Our last full weekend in Naples, April 15th to 19th, brought us a visit from my friend Stephanie and her husband Dan from Pennsylvania. Steph, a marine life enthusiast wanted to check out the Everglades and estuaries as well as the beach. First stop, Wooton's, a favorite stop for an Everglades experience. A forty five minute drive from Naples, Wooton's, offers airboat and swamp buggy rides and a visit through their animal sanctuary. The airboat ride took us hydroplaning over land and water and careening around mangrove clusters to see alligator nests and a variety of wild birds. No gators though as the low water levels created a more brackish environment that the gators do not favor. Although the "wild" gators had moved further inland, there were still plenty of gators to be seen in the sanctuary. Signs warned of the impending loss of appendages if you got too close, but at the Alligator Show you were free to get as close as you dared. Steph and Dan jumped right in to hold the "show" gator. I had partaken in a previous visit and did not feel the need to do it again.
After watching the wrangler show off her two gators, placing her hand in the larger ones mouth and telling stories of injuries suffered by tooth and tail, we continued on to the other animals in the sanctuary. We saw two tigers having dinner, a cougar pacing in its confined space and my favorite, the otter, diving into its pool, running up to the window for a visit and then back into the pool, over and over again.
On the way back to Naples we stopped at the Big Cypress Bend Preserve Boardwalk. As we approached the welcome sign, we observed one of those inland gators walking up the path to greet us. After a few nervous moments of wondering how close was going to be too close and sizing up the other tourists to find at least one person I could out run if need be, the gator peacefully sauntered back into the water paying all of us gawkers no mind.
After meandering along the boardwalk scoping out other gators at a comfortable distance and strangler vines along the big cypress, we headed to the Snook Inn on Marco Island for a tropical happy hour under the chickee hut.
The next day we (Steph, Dan and I - Brandon once again went to work) headed to Sanibel and Captiva Islands. After touring the Islands and checking out the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge which unfortunately has limited access on Fridays, we made our way to one of the tastiest reasons to visit the Islands. The Bubble Room on Captiva is known for its eclectic room after room of Christmas decor, toys and Hollywood memorabilia almost as well as its mile high desserts. If you can get past the musty smell of the decades old clutter and the visual sensory overload in the confined spaces you'll enjoy the tall layer cakes with sugary icing. We devoured the orange cake.
We worked off lunch AND dessert with an afternoon kayak trip around Buck Key Island. We rented kayaks from the knowledgable couple at Captiva Kayak Co. & Wildside Adventures out of McCarthy's Marina next to the Bubble Room. This was my first time in a kayak with a rudder system and I loved how easy it was to steer. We were initially worried about the winds making the trip difficult, but we were sheltered by the mangroves and saw some manatee, numerous birds and jumping mullet. We stopped at Sun Harvest Citrus on our way back to Naples to complete the south west FL tour with some fresh squeezed juice.
The next morning we woke very early to head to Key Largo for a two tank morning dive with It's a Dive. Brandon was able to join us today and we were all looking forward to scuba diving. Unfortunately, the weather was not the most cooperative and upon hearing of 4 foot swells and low visibility, Brandon who is prone to sea sickness opted to sit this one out. While Brandon found a good local spot for breakfast at Doc's Diner, Steph, Dan and I headed out to the Spiegel Grove wreck. My prior diving experience was in calm water with high visibility in about 30 foot depth. I was nervous entering the rough water and was getting short of breath fighting the waves to remain holding onto the rope that we had to follow down to the wreck. Visibility was low and I was feeling very claustrophobic. For a few moments I contemplated turning around and getting back out, but as I slowly made my way hand over hand under the surface and out of the rough surf my attention turned to the wreck. The coral had formed beautiful mosaics along the walls of the ship like works of art. I was surprised to see the US flag still intact and flying high. We were down 75-80 feet peeking in the portholes and doorways of the hull not brave enough to go in. It was quite an experience, and although I missed my dive partner who I'm sure was much more content enjoying his hash browns and sausage gravy then trying to keep his breakfast down under the sea, it was great to finally dive with Steph. She had been begging me for years to get certified to dive with her and I kept putting it off thinking it wasn't for me. After a trip to the Great Barrier Reef where I could only snorkel, four seasons in Naples and some urging from Brandon I finally got certified last year and I'm glad I did. Happy to report we all survived the dive without decompression or sea sickness and had worked up a good appetite for lunch at Hobos.
We ended the night back on Marco watching the sunset at South Beach. Dan, looking like a
professional photographer with his SLR camera was solicited by a number of groups to take their picture against the setting sun. We stopped for some BBQ at Porky's Last Stand before leaving the Island and then headed up to 5th Avenue to show Steph and Dan where the Neopolitans go to see and be seen and eat Kilwin's ice cream.
The next morning we hit up Tiger Tail Beach back on Marco to do some shelling before it was time to take Steph and Dan back to the airport. Brandon and I found some good shells at the end of the "tail." We also had a good discussion and made the decision to take the home health jobs in Chicago for a 6 month contract. I'm a little nervous about doing home health in the city, but I'm excited we'll be back in Chicago, the city where we started dating. Stay tuned to see how it goes!
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