Blind Pass Nature Walk

Today, we will take a nature walk at Blind Pass. Blind Pass is where Sanibel Island ends and Captivia Island begins. Kind of. The two islands are not really seperated by much.

But first, lunch! And where did I choose to eat lunch? At the closest thing to a neighborhood bar on the island!

I like this place for some reason. The food is ok (not great or anything, just ok). There is no bar, only beer and wine. But I keep going back! The place has a very laid back kind of vibe. I had some chicken wings that were soooo hot I was sweating like a pimp with only one ho while eating my lunch. And I love hot wings! It is as close to "dank" as you can be without leaving the island. And they have cool neon signs.

I also like the front door to the place. It looks like something out of Spongebob Squarepants. I fully expected to see Mr. Crabs behind this door.

Another great thing about Sanibel is that the city has all but banned chain stores. You will not see a Burger King on the island. There is a Dairy Queen, but it opened for business before the no chain rule was passed. Of course, there are chain gas stations. One gas station is attached to a 7-11. And I understand that there is a Subway on the island now. There is also a chain drug store. But other than that, ALL shops and resturants are unique to the island. It was a great idea by the city to make that rule.

Anyway, time to head off to Blind Pass!

This is Blind Pass Beach. Part of it anyway. The beach runs north to south, so it is an EXCELLENT place to watch the sun set. I was going to get a cool sunset photo, but it was cloudy. I will go back before my week ends.

This is the pass itself. That bridge used to be over water. The Gulf Of Mexico took care of that. The last time there was water under this bridge was during the hurricane. They used to dredge it, but gave up years ago.

This is what you see when you walk under the bridge. To get this photo I had to wade out into about knee deep water past all the vegetation.

Most of Sanibel Island is a bird preserve. Large areas of the island are off limits devlopers, and set aside strictly for the birds. Blind Pass borders such an area. So, you can see lots of critters. Like this guy.

This guy is an Egret. They are everywhere on the island. Unlike the birds that only stay for the winter, these guys are here year round.

This guy is an Ibis. They are also very common on the island.

This is my buddy, Mr. Heron. This guy is not afraid of humans at all. Maybe it was because by this time I was walking around in soft mud and could not move very fast. At any rate, he allowed me to get close enough to snap this photo without having to use the digital zoom.

There were also TONS of water critters. I had never seen so many of these critters in one place before.

This is a horseshoe crab. These guys have been on the earth since the days of the dinosaurs. They are living fossils. Crabs and spiders are from the same tree, but these things are closer to scorpions than spiders. You can clearly see that in this photo.

Warm water must make these critters horny, because they were getting their freak on all over the place. The two I photographed were males, running across the shallow water at a high rate of speed. I tried to photograph some horseshoe crab porno, but the reflection from the water did not photograph well. I need to get a polarizing filter for my camera. Next year, there will be a whole lot more horseshoe crabs at Blind Pass!

And of course, all this nature CAN be yours year round. But there is a catch. You have to be able to afford a place like this.

This house is on the Captivia side of Blind Pass. I was on the Sanibel side. There is a channel by the house deep enough for a boat of up to 25 feet. Must be nice to have this kind of cheese. You can bet that IF I could afford it, I would have a pad on the island. Screw the hurricanes. If I could afford a house here, I could afford to rebuild it.