On Thursday we played some tennis before heading out to the beach. It was lovely and sunny, just a lot windier than it had been the last week. When we got to the beach we could see the effects of the increased wind. The tide was extremely high as were the waves. Areas of beach we had sat reading on were now covered with a foot of water, sometimes more. The sandbars we had comfortably waded discovering sea stars and sand dollars with our toes were now getting pummeled by crashing waves.
We spent some time in the sun reading our Randy Wayne White novels from his Doc Ford series, watching the waves from time to time. Eventually we were too tempted by the activity in the typically docile Gulf of Mexico to sit and watch any longer.
I put on my rash guard and headed down to the water. Getting in was almost the hardest part as there was an escarpment about a foot high at the waters edge. Once in the water, you were carried by a long shore current along the beach as you dodged, jumped, our swam through waves. When you were back at the escarpment it was time to get out, walk down the beach and do it again. No rip tides occurred on our stretch of beach so we played in the waves until I got cold. I definitely wished I had a wetsuit and a surfboard that day (and knew how to surf)! After a short bike ride, we came back to the beach, prepared for big waves and they had already died down significantly. We could swim against the long shore current when earlier we couldn't even stand in place.
Friday morning we tried our hand at shuffleboard then headed out to the beach. The tide was not as high as Thursday but it was getting higher. We did not spend much time on the beach as the rain was closing in. By the time we got back to the room heavy showers had begun. We read on the balcony with the rain as our background music. The eurochampionships entertained us in the afternoon for a while, but cabin fever set in soon afterwards. We drove around the islands exploring new corners and walked around Captiva for an hour or so between showers, keeping us occupied until supper time.
Yesterday was obviously a wash out from the word go. We visited with Charles, our real estate agent for a while and talked more about the environment than houses, but enjoyed our time out of the condo. We watched another eurochampionship match and met him again and some of his friends (more wildlife people) for supper at the Lazy Flamingo. Charles brought fish he'd caught in the Gulf, the cooks prepared it for us and we had a family style meal served at a very reasonable price. It was a local secret and we were glad to have been chosen to have it shared with us.
Today I had hoped to cycle to city hall for the farmers market, but the rain was too heavy. We drove past and it appeared to be too heavy to even set up the market at all. So we drove off the island and explored Cape Coral. We went to one open house and drove past a few other houses on the market. Since we missed the farmers market, we stopped at the fruit stand and the fresh seafood truck on the way back to the island. We wanted to be back in the room for the England match of the eurochampionship. As we crossed the causeway back onto the island, the Intracoastal Waterway was splashing over the road. We made it back just in time to see kickoff! Come On England!
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