Sunday 10th May

[22:09]

It was a travelling day today.

We were up early to give us time to pack up. We were out of the Treasure Island hotel just before 10am. First stop - a place called Foxy's for some breakfast. Then is was on the road for the next couple of hours.

The trip was fairly easy, we crossed back over the Skyway bridge on leaving Treasure Island. Just as we were driving through Fort Myers, we could see a large pall of smoke in the distance. It turned out to be a couple of fires that we had to circle around to continue on our way (NBC Link).

That added about 20 minutes to our journey.

There was one final bridge to cross over to Sanibel Island. This was a toll bridge - the most expensive tolls we've gone thorugh. $6 for cars compared to 50c or $1 which we've previously paid.

We arrived just before 2pm. Luckily, the room was already clean so we moved in two hours ahead of schedule. However... that two hours disappeared soon after...

I'd thought to use one of the complimentary bikes at the hotel to cycle down to the local supermarket to pick up some milk. Linda wasn't too keen on the bike though, so I thought if it wasn't too far we'd just walk. The guy on reception said about a mile. Do-able I though, even in the 90' heat. However, as I discovered later, the distance was a little under-estimated. The distance was actually 2.5 miles, one way! By the time we trudged back to the hotel, we were both on our last legs. The heat was unrepentant and there was little shade on the roadside. It took us 1hr 50 minutes to get back to the hotel and the first thing we did was jump into the pool to cool down.

In the evening, we went to a local sports bar for a meal, driving this time!

Once back at the hotel, I wandered down to the beach to see if any turtles were on the beach (as had been mentioned in local literature). The beach was an odd place. With no moon out (and therefore no turtles would be on the beach tonight) the place was absolutely pitch black. It was impossible to tell sky from beach from sea. It was eerie standing there under the stars and not knowing if a step forward would be into water or sand. Suddenly, the darkness was split by high power torches a little way down the beach (think X-Files torches). Not knowing if these were nature lovers or hunters after a night time catch, I though it best to retire back to the hotel.

Hoping to do a Kayak trip tomorrow through the mangrove forest rivers here.