Start: 8:45 AM- Matlache
Finish: 3:00 PM - Bonita Beach
Time: 6:15
Daily dist: 24 miles
Total dist: x miles
Companions: None
Weather: Partly Cloudy with light north wind and temps in the lower 60’s
Notes: The fishing pier on Sanibel was the first passing of a point I’ve already been to.
Finish: 3:00 PM - Bonita Beach
Time: 6:15
Daily dist: 24 miles
Total dist: x miles
Companions: None
Weather: Partly Cloudy with light north wind and temps in the lower 60’s
Notes: The fishing pier on Sanibel was the first passing of a point I’ve already been to.
With a shorter than normal day in store for me today we made time for a big breakfast and took our time getting back to the water. So it was that at about 9:00 AM Jory waved good by from the dock and I started out on the first day of this trip since St. Louis that would take me past places I have already been.
Jory and I at the amazing kayak launch we used the last two days
Uncle Jim’s pier in the distance
It was the fishing pier on Sanibel Island where I had fished seven years ago with my uncle Jim when I was living in Fort Lauderdale and he and my aunt were spending their winters on the island.
I must admit I was a little lost as I approached the causeway that accesses Sanibel. The huge bridge that now towers over the water was not there seven years ago when I was last here. When I saw it took me a moment to realize that it was there in place of the low draw bridge that I had expected to see. The trend of replacing the low bridges (often with draw sections) that access off shore islands with huge tall bridges seems to be universal in every corner of the country. While it makes travel on and off the island much easier, I think it runs the risk of wrecking the remote (slow easy pace) feel of those vacation islands. All in the name of progress I guess.
this wasn’t here last time
From the bridge I had only twelve miles to go to reach today’s destination, Doc’s restaurant at Bonita Beach. That rendezvous point has been in the works since the first hours of this trip when the “bell ringers” Larry and Kathy rang a cow bell to get my attention and said hello as I paddled by on the icy cold Wisconsin River. Two months and several e-mails later we finally crossed paths again on a sunny (and not quite warm yet) Florida beach. Larry and Kathy (along with a bunch of their friends from Wisconsin) treated me to a sandwich and Coke at Doc’s. After eating we stashed the Ikkuma in an enclosure next to the restaurant and locked it to the wall. From there Larry and Kathy took me home to their vacation rental to spend the night with them. It was refreshing to be around so many folks from back home.
the “bell ringers” Larry and Kathy back home in Wisconsin
This was my last night “couch surfing” before I enter the 10,000 islands and Everglades and camp my way for several nights on my way toward my friends in Fort Lauderdale and the end of the Gulf Coast segment of this trip. It’s a fairly remote section of coast that I’m going to be entering so there may be a gap in posting, so please stand by.
RSS Feed