Sanibel and "Ding" Darling

Sounds like it could be a love story, huh?  It takes us a little over an hour to get to Sanibel Island and the J.N."Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge.  We have visited here twice before but each time we see something different.  You can read about one of our other visits here.

Although it looked like we might get rained on, it turned out to be a beautiful day.  We took Titan for a walk before leaving Punta Gorda and decided to bring him along so he didn't have to spend most of the day alone.  Beside, he loves a good car ride.  We stopped for lunch at the same small deli we stopped at last year, the Sanibel Deli and Coffee Factory.  I can't speak for the coffee but the sandwiches we had were very good and reasonably priced.

 

"Would you like condiments with that doggie?"

The wildlife refuge covers 7,608 acres and according to their brochure, is home to...
35 species of mammals
102 species of fish
14 threatened and endangered species
272 species of birds
60 species of reptiles and amphibians

It is visited annually by 750,000 visitors but is an inexpensive trip, with an entrance fee of only $5.00 per car and only $1.00 if you want to walk any or all of the 4 miles instead.

We saw some of the usual birds and fish but we also enjoyed a few surprises, including the alligator, which apparently wasn't hungry,

and the wood stork, which is unusual here according to the information volunteer.

 

Some of the usual suspects...

white pelicans

little blue heron

big spider that I could see from the road...yikes

Thanks for stopping by...
;o)