Florida Ladies

Great day on the water. Today I had the privilege of taking out three native Floridians. We traveled to Cayo Costa. The weather was perfect. The beaches were full of solitude and stories... I enjoyed listening to stories about old Florida and the shells collected. The ladies enjoyed the beach and beautiful water. We ate an excellent lunch on the boat. Courtesy
 of the Florida ladies.The tomatoes were home grown from one of the ladies and the sandwich's were also homemade. Karen made her special brownies of white chocolate, chocolate and raspberries. They were delicious. After a very nice lunch we observed the grass flats and shell formations that have been around for a long time. The three ladies gave me a treasure of their own. Sharks teeth, a beautiful card, brownies, a glass, a copy of a great book "A gift from The Sea" and a good feel for the Islands.Thank you for all of the above. Brian

Shell Lady

Thank goodness we had west winds for two days. A full moon and a very low tide. Those were my thoughts as I looked out toward the building cumulus nimbus clouds. I was looking forward to taking out "Shell Lady"  her daughter Jess and her husband Brad, and Shell Lady's father, Mr. Incredible.(He served in the Korean War and Vietnam war as a fighter pilot. He completed over a hundred missions in each war, he is 84 years young, and very cool. The trip started with beautiful summertime clouds. This can also mean thunderstorms. We anchored at the south end of Cayo Costa and started shelling a high tide line that not a lot of people had explored in the last three days. The discoveries were baby ear shell's a few worm shell's and olives. Brad and Shell Lady's dad were busy digging at the low tide line for shells. They both went about this activity vigorously. Brad found some nice shells and was not afraid to get wet in doing so. Jess explored the low tide line and has an extremely keen eye for shelling. Shell Lady walked the high tide line and far. Sand dollars were found on her walk along with a zig zag scallop (A flat scallop).  The tide had dropped almost two feet while we were shelling. Jess found a beautiful cone shell 10 yards from the boat just as we were getting ready to leave. Reluctantly we all got on board the boat and started our trek back to Captiva.  The sun was setting as I pulled the anchor, it's hard to leave any sunset in Captiva Pass. (quite possibly my favorite place in the western hemisphere at least my favorite place 26 degrees north of the equator.) The sun set and we watched dolphin breech and listened to a baby dolphin take a breath beside her mother. The green flash decided to show her face once again. I followed the pink horizon  south until it turned to grey, and once again was thankful for the full moon.

Black Mangrove

One of the many things I enjoy about  Cayo Costa is the botany. Today I photographed the flowering black mangrove tree. This tree uses the salt water and releases the salt through it's leaves. If you look close you can see the salt on the leaf. The underside of the leaf is a pale color. This is from the salt. In the months of June and July the tree can be very productive for honey. The honey is clear white. In the early 1900's there was a gentleman who lived on Cayo Costa with a large family who collected the honey from the black mangrove. I have always liked the location of his long gone house, an ancient shell mound. The vistas are breath taking but sleeping is hard. This is one of the many things I enjoy about Cayo Costa.

Drifting on The Tide

Twenty four hours before the full moon at the southern end of Cayo Costa, I shut the engine off and drifted with the tide. I watched frigate birds dogfight, sea turtles breath, blue crabs drift, jellyfish do what they do and puffer fish puff.  Twenty four hours before the full moon at the southern end of Cayo Costa.

Ladies from the Lone Star State

I enjoyed the company of Cheryl and Kim, veteran shellers with over 20 years of experience shelling Cayo Costa. The first spot we stopped by on the gulf side of Cayo was brief. The next spot by the lagoon, Kim found a beautiful arrowhead sand dollar and a few sand dollar's. Cheryl snorkeled and enjoyed the water. We then traveled to the flats. The tide was very low and the shells found were..lightning whelk, horseshoe crabs, horse conchs, pear whelks, razor clams and  many in between. The flats were alive and many nice shells were collected.  I look forward to exploring with the ladies from the Lone Star State and hearing their stories. Great trip great people.

Walk on the Beach

Today I walked the beach on Cayo Costa, where the ocean meets the land. I was looking for footprints in the sand.  I could hear the ocean singing as I walked along. I saw no footprints, only the ocean singing. I walked as the ocean sang.  Here are the photographs.