Another Day at the Beach

Today Paul, Hannah, Russ, and I spent two hours at the beach this morning, came home and relaxed, then returned to the beach for supper and sunset.  Life is good!!!

Morning beach photos:

might be the same starfish that we saw last night; however, one extra "leg" is chopped off

foggy morning at the pass

lots of pelicans on a sandbar on Wiggins Pass

a quiet, secluded beach area along Wiggins Pass

There's two inches of water here...love the clarity of the water in this section of the pass!

The highlight of this morning was when Russ and I found Hannah sitting on a bench talking to two amazing people.  They love to say they are "from Michigan" (they now live in North Naples full-time), but they were born in Germany (the part that became East Germany).  When the split happened between East and West Germany, Dorothea was visiting her aunt in the western side.  She could not get back to the eastern side.  Her husband, Harry, had to sneak out of the eastern side, at times being chased by dogs and much of the time crawling on his stomach as he crossed over the mountains to reach freedom in the newly formed West Germany.  Harry and Dorothea LOVE life.  They spend almost every day now at the beach for a few hours, enjoying themselves.

meeting Harry and Dorothea Schubert

Paul and Russ picked up grinders at Publix this afternoon; we ate them for supper at the beach.

Can you see Hannah taking a photo with her awesome camera?

Every night the beach is lined with people enjoying the beauty of the sun setting over the Gulf of Mexico.

Adventures Continue!

Some people have complained that I have not been in many pictures on this blog.  This week, Hannah was gracious enough to email some of her photos of me so that I can appease those who have been wondering if I really am in Florida!

at Naples Botanical Garden 

Naples Botanical Garden

House Hunting

Windy day at Englewood Beach

Pontoon boat tour; the only reason I am wearing a jacket is to not get a sunburn!

Cookout at the beach

I love swimming in the gulf!

NOT a flattering photo of me, but great photo of our adopted zebra (a toy we found on the beach several days ago which now accompanies us to the beach every day)

Back to this week's news...

We continue to love Delnor-Wiggins Pass State Park's beach!  It is 2.7 miles from our condo's front door.

That night, Paul and Hannah's friends Mark and Joanne joined us at the beach for a cookout and sunset watch.

Others having fun at sunset

The next morning, we were back at the beach!

People fishing at the pass

Our big trip this week was a boat tour on Naples Bay (and briefly out into the Gulf of Mexico).  We took off from Tin City, a little set of shops and restaurants located at the dock. 

Photos taken while waiting for the boat tour to begin:

Outside of Newport, RI, I have never seen such opulence and wealth.  Most of the boats and houses belong to billionaires and millionaires.  Eighty-eight percent of these wealthy people spend only one to four weeks each year at these huge homes. 

Heading out of Naples Bay into the Gulf of Mexico

Looking north

Looking west

Looking south

Look carefully in the distance and one can see tall building on Marco Island

We saw dolphins playing in the bay on our trip back to the dock.

See the fin?

Swimming alongside of the boat

It is crunch time now trying to get my quilt ready to be mailed up to Massachusetts a week from Monday.  Here is it needing a ton of quilting within the squares (the sashing is quilted in the ditch already):

After a few hours of quilting, we all headed back to the beach.  Today Russ finally went swimming in the gulf!

Can you spot Russ?

I also got to see my first starfish of the winter!

NINE legs!

We also got to see a terrific sandcastle today: