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| Wading birds - Snowy and Great Egrets |
Finally was able to go back to the water and, better than that, wifey came with me. It was a very short but not bad day at Commodore Creek and Tarpon Bay; Manatees, Dolphins, and beautiful scenes. The weather finally gave me a chance and went for my second paddle of the trip. It was planned to kayak at least twice but honestly, expected to go out more. No complaints. We had a wonderful time at Sanibel and closed it with this quicky at a paddling trail. It was all that I expected it to be. A Yellow Crowned Night Heron, which seems to be abundant at Sanibel Island, welcomed us at the road to the launch site. That is what I call a good start.
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| Yellow Crowned Night Heron |
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| Tarpon Bay Explorers |
Put In / Take Out: Used the facilities of Tarpon Bay Explorers in Sanibel Island. Click on the link for more information about this place. They were very nice and helpful. The day before drove by to ask if they would allow us to launch, just to be sure since I have read they allow it for a $7 fee. The nice lady at the gift shop confirmed the information we had and also that they are open all days, but Christmas. She even told to me about other places to kayak in the area and provided maps of the Great Calusa Blueway. Today in the morning, filled a form with information about the number of people in the party, what type of kayak, where we were going, and when we planned to return. They keep your drivers license to be sure you return. When you come back just give them a yellow copy of the information you filled and that is it. We arrived at 7:50AM and were on the water at 8:10AM. First ones in the water. Did not see anyone else until we were on our way out of the creek at marker 15 when a guided tour, 5 kayaks to be exact, were starting to paddle the trail.
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| Great Blue Heron |
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| Roseate Spoonbill |
I am not going to try to give you all the details of the trip. We paddled to the entrance of the Commodore Creek Paddling Trail. If you are looking for it paddle near to the mangroves west of the launch. Cannot miss it. It has a big blue sign. Once in the creek we completed the circuit, paddled close to the mangroves again, this time to the north, once in Tarpon Bay. Saw manatees first and dolphins later. The manatees were a little too active for us splashing strongly. We assumed they were mating since have seen that behavior at Haulover Canal and gave them a wide berth, a very wide berth. You do not want to be in the middle of that. If you get too close, you will not end dry. No way. If you do not end in the water, a splash will get you wet. The pics, with a couple of exception, did not come good. The dolphin pics were not anything to call home about, after yesterday's pics it is going to be hard to be satisfied with any other dolphin pic, but wifey saved one. We returned to the launch site and it was 10:35AM at the time. A little over two hours, which is very short for us, but it was a good time. Here are the pics of what we saw during this paddle at Commodore Creek and a section of Tarpon Bay.
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| Anhinga (female) |
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| Tri-Colored Heron |
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| Tri-Colored Heron
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| Anhinga (male) |
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| Juvenile Ibis |
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| Juvenile Ibis
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| Little Blue Heron |
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| Commodore Creek section between markers 11 and 12 |
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| Anhinga (female) |
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| Dolphins at Tarpon Bay |
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| Manatees at Tarpon Bay |
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| Manatees at Tarpon Bay |
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| Yellow Crowned Night Heron |
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| Great Egret |
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| Great Blue Heron |
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| Roseate Spoonbill |
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| Roseate Spoonbill |
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| Great Egret |
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| TBD |
And that it it for this one. Not too many pics but hope you like them. Thanks for reading and see you soon, from another place in Florida, to share more Views From Our Kayak.
