Enjoying the West Coast of Florida

 I cannot say how grateful we are to be here on Sanibel Island for the winter.  Because we are in southwestern Florida the temperatures are just beautiful.  This means we can be outside doing things and getting fresh air.  I cannot begin to imagine how difficult it is for those living in the north, being cooped up in the colder temps.  We are also very fortunate that there are numerous restaurants open.  One of our favorites is Mudbugs.  This is a Cajun restaurant that has wonderful food.  We paid them a visit last week for some gumbo, oysters, and crawfish etouffee.

These were our Cajun roasted oysters.  They were "delish".

And this was the Crawfish etouffee.  Who'd have thought a mudbug could taste so good?

After all that yummie Cajun food, we needed a little exercise.  We have decided to play tennis several times a week, but Keith has also been playing golf and I have been riding my bike.  They have very nice bike paths throughout the island of Sanibel.  The paths are busy, however, as everyone walks and bikes around here.  You definitely have to be a little on the look-out for others around the curves.

One of the many bike paths on the island

Don't take the curves too wide or there could be a collision.

This past weekend we also took the boat for a little trip north of Sanibel to Cayo Costa State Park.  This is another of southwest Florida's barrier islands that has been designated a state park.  There is a very large protected harbor area on the east side of the island.  The west side faces out to the Gulf of Mexico and has a wide sand beach.  We left Sanibel Marina on Saturday and cruised up along the Gulf of Mexico side of the islands to get to Cayo Costa.  Although we pulled some fishing lines, we did not catch anything.  By the time we arrived at Cayo Costa, the tide was up which was good.  There is a very shallow entrance getting into the anchorage area, but we made it in without any problems.  There were tons of boats already there for the weekend.   (Keith counted 85 other boats in the anchorage).  Luckily we found a spot just big enough for us to drop our anchor and we were set.  It was a beautiful evening to be anchored.

View off the starboard side of Southern Style Saturday evening

The next morning I took the kayak out for a paddle while Keith worked out on the boat.  This is a view of the anchorage from the kayak.  Sorry about the water droplets, I seemed to have trouble keeping it off the lens that day.

There are a lot of mangroves at Cayo Costa.  Unfortunately, I did not see any manatees.  

Boat dock into the park Cayo Costa

Cayo Costa is part of the Calusa Blueway Trail.  This is approximately 200 miles of marked waterways that meander throughout the Fort Myers area.  These waters are both marked with placards as well as mapped for kayakers.  Some are open waters of the bays, others snake around small barrier islands and mangroves, and some are local rivers.  All of them were used extensively by the original inhabitants, the Calusa Indians.  Today they make for great boating and kayaking.

This is one of the placards of the Calusa Blueway Trail

In the afternoon we explored a bit with the dinghy.  Working up an appetite, we decided to take the dinghy to Cabbage Cay.  This is a small island just 3 miles south from Cayo Costa with a well known restaurant located on the island. 

Coming into Cabbage Cay

 It is touted as being the place where Jimmy Buffet wrote "Cheeseburger in Paradise".  Whether that is true, I cannot say.  They are proud of their cheeseburgers at $14.00 for one without fries; but worth doing once in a while.  It had been 3 years since we were there the last time as we came around west Florida doing "The Loop" back in 2018. 

Open-air restaurant at Cabbage Cay

   Like so many beach bars, patrons hang dollar bills all around the walls and ceiling of the restaurant.  Because you are not leaving enough of your money with them already, right?

There are several resident Gopher tortoises on the island.  This was one passing by the restaurant as we came out after lunch.

View out over the dock from the restaurant porch

We headed back to Southern Style around 2:00 PM.  She sits just where we left her.

After pulling anchor, we cruised back to Sanibel Island via the intracoastal waterway.  Southern Style ran well this weekend.  It was good to give the old girl a run and good for us to get away for a bit.  Keith is taking a radar class in St Petersburg this coming week to add another endorsement to his USCG captain's license.  I will be on Sanibel alone and without the Jeep.  I plan on working on some of my quilts and sea shell projects.  Hopefully I will have some pictures of my latest crafty craziness on the next post.