We've been cruising with him for many years now, and no Florida trip would be complete without a day on the water because it's always an adventure.  I usually tell Brian what we want to do - hmmmm...... funny, it doesn't change much from year to year....  Sightseeing, shelling and beaches.  Somehow Brian always manages to mix it up and take us to new places to discover.

Chablis makes custom signs, so she designed one for Brian and crammed it in her suitcase to bring along for him.  He has an awesome back porch with an amazing collection of shells, driftwood and beach items that he's collected over the years.  The sign is for his porch!

Usually we meet him in the morning for our trip, but this time we arranged to meet at noon and spend 6 hours on the water.  Bright blue skies, large fluffy white clouds and warm breezes looked promising!

Almost immediately we ran across a large pod of dolphin.  There was about 10 of them total and we spent quite a bit of time sitting and watching them play.  There's something about dolphins that is magical and they rise and fall above the water line so effortlessly and quietly.  I find myself holding my breath as I wait for them to return.

 

 

 They kept circling the area and pretty soon a man on a jet ski with 2 little kids came by to watch.  The one little boy was screaming with delight and I'm sure that he will remember his dolphin encounter for years to come.

 

After our personal dolphin show, Brian took us to a shallow grassy area where we got out of the boat and waded around, looking for shells.  We found quite a few Venus Sunrays. 

 

Capt. Brian always finds the neatest secret spots to take us and we soon arrived at a special island where only his discerning eye could find the path through the vegetation....

We spent quite a bit of time exploring the island and walking the beach, deep in conversation and bending to retrieve the occasional shell. 

Off to the east though, the skies were churning and heavy clouds began rolling in.  One of the things I like so much about Brian is that he keeps a careful eye on the weather at all times.  I noticed that he kept turning and checking the skies and after about 15 minutes he announced that it was time to leave.

Sadly our afternoon was cut a little short due to the storms, but it's better to get back to Sanibel than to be stuck out in the rain.  Our finds for the day consisted of many Venus sunrays shells, a couple of baby's ears, a dried starfish, and my coveted horse conch....

We also saw many live shells, a cute crab and my favorite find was a fighting conch that still had his critter living at home.  I was sick to have to return him to the water because it was the largest fighting conch I've ever found and it was a beautiful brown and gold color.  Go over and check out Brian's blog post on our day with him to see more great photos.  But more than anything we had another memory-making day on the water with one of our favorite people.  After all, it's the memories you hold dear in your heart that are the true treasures.

Sanibel Island 2013 Day 3

I was eagerly anticipating day 3 of our trip because that's the day we were meeting our friend Captain Brian.  If you're not familiar with him, then go check out his blog.  Brian is a licensed Captain, and is extremely knowledgeable about the land and sea around Sanibel.  He can customize a boat trip for you whether it's shelling, birding, exploring or dolphin watching that you're interested in doing.

8:00 am found us at McCarhty's Marina, and Brian was already loading up his boat.

This guy sat and watched us as we climbed aboard and set out for our day of exploring...

On our way out towards Cayo Costa we passed this recent ship wreck...

We had placed a request to find shells and see wildlife, leaving it up to Capt. Brian to plot our course.  First up was a huge pod of dolphin and we had a great time sitting and photographing them as they swam and played around us.

We also spied a flock of pelicans and shore birds...

Brain in his signature straw hat!

We really enjoyed seeing this large specimen...

By lunchtime we were starving, so we headed over to Tarpon Bay Lodge for lunch.  It felt good to get out of the sun for awhile.   We enjoyed the casual atmosphere, the decorations and especially the delicious food and excellent conversation. 

But we weren't finished shelling yet - Brian had a few more spots in mind before we called it a day.

 

I think we had a pretty good haul, don't you?  Chablis found both of those gorgeous whelks, a broken scotch bonnet and a couple of angel wings.  I found a lot of sand dollars and some shiny olives.  We also gathered a good bunch of whelks, cockles, venus sunrays and one perfect nutmeg.

I'll be honest with you - our day with Capt. Brian was the highlight of our trip.  We had a fun and relaxing day, full of surprises, shells, animal life and good food.  It just doesn't get any better than that.  Thank you Brian for planning a perfect day for us!

If you're in the Ft. Myers area and you are looking for a great day on the water, I suggest you give Capt. Brian a call.

If you missed my post about the cool Sanibel Island table we made, then go back and check it out.  I'm linking it up as an entry at Homespun Happenings.

Sanibel Shellin' Sistah's!

Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting a fellow Sanibel Island Lover - Moira.

Moira and I started talking to each other through the Sanibel Island Message Board a couple of years ago.  She'd make a trip down to the island and I'd ask her about it.  Then I'd make a trip and she's ask me about it.  We'd share tips about where to find shells, where we were eating meals, where we were staying, favorite beaches.  Both of us share such a love for this same small island off the coast of Florida.  Last year we realized that we live less than an hour away from each other.  Since then, we've been plotting and planning to meet for lunch.

Because of Saibel, we share a common thread that winds around many of the same people we've met while on the island, or through blogging.  Both of us have met Pam, from iloveshelling.  If you want to know anything about what's happening on the island, go to her blog.  She knows everyone and everything!

Moira and I both frequent blogs called  The Essential Beachcomber and Shellbelles Tiki Hut.  Both are top notch blogs and you should give them each a look.  I had the pleasure of hunting for sharks teeth with Karen from The Essential Beachcomber and we had a blast!

Moira and I also both took day trips with Captain Brian this past summer as well.  If you're on Sanibel, do not miss an opportunity to take a cruise with this man of the sea.  Not only is he an accomplished photographer, but he knows the good shelling spots, charms the dolphin so we can snap photos, points out local flora and fauna and he slices up a mean watermelon as well.

So after many months of unexpected delays, Moira and I were finally able to arrange a meeting for yesterday.  We sat for 2 hours and talked non-stop.  Meeting Moira in person was like seeing an old friend.

We had such a good time talking about Sanibel and shelling and all the bloggers we have in common.  We both wore our Sanibel Island shirts that we purchased from the iloveshelling gift shop.  Pam, we did that especially for you!!  Darn, we should have phooned......

It was such fun getting to meet another fellow Sanibel Shelling Sistah - They're a very special breed!