January 12 -- a quick trip to Sanibel and Captiva Islands

Today was supposed to be a day to photograph birds on Fort Myers Beach, but the weather forecast (rain) encouraged us to rethink our plans. Since Sanibel and Captiva were both showing overcast but no rain until late in the day, we jumped at the chance to spend the day on the islands!

Smoky loves Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge; it is a great place to see and photograph lots of wading birds, and we have some really nice photos of hawks and osprey taken there, too, in past years. Plus we were hoping for an excuse to eat at our favorite island restaurant, the Mucky Duck on Captiva, where the key lime pie has for years set the standard for that dessert for us.

Our favorite ice cream store!

As we were driving over the causeway to Sanibel, we were reminiscing about past trips. We both remembered a great ice cream shop on the east end of the island near the lighthouse. We knew it had a unique name and that the ice cream was the best we had every eaten. I googled "ice cream Sanibel" and found the shop -- Pinocchio's Original Italian Ice Cream!

It wasn't even lunch time as we were crossing onto the island. Smoky asked me if I thought it would kill us to have ice cream before lunch. I laughed and said "Definitely not!" So we headed straight to Pinocchio's!

The shop location looked a little different, but the ice cream was just as we remembered! After trying several flavors, Smoky settled on Cherry Vanilla (real dark cherries, not the candied kind), and I picked Sanibel Crunch (vanilla with chopped pecans and coconut, I think). We sat outside on the front porch and enjoyed every bite!

Left: Smoky's Cherry Vanilla; right: my Sanibel Crunch.
Note the signature animal cracker on top.

While I was eating, I walked to the end of the porch opposite Pinocchio's and saw some amazing bakery items through the window. I had not remembered there being a bakery in this building on our last trip. As soon as I finished my ice cream, I went back inside to check out the bakery. I discovered Geppetto's Beach Foodies, a market for people who love good food, as described in one of their brochures. Every single item in their display case looked divine. I couldn't wait for Smoky to see this!

Crodoles© -- available only at Geppetto's!

Two items looked particularly good to me. They were round and bite-sized. I asked what they were and were told "Crodoles©" -- sweet croissant bites that resemble donut holes. But these are baked, not fried. One had a delicate coating of powdered sugar and raspberry sauce. The other had been split and filled with a peach-flavored pastry filling and topped with powered sugar and sliced almonds. We had to try these!

Across the counter from the sweets were some great savory items: artisan sandwiches, NYC bakery style pizza, and several other items, all of which made my mouth water, in spite of being very satisfied after Pinocchio's ice cream. I settled on some Crodoles© and a slice of pizza. After we drove to the lighthouse at the end of the island, we stopped back by Geppetto's for another slice of pizza and one of their signature pastries, the Sanibel Blossom, a pull-apart round crossant filled with strawberries, cream, cinnamon, and chocolate in separate parts of the blossom. My, my...

Donna shows me her specialties of the day: NYC style pizza
and some yummy sweets, including her specialty,
Sanibel Blossom©

As excellent as every bite of the food was, the best part of this morning was meeting owner Donna Puma and hearing some of the story of how she and husband Tom had purchased Pinocchio's in 2007, a year or so after moving to Sanibel. A few years later, they opened Geppetto's. I could tell her food was going to be delicious even before I tasted it because it was filled with her love.

Donna also blogs about cooking and eating at Hungry Fooderati. Check out her blog for some very interesting recipes and more info about Sanibel Island. Follow these links if you want to know more about Geppetto's and Pinocchio's. And be sure to visit if you get to Sanibel. You don't want to miss Donna's delightful creations!

Smoky got some great closeups of pelicans, a willet, and a snowy egret on the beach at the far east end of the island near the lighthouse. A fishing pier with lots of fishing activity draws the birds in, and they have no hesitation around people, hoping, I feel sure, for a handout from the day's catch! For us that means great opportunities for closeup photography. Check out the drowsy pelican.

Brown pelican trying to catch a few winks.

I really like these images of a willet, snowy egret and pelican, all taken near the fishing pier near the lighthouse.

Willet.

Snowy egret.

Brown pelican.

We headed next to Ding Darling Wildlife Sanctuary to see what birds were hanging out in the marshes and tidal pools. This has long been one of our favorite birding locations, and today was a good day. Most of the birds had congregated in the tidal flats. We saw several roseate spoonbills along with lots of gulls, several species of wading birds, cormorants, lots of white pelicans (with their 8-ft wing span), great blue herons, great egrets, diving ducks, and probably some I have forgotten. Lots of people enjoy this wild area, and you can always count on seeing at least one other photographer with a lens bigger than yours!

We stopped at Cross Dike and walked down to an area where we usually see some birds. Today the yellow-crowned night heron was hunting for crab on the bank of the inlet. He didn't let the curious visitors interfere with his work.

Yellow-crowned night heron looking for crab.

Once caught, the crab gets cracked in that strong beak.

Oops. Crab's revenge! Can't seem
to shake that claw loose.

We wanted to get to Captiva before sunset, first to be on the early seating at the Mucky Duck, and second to see the sunset from their beach. We had window seats tonight, so we got to watch the progression of the sun dropping lower and lower in the sky. Just as we finished our delicious salad topped with shrimp (for Smoky) and grouper (for me) and key lime pie for both of us, the sunset color was building. It was a really lovely evening and a great end to a delightful day.

Sunset photos from the Mucky Duck's beach.

Don't forget you can click on the photos to see larger versions.

--Shann