Visiting Sanibel Island.

We took off pretty early in the hopes of finding some shells on Sanibel Island.  As it turns out, we were not early by "shelling" standards.  Early would be before dawn.

Sanibel Lighthouse Park is on the far east end of the island.  The light house opened in 1884 and is working.

We got parked about 8am and paid for 4 hours. Yes, all parking on the island is paid. They are serious because some cars had tickets already because they had not paid.  There is a kiosk that prints a ticket and charges $5 per hour. Wow!

We were far from alone even at 8am.

We did find a lot of really nice shells and a few other creatures.

The sea anemone and starfish were alive, so we quickly put them a little farther from shore. Any shells that have live creatures inside are NOT allowed to be collected.

Several birds were looking for breakfast.

They had a helpful sign to identify shells.  Shelling is one of the big activities on the beach.

We decided to take a break, relax and get a snack.​

As we realized our time was running out on parking, we decided to go to the J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge.  There is a 5-mile one way wildlife drive through the refuge.

There visitor center had a very interesting mural outside.

On the drive, we stopped several times to see birds and fish.

I had never of mangrove tree crabs.  The crabs were only about an inch across.

We were starting to get hungry.  Our snack earlier would only hold us for so long. Shawna started looking for what was available.  She found a local favorite, Doc Ford's.

When we eat at a restaurant, we usually try to go mid-afternoon. We almost never have to wait for a table. Doc Fords was great!  The food was fantastic.  We got the Yucatan Shrimp.  It was a huge bowl and we shared it. The sauce was amazing.

The day ended with a fantastic sunset.