One last visit to Sanibel Island

Monday we put the bikes on the car and set course for Sanibel Island.

Our mission:  bike through the J.N. Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge.  We had visited this eons ago and remembered only a dirt road and not much else going on.  Now there is a visitor center and the roads were paved just last year.  This is a totally different experience.

The road is one way and only 15 mph, so biking was the coolest way to see it.  No problems as to where to park the car when there's a group of people watching the birds.

We just biked along until we'd spot a camera with a long lens or a tripod...always a sign of a good sighting.

There were an abundance of birds to shoot so the first part of the trip went pretty slow.

After leaving the refuge we headed over to Doc Fords Rum Bar and Grille.  I've just started to read the Doc Ford mystery series that take place on Sanibel Island and the surrounding area, so this stop was a must.  The author will be there this coming weekend for book signings.  But we need to prepare for our departure and only use Kindles anyway...so what's the point.

Once our bellies were full we set off again for Bailey's Tract to see if we could spot some gators.  The trail along the way had alligator warnings, but there were none that we spotted....and that was a good thing.

At Bailey's Tract we hoped again to see those elusive gators.  There were many signs warning about the hefty fine for feeding or molesting the alligators.  I can barely be convinced to share my food with Left Brain...I sure wasn't going to be tempted to feed some reptilian beggar.  The path here started out hard packed but turned into much more loose sand later...mucho challenge for me on the bike.

Again there were no gators to be seen, but we did find this cute anole and a turtle.  We take what we can get.

There were also pretty flowers and butterflies along the trail.

We totaled about 15 miles on our ride, but it sure didn't seem that far.  When there's all this beauty to admire, the miles just click along.

Long Live the Queen of Sanibel Island