Beautiful Day Out Here!!

Just being here is great..the fishing a plus. We caught many Ladyfish, some Spanish Mackerel, young girl caught 2 nice Spanish. Young man caught a fighting small Bullshark

and Lady with a regular resident Sea Trout.

We had several Dolphins swimming around the boat, but apparently they didn't scare off all the fish.

On the Sealife Encounter alot of baby creatures scooped up at Picnic Island and put in the Touch Tank.We got a nice Dolphin show nearby Picnic Island, then did the deep grass net drag, and caught pretty much the usual suspects. On the way back to the Marina, noticed some young people studying the shell charts. They had been to Shell Museum and were very interested. Found a box of sea shells under the console, so we had a game of identifying shells and winners received the shell. It was fun for them and me.

Sunset: Overusing the word Beautiful..but that is what it was, along with spotting our amazing Dolphins in several spots along the way. What would one call this Sunset over Pine Island? Beautiful!

Capt. Bob

Two full boats for the Sunset Cruise!

Nice warm evening, windy out of the SW. The wind makes it a bit harder to spot Dolphin, so we headed up river where the water was not so choppy. Turned around at Little Shell Island.

We did spot one lone Dolphin near Big Shell Island. Here is the Sunset tonight over Bird Island.

On entering our channel, another lone Dolphin was spotted and appeared to be chasing his dinner.

Capt. Bob

Full day of Adventure!

Fishing, Sea Life & Sunset!

Fishing:
Lady from Naples with Ladyfish.

Lady from Kansas City with Spotted Sea Trout.

Gentleman from Kansas City with Bull Shark, and 4th Photo- Gentleman with Spanish Mackerel.

Sea Life: Folks enjoyed Dip netting at Picnic Island, seeing the Dolphins nearby the Island.The deep net drag turned up lots of Pin fish and several Striped Burrfish also known as puffers.

Here is a beautiful Sunset tonight.

Capt Bob

Lots of Brown Pelicans seen on the Sunset Cruise!

Considering the cold it was a pretty good trip tonight..always beautiful here.

31 hardy passengers from various states including Indiana, North Carolina, and as far North as Minnesota. But it was chilly for all. A 15MPH wind out of the NW. We went up the Caloosahatchee (river), to help keep the wind to our backs.

Beaching the boat at Big Shell Island, we sat and watched the sunset along with about a dozen brown pelicans sitting nearby on the sandy point of the island Continuing up river, we soon spotted two dolphins and spent some time with them. They would appear, then dissappear many times, but never went very far from the boat. The water here is relatively deep and the air is cold, perhaps they kept warmer staying down a little longer. We turned around at Little Shell Island, which is a subject of interest by itself.
Capt. Bob

Paddling Larry's Lagoon!

We have a beautiful area in which to kayak/canoe, not far, but away from civilization where the Calusa Indians once roamed. Some call it a "secret garden" among the Mangroves. It is worth experiencing. It is an adventure, but a safe adventure (in Paradise).
Today was a typical beautiful day here, with clear blue sky starting at 65 degrees and warming up to 80, wind out of the East. We had folks from Maryland and Ohio eager to get out there, not knowing what to expect.

These are the folks from Maryland before setting out on our great adventure. (There were also two young ladies not shown, college freshman from Ohio colleges.):

Here is when they returned:

We paddled to the Northside of Connie Mack Island where we saw at least 3 Manatees playing. Caught one sticking his nose up for a breath of air. After making our way through a very tight and challenging Mangrove tunnnel we paddled out to the large Sandbar bordering San Carlos Bay.

Everyone got out of their kayaks and wandered around taking a break from paddling and enjoying the sights there. Heading back, we got a good workout against a 10 mph East wind. We caught a little break from the hard paddling as we traveled through another challenging Mangrove tunnel close to home. I heard some shouting and laughing throughout the trip and the Mangrove branches took a beating they will never forget.

Special thanks to the Maryland folks who are great sports..and very good actors! We had a lot of fun.

Capt. Bob

Wonderful day of cruising!

We had a very good fishing trip with a large family of 11 from Illinos and a family of 4 from Virginia. The weather has changed, we are now getting 10mph out of the NW and the water temp has dropped from 74 to 71. Air Temp in the upper 70,s. Trying to hide from the wind, we still did ok, catching some Sugar Trout, and small Sea Trout at the first stop. Then we moved not more than quarter mile and there we caught several Spanish Mackerel, a few Spotted Trout and a Flounder..and a few unmentionables such as Lizardfish and Catfish (and a pretty little Squirrelfish)

On the SeaLife Encounter: Almost routine, Dolphins several times, great fun for folks at Picnic Island catching all the small creatures that we usualy catch,fish shrimp,etc.. Then in the Big net drag, we caught several fish, pinfish, sugar trout, and a cute little Southern Puffer.

The Sunset Dolphin cruise got a little chilly (about 65 degrees and dropping fast), but 36 brave folks went with us to see the Sunset and find some Dolphins. Because the wind was coming out of the NW, decided to go up the River with the wind to our backs. Checked on our active Osprey nest..still can't see the chicks. Spotted a Bald Eagle on BigShell Island then on up to Little Shell Island (very Interesting) we found a Dolphin and we got to look at him for awhile, even though it appeared he was having dinner. We had a beautiful Sunset from Big Shell Island. A good day..but make it warmer..Please!

Capt. Bob