Sunday Beach Walk

Today was one more step in the return to normal.  It's now been 2 weeks since Irma came through this part of Southwest Florida and we were able to access our favorite section of the beach for a nice long walk.

For some reason, there appears to be the steps from someone's home laid out across the beach.

It was great to see that the sand had not disappeared, at least along this stretch of beach.

This fisherman said that the only fish he was catching today were Ladyfish.  I had to come back home and look it up.  I'd never heard of them.

We came upon this little guy below on the beach near the water.  We were fairly sure he was a snapping turtle.  We were watching him when the SCCF guy came along on his routine turtle nest check.  He stopped and told us that it is definitely a snapping turtle and are usually found near fresh water, not salt water.  He said that they will sometimes go into salt water if they have parasites on them.  He got a bucket, put some sand in it, and was going to return him to a fresh water area.

He was holding the turtle by the very back end of the shell.  He said that it can stick its neck way out and reach almost to that point to snap whatever has it.  By the way, SCCF stands for Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation.  They are dedicated to conservation of coastal habitats and aquatic resources on Sanibel and Captiva.

There were hundreds of these tiny little fish along the shoreline. 

The tiny fish were making a great breakfast for the guy below!

Although it is technically autumn, the leaves do not fall from sea grapes, strangler figs and similar trees this time of year in this area.  All these leaves that were on the ground on the beach access path, is a result of Irma coming through.