Made it back safely on Wednesday afternoon from our river camping trip.  It was nice to get back into camping, which we hadn’t done since mid-2012 on our first road trip.  Stopped along the way at my grandpa’s house to enjoy a dip in his pool and a couple cold beers which tasted great after the 7 mile paddle in the mid-80s. Also stopped in a fishy looking spot with a nice beach and actually saw about a dozen healthy snook cruising the shoreline, but couldn’t entice them to try our artificial baits.

Cindy and I were both ravenous after the peddling trip and hadn’t provisioned a lunch, so breakfast was the only meal prior to dinner.  That evening we enjoyed another delicious mahi dinner on my grandpa’s last evening in cape coral before he drives back north for the summer.

It has been great to spend time with so much family while we have been here in Cape Coral.  Living in Florida since 1997 has been great, but a downside has been not seeing my family enough.  Really glad we are achieving that goal of ours during this sabbatical.

Spent Thursday resting up and continuing our planning for the upcoming road trip out west.  Putting together some nice destinations so far.

My mom flew in on Friday afternoon, so we picked her up.  The timing worked out well in picking her up right after checking out another travel trailer on that side of town. Two sellers with similar trailers to negotiate, which is a good situation for us!  Plan to share some pictures of it this weekend when we finalize a deal.

March was a really chilly month here in south Florida, which was a bummer for visiting family at times.  Glad to see normal 80 degree temps return for the start of April.

Decided on an impromptu overnight camping trip.  Heading out from the house and down the caloosahatchee river towards sanibel.  Not sure where to camp tonight, but we noted a few possible islands as camp-able.
More to come along our journey…

Packing up the yaks for an overnighter, requiring many more pounds of stuff

Pre-launch check before departure

345pm update
Made it to our first area for a break. About 2.5 miles into the trip. Breezy conditions coming right into our face so its been a bumpy and slower ride so far.

Pit stop #1. Fort myers in the background

730pm update
Finally made it to a camping beach on a deserted island. First one we saw was a wildlife refuge, so no camping allowed. Next island over was a nice shell beach and large open area in the middle.

Slow going with an incoming tide and head wind. Sanibel causeway in the background.

A nice secluded campsite

Boo to lazy people

920pm update
Found a few wet items while unpacking the yaks..including my sleeping bag. Hopefully it dries out a bit before bedtime. Just enough daylight left to collect firewood, setup our tent and a makeshift kitchen. Worked up quite an appetite today from peddling for 5.5 hours.
Brought along some fresh mahi, onions, tomatoes and leftover orzo w/ mushrooms. Combine the mahi, onions and tomatoes w/ ranch dressing in a tin foil pouch and drop it on the fire for 20 minutes. A recipe we originally learned about in Tahiti… Deeelish!

Beachside campfire, warming wet feet with limitless driftwood

We started our spring road trip planning today.  Tentatively planning on a mid-april departure for about a month and a half.  We still have yet to visit many of the states, so tons of things to check out.  Currently thinking we will start heading west to Arizona, then north to Wyoming, then back east and south to Florida.  Laying out ideas of places and people to visit, hopefully camping most of the time.  Still deciding on whether to buy a travel trailer for this trip…

If you have any thoughts on places to see along the route, let us know!

Our northern visitors have continued their spring break visits.  Been hanging out with my uncle and cousins around the pool the last few days.

Ventured out on the dinghy today with cindy and my grandfather.  Took off in breezy conditions around 10am. 

Just enough room for 3 peeps and a dog on the dinghy

Weather forecast had the winds dying down in the afternoon.  A rarity that they were right!  Turned out to be a beautiful day and we had good action most of the day while we trolled along the leeward shore.

Inshore trolling on the caloosahatche river

Stopped for lunch along the way at a secluded beach before making our way back home.  Nice to see the sun again after a few cloudy and rainy days.

Ended the day with a bunch of jacks and ladyfish for citrus tree fertilizer and a keeper spotted trout.

Drove to the north end of cape coral around noon today for a radio controlled air show.  It was an impressive collection of planes and helicopters.  A great finale with a b29 that had a 20 foot wingspan and it carried an X1 rocket plane.

Led to some interesting conversation with my grandfather about his military years during WWII.  He was actually based for some time near Brunswick, GA, flying radar missions out over the ocean.

Impressive level of detail built into these model planes

A huge model airplane!

Loaded up the ford truck with 6 people and 6 bikes this morning.  We drove down towards the everglades national park, which is about an hour and a half away.  Made it to everglades city around noon and parked at the national park entrance.  Decided to ride our bikes down the causeway over to Chokoloskee.  Quite an interesting island, basically in the middle of nowhere..

First stop at the Smallwood Trading Post

Cracking open coconuts for an afternoon snack

Took a couple hours to explore the island with a few stops along the way.  Turned out to be a great weather day for biking, with a bit of headwind going back to the truck.  Had to drop off my cousin at the airport at 6, so we stopped at bonefish grill for an early dinner of happy hour appetizers and drinks.  Hadn’t eaten bang bang shrimp in a long time, hard to pass up at only $5.  The rest of the group hadn’t been to a bonefish before, but they all enjoyed it.

Plants in our self-watering bin are doing great.  Haven’t watered them again since planting two weeks ago.  Shipment of worms showed up too, so we are off and running with vermicomposting!

Time to eat garbage!

Fresh veggies coming soon

Enjoyed our redfish for dinner over 2 nights.  Invited my grandfather over for dinner on monday night.  We enjoyed a nice evening out on the deck.

Fresh fish for an outdoor dinner, perfect!

Jalapeno is normally unfriendly with other animals, including Mugsy

Picked up some new guests at the airport late monday night.  My uncle ryan and aunt claire arrived to spend the week.

Tuesday’s weather wasn’t great, cloudy the entire day.  Loaded up the truck with beach gear and fishing supplies.  Drove out to spend the day fishing along the sanibel causeway.  Moved a couple times to stay out of the wind.  Decent action during the day, but only 1 keeper for dinner being a spanish mackerel. 

Two men, one kayak

Success!

Waiting for a bite...

A new friend looking for a meal

Took the yaks out yesterday and fished near the cape coral bridge.  Paddled about 6 miles total, but not much luck fishing.  Saw a bunch of rays and 5′ sharks on the flats on our way back.

Enjoyed a delicious meat dinner last night.  We indulged in a rack of ribs for our march meat selection.   Another nice, sunny day today.  Loaded up the yaks with cindy and my cousin justin.  Drove up to matlacha and launched our yaks at a rental place where justin could rent one for the day.  Paddling around islands in the pine island sound.

No luck yet, but did my good deed of reporting a dead manatee..

5pm update: fish on! Nice 26″ redfish on the way back