Naples, FL

Bob and I spent the last 11 days in Naples, FL and it is finally WARM!!! I love it – low 80s during the day and 60s at night. I know a lot of you have been struggling and suffering with snow and below freezing temperatures, but here on the Suncoast of Florida it is glorious.

Naples is a very beautiful town, with no high rises, a very chic and upscale downtown area, and gigantic homes along the canals. We tried several outstanding restaurants and celebrated Valentines Day and Bob’s birthday in style. We also sampled the powdery white beaches of Naples and Marco Island. I loved the delicate shells, long flat stretches to walk and all the wonderful seabirds. I finally got to see a few flocks of black skimmers hanging out with royal terns. I have been looking for these birds for two months.

Inland from Naples are many wonderful wildlife areas that we explored. In Big Cypress National Preserve we saw more alligators than we could count, manatees and tons of birds. I really enjoy seeing all the egrets, storks, herons, ibis, and woodland birds, but I am getting tired of the thousands of osprey. They nest on every available pole, tree or fence. Bob and I took a short hike in the Florida Panther Wildlife Refuge and saw a black racer snake, a deer that didn’t want to step off the trail, and a pile of black bear scat, but no panthers. This is the last habitat for these highly endangered cats and the nearby freeway has very tall fences to keep them from getting hit by cars.

Bob has been waiting all year to attend the Miami Boat Show, so we drove across the state (2 hours) and spent the day at the show. We saw lots of sailing catamarans and a few power cats too, but we didn’t buy anything. Bob is still hoping that we will do that some day. While we were in Miami, we had a fun dinner with my friend Shoshana who was there with family.

My friends Cheshta and Sudas were sick of the snowy cold weather in Cape Cod and drove down to spend five days with us in sunny Naples. We had a great time together walking on the beaches and birding. We spent a lovely day at the Audubon Corkscrew Sanctuary, a popular birding spot. Chesh picked up quite a few new birds for his lifetime list and so did I. We also rented a boat one afternoon and cruised around the mangrove lined waterways, had a picnic on a lovely sandy beach, followed some dolphins around and toured the mansion lined canals. Bob and I saw quite a few houses we wouldn’t mind living in.