Our Trip to Fort Meyers Beach
We left the house around ten o’clock in the morning. It takes about twenty minutes to go through the canals and reach the river. After reaching the river it is an hours cruise to Fort Meyers Beach. There is a lot of idle speed even on the river to protect the Manatees.
>
We passed under the Sanibel Bridge and crossed the bay to the Fort Meyers Beach Bridge. After passing under it we saw all the private boats moored in the bay, and the large fleet of Shrimp boats at dockside.. We passed two coming in with their nets still out to their sides. A pretty sight.
You have to cruise most of the bay in Idle speed, but it gives you time to see all the beautiful homes with their Banyan trees and flowers. 
The bay is full of Manatees and you wouldn’t want to hit one of these special gentle creatures. We were lucky, as we spotted one and followed it for a half-hour as it kept coming up for air every three to four minutes.. They are huge. I never got that close to one before to see just how big they are. Their rounded flat tails are pink colored and around five feet across. Their nostrils that come out of the water first to get air must be over fourteen or more inches across.. They are called Sea Cows, and they must weigh in very heavy. Their broad backs come out of the water next and they sort of roll with the tail fins breaking the water last , just like a human when it surface dives. It is very special to get that close to one and actually see something besides their nostrils.. Needless to say, we were all thrilled.
We had many Dolphins swimming next to the boat. Hopefully Sherri got some good pictures, but I won’t know that for awhile. My camera is not very quick acting for those kinds of shots, and you are very lucky to get one anyway, as they are so fast, and you never know where they will come up next.
We cruised the whole back bay and finally came to the bridge that connects Fort Meyers Beach to Bonita Springs. I believe it is called Little Carlo’s Pass Bridge. Just under the bridge and around to the right as you come into the Gulf of Mexico you see where our condo is. It is the second one from the bridge. We spotted many Dolphins in this area, and many people fishing for the Sheepshead that eat the Barnacles on the pilings of the bridge. It was a gorgeous day, and we were in heaven. But, the best was soon to come.
We went over across from the condo to the Wild Life Preserve and pulled the boat on the sand to swim, and search for shells and other interesting things.
We found many Conch, but is against the law to take them is they are living. All the ones we found were, and we couldn’t break the law and take one of those beauties even if we wanted to, when we saw their little extended eyes peering out at us.. Their eyes are on long stems and peek out from beneath their covering and looked so cute. The mother of pearl on the shells was a rich golden brown. Beautiful, and I’ve never seen that color before on Conch.. I have only seen the pink. We found the empty shell of a Horseshoe Crab, but left it there. I don’t know why now, as it was old enough not to stink. Just dumb I guess.
We found some lovely shells for Jessie to take home. But wait, there’s more. lol Am I boring you to death yet?
As I was taking pictures around the boat area, the other three went for a walk up to the headland of the peninsula, to search for more shells and see what it looked like around the bend. As Jessie was standing hip high in water, three Dolphins came near. Jessie remembered what I had been telling her about clapping near or in the water to attract them. She clapped her hands and all three came right up to her to about four feet. They would swim around her and then come back when she clapped again, and then the very best of all things happened. One of them did a jump in the air right in front of her. Well, if you knew Jessie, like we know Jessie, it was the absolute highlight of her trip. She is in love with Dolphins, and they just gave her one of the best gifts she could have ever received. Alone, with her Dolphins, with them saying hello to her in such a special way.
We had a nice trip home. The wind had picked up some, but nothing more than a good chop. We let Jessie drive a lot on the way home and she did very well. She had a ball, and so did we.
It was a wonderful day.. The end!!!
I'm sorry I used so much bandwidth with this.. but I didn't know how else to do it.. I would have asked the Capt'n but he isn't around. I had more pics, but they wanted me to open a thread.. I don't think that was the way to go..who would care? But like Westy says, what do I know?