Pedaling and Paddling

What a glorious day. The sun came out and the temperature rose to 70 degrees so we had a great day outdoors. This morning we rented bikes at Billy's Bikes and road on Sanibel's marvelous bike paths for a couple of hours. Along the way we stopped in at Casa Ybel Resort to see if we might want to stay there the next time we come. We've been disappointed that Sundial has gotten quite run down. We were very impressed by Casa Ybel and while it costs about $100 more per night, it seems worth it.

We lunched at Island Cow. I had forgotten that it is the place with the following sign:

Unattended children will be given an espresso and a free puppy.

This afternoon we took the guided paddle of Tarpon Bay, out to the mangrove islands that serve as bird rookeries. We saw osprey, brown pelicans, white pelicans, double-crested cormorants, oyster catchers, great blue herons, tricolor herons, little blue herons, reddish egrets, snowy egrets, white ibis, anhingas, belted kingfishers.

Our paddling companions were Lynn and Terral and we enjoyed each other's company so much we went out to dinner together and had a marvelous time.