2006_10

Sitting on the lanai with the ever-present headphones on, listening to Yet Another Boring Conference Call, a monster loomed on the horizon. I ran for the camera, thinking FINALLY, we've got a gator. The field glasses are stronger than the camera, and I could see plainly that it was not a gator, it was IGGY! Yes, there's an iguana in our midst here in Lehigh.

I've done a little googling. I think he's what's called a giant green iguana. They are arboreal, diurnal herbivores (they live in trees, are active during daytime, and eat their veggies).

Seeing as all the trees in the development are fairly small, I think he probably made it over here from the woods across SR 82. Either that, or someone had a pet they could not handle and more and let him loose, so that's why he was just cavorting on the banks of the lake.

Anyhow, I don't know who to call to report having seen him, so I think I will call the Lee County Extension Office tomorrow and talk to the wildlife management dudes.

This tranquil scene with the new little baby moon is so precious to me. It's so representative of what twilight is all about, sitting here on the lanai. There are the soft sounds of the lake - little splooshes and plops as the fishes and frogs cavort. Despite the encroaching darkness, cormorants are still diving for their dinner. Now that it's cooler outside, the music of the night is fading - I guess crickets and the like aren't as fond of this weather as humans are. I'm just happy to be sitting here, groovin' to the night.

Bro, SIL, and Nieceling (of my trip report fame, aka the citizens of Chez Bro) arrived last night from having spent the day at Busch Gardens in Tampa. We went to dinner, goofed around some, and went to bed (SIL and I put the lanai to bed

and then some).

We all got up fairly early, had a good breakfast, did the food shopping, and then set out for the beach. We were not about to let a little rain daunt us. We got to the Lighthouse Beach a little before official low tide. Nieceling and I ducked under the pier and found a shelf on the other side, with some good stuff sticking out of it - tulips and whelks, mainly. SIL had gone the other way, toward the lighthouse, and we ran to catch up. A woman stopped and showed us all the goodies she'd found and said, "Go straight ahead, there are PILES". So we went and shelled mainly right in front of the lighthouse.

Photo: SIL in orange shirt, Nieceling in pink shorts, me in my Sanibel pirate t-shirt, peeking into the lady's bag to see the booty.

Someone had been out there with a digger, it was plain to see - dumped all their piles on the beach to pick through. There were pickers galore there, but I knew the piles had already been a-picked through by the digger, and led my troops into the water. It was a bit cold at first, but we got used to it. I found many tulips, three of them true. There were hundreds and hundreds of live apple murex that had been beached by the storm. I kept chucking them into the tidal pool. There were a fair amount of empty dead ones to scoop up, too.

All in all, it was very clear that last night's storm (which was TORRENTIAL in Lehigh this morning) churned things up good, and there was lots of booty to be had. The only bad thing was I'd forgotten to bring my shell net on a stick, so I had to genuinely do The Stoop - and the waves at the Lighthouse Beach were coming fast and furious, which always makes for a challenge as you dive for something that you've just seen zip by.

Eventually, we were hungry and went to the Lighthouse Cafe, where the crunchy grouper Caesar was to die for. I took Nieceling next door to Tuttle's, and now she has her very own "Surrender The Booty" T-shirt.

We then proceeded to the Ding. It was very low tide, and Nieceling managed to spot a live king's crown in the shallows at the end of the boardwalk. The Shhhh! Lady was stalking us (a woman that was watching birds thru her binoculars and going "shhhhh!" every time someone spoke or closed their car door or breathed or thunked a thort). At the very end of the wildlife drive, we were rewarded

with the sight of a small alligator basking in the sun in shallow water. There were two people already there watching him. He was about 3.5 - 4 ft long, a young'un. One of the people said that there had been a platypus there but it took off when it saw the alligator. Huh? I thought the platypus was indigenous to Austrailia????? Photos: Above, live king's crown in the shallows, mangrove overlook. Right, little gator at the very last overlook. Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge.

We left the Ding and stopped at Bowman's. By this time the tide was coming in with a vengence, the surf was high and rough, and there were no shells there at all - but no Nanny either. We left pretty soon after we arrived and went off to the mainland again.

Somewhere during all this, my cell phone beeped at me to let me know there was a message. I never heard it ring. It was Gary letting me know that the Nanny was gone and that there were shells. I love having an early warning system - thanks, dude!

We came back to my house in Lehigh and made some dinner. Now everyone is showering, and Nieceling is at the dining table, attacking her piles and piles of homework. Bro has gone to bed, and after we send Nieceling to bed, we will clean all the shells. Early tomorrow, they will leave for Orlando. I will join them on Thursday for a long weekend (hmmm, feels like I was just there).

But after they leave tomorrow, I just might head back to the island to see what can be seen. I always have remarkably good luck at the Lighthouse Beach, so I think that will be my first stop, if I can make it out there again tomorrow.

So, I waved goodbye to the citizens of Chez Bro this morning, and started to clean up after them. And then I said to myself, "Self, SCREW THIS!". And I got into the car and went back to the Lighthouse Beach.

I'm happy that I did. I don't really know what time it was; my computer seems to be the only things with a clock that I own that is the correct time, and I didn't have that with me. Suffice it to say it was about two hours before low tide.

First I checked out under the pier. There were quite a few people fishing, and one person had set up their umbrella alongside, but there was NOBODY shelling over that way. Underneath the pier, the old pilons stick up like someone had stubbed out a series of giant cigars down there. I counted half a dozen live 2" - 4" macaroni & cheese horse conchs clinging on for dear life - VERY nice coloring on these!. Also, one small-ish live red tulip clinging onto the side of one of the pilons. Found a few little nutmegs under there, nothing much else.

On the bay side of the pier, there were a lot of pelicans who raised a fuss when I went amongst them to look for shells. I think they hang out there looking for the bait fish. So I crossed back under to the lighthouse side of the pier, and right there beside the pier I kept finding lightening whelk after lightening whelk. The water was exceptionally clear, and it was cold too, but after the first two or three minutes, you are not really cold any more. I waded out up to above my knees, and the waves kept coming and making me wet up to my waist, but despite the breeze, I wasn't all that cold.

Once again, I forgot my net-on-a-stick - why do I keep forgetting it? - so I had to reach in for a lot of them, and then I was basically entirely wet. Well, THAT got a bit cold after a while, but I wasn't going to leave all those perfectly good whelks there just because I was a little cold! Of course, the minute you reach down for something and your arm is in up to the shoulder, a nice wave comes and smacks you upside your head. That will teach me to forget the net!

My bag was getting pretty full from all the whelks - finally found an empty mac-n-cheese, too - and I wanted to check out the place we'd been shelling yesterday, to see if I could get more tulips. Alas, it's a TOTALLY different beach in front of the lighthouse today. Found a few candidates for an orange shell jar over there, but really nothing more than that.

Wandered back to the side of the pier, but it looked like I had basically picked that area clean already, so I headed back to the car with a bag full of nice whelks, and a smile on my face. I had not even been there two hours yet.