Sanibel Island

As I mentioned during  my last week of this trip I stayed on Sanibel Island.  In the past we were always in a condo right on the beach.  It was different camping.  After biking 20 - 30 miles almost every day, I would have loved to have just relaxed on the screened in porch in the condo - no such luck with the RV.  But I did have birds just across from my  site.  The campground owners obviously love bird, they have all types - my favorite was the Rose-Breasted Cockatoo from Australia.   If you are ever on Sanibel during the peak season she puts on an educational show at 10:00 every day except Sunday. 

One day I biked to and around Ding Darling wildlife refuge and biked back to the visitor center to find that there was a bike tour starting in another 30 minutes.  So I did it again - ok this time, it was only half a way around the refuge, but it was interesting since we had 2 volunteers to tell us about the birds and plants we were seeing.  They suggested that another activity I do is to visit the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in Naples.  I did that the next day and was impressed.  There was a good bit of wind, so some of the birds stayed out of sight (or really out of the wind).  But   there was plenty to see.  I was just as impressed with the natural setting - I loved the air plants.  At the lettuce lakes there were a lot of birds feeding - very interesting.  Just this spot was worth the drive to the Sanctuary.  I have always liked Rosetta Spoonbills and there were several here along with Wood Storks, egrets, herons, ibis...   

I don't know why, but the water at Sanibel was prettier than I have ever seen it - a beautiful blue/green.  The picture below was taken on the bay side of the island during one of my bike rides. 

 

I enjoyed camping on Sanibel, I'm sure I will do it again, but I think I will also rent a condo again too as that makes the trip very different.

During my trip I learned a lot.  Even though I'm not fulltiming  yet, I had wanted to act as though I was so that I could get more in the full-timing mode rather than the vacation mode.  That didn't happen.  I was definitely in the vacation mode.  I've heard that it takes a while for fulltimer's to get out of the vacation mode.  Maybe I never will, who knows.  But I do need to learn to slow down and take care of some business (such as updating this blog, cleaning the RV, taking care of monthly bills...) while on the road. 

By the way, I used Windows Live Writer to do this blog.  It's much easier than the default editor that is on Blogspot.  Thanks Jim for the suggestion!