The Wedding (Pictures)

Recently Amy and I had the privilege of attending a wedding in Fort Myers, Florida. The wedding was for Matt and Aimee Dalton, Aimee is a college girlfriend of Amy. The wedding was on a Saturday and Amy and I took the day off from work on Friday and arrived in Ft. Myers in the afternoon. Aimee and Matt had arranged a shuttle at the airport that picked us up and took us to our hotel when our flight arrived. We stayed at the Pink Shell Resort in Ft. Myers Beach on the northern tip of Estero Island. The resort was absolutely beautiful. Situated right on the beach, the rooms had floor to ceiling windows and looked out over the Gulf of Mexico and the resort pool. After we arrived at the hotel, we checked into our room and met up with everyone else who was down for the wedding. That evening Aimee and Matt had arranged dinner at a local restaurant for friends and family. Everyone had a great time at dinner and we even received a boat ride to and from dinner. Saturday everyone got up early for breakfast and made way to the beach to catch some rays before the wedding. Four of us rented Jetskis and spent a half hour cruising around. The wedding was scheduled for late afternoon and was held right on the beach in front of the resort. The ceremony was very beautiful, complete with a violinist playing Canon in D as the bride walked down the aisle. The reception following the ceremony was outside on a patio right next to the beach. There was a pool near the patio surrounded with luminaries engraved with the initials of the bride and groom. The DJ and a small dance floor completed the reception and kept everyone dancing into the night. Highlights from the night included a Ohio vs. Boston dance showdown, midnight swims in the pool, and late night flip cup.

Cayo Costa (Pictures & Video)

Since we had made the trip to Florida I had decided beforehand that it would be nice to stay a few extra days and do some exploring of the area. I had arranged to kayak and camp at local state park located on a island a couple miles off the mainland near Fort Myers. Unfortunately Amy couldn’t afford to take any days off from teaching so she returned home on Sunday while I stayed around for my solo adventure until Wednesday. The Sunday after the wedding many of the out of town guests met up at Aimee’s parents place for a brunch before catching flights back home. The house was very cool, it was situated on a canal and had a screened in pool connected to the living room of the house. Most of the houses in the neighborhood had a similar style of screened in pool connected to the house. After the brunch, I went with Amy to the airport to see her off, and to pick up the rental car I had reserved for my extended trip. The car rental process went smoothly, and was pleasantly surprised with the Chrysler Pacifica I was given instead of the Chevy Aveo I was suppose to received. I took off from the airport and headed to the Beachouse Lodge on Pine Island in Bokeelia where I had reserved a room for the evening. About 45 minutes later I arrived at the Beachouse with no problems and checked into my room. The Beachouse is a three story house located in a quiet neighborhood and situated on the water with a long pier extending out from the shoreline. There was no beach area but the water was very clear and you could easily see Snook, Rays, and other fish swimming along the bottom. After checking in, I drove back down Pine Island to the town of Matlacha, a funky little town adjacent to Pine Island. I stopped at a local tackle shop and picked up some fishing supplies and live shrimp then headed over to the supermarket to grab some food for my trip. I arrived back at the hotel and decided to try my luck at catching some fishing from the Beachouse pier. The wind had picked up from when I first arrived creating a light chop which somewhat hurt visibility but I was still able so see some schools of snook swimming around the pier. My first cast immediately netted a good sized snook, it was so easy that it almost took the fun out of it. My confidence was running pretty high after my first catch, but unfortunately, it turned out that the first snook I caught ended up being my last. The snook were smarter than expected and got spooked every time they caught sight of me. By the time I finished chasing snook, the wind had picked up even more to the point that I started getting a little worried about the kayak trip to Cayo Costa I had planned to make the following day. I awoke early the next morning and from the sound of waves crashing on the shore I could tell that the wind was still blowing pretty good. I got up an snap a picture of the sunrise and confirmed that there was still a pretty significant chop on the water. I still had some time to burn until the kayak rental shop opened so I ate a nice peanut butter and banana sandwich for breakfast and went out for a walk down to the end of the island to see if I could scout out my kayak route a little better. At the tip of the island I could see Cayo Costa in the far off distance along with Boca Grande a little to the north. Walking back I noticed that the kayak shop was open so I hurried back got my things together and checked out of the Beachouse. I arrived a short while later at the Jug Creek Cottages, operated by the Tropic Star, which is where I rented my kayak. I was outfitted with my kayak and on the water in no time, close to 10am. This being my first time in a sit-in kayak, it took me some time to get adjusted. I had with me a large dry bag containing my tent, sleeping bag, food, clothes, and other supplies. The kayak had a compartment in the back of it, but the opening was to small for my bag. I finally manage to get my bag in the compartment with only my sleeping bag and clothes inside, and had to stow my tent, food, and small nylon supply bag separately within the compartment. The kayak I was equipped with wasn’t exactly outfitted properly for fishing which made things difficult. Luckily I had brought along a bungie cord that I used to strap down my fishing rod to the deck of the kayak in front of me and I sat my livewell, containing my live shrimp, on a flat part of the kayak deck directly behind me. This proved to be the optimal setup for me, occasionally the livewell would fall off the kayak, but I had it tied on so there was no danger of losing it. After I finally was able to get comfortable in the kayak I set off on my path to Cayo Costa. I had brought along a handheld GPS with me and also had some charts of the local area so I had a good idea of the route to take through Pine Island Sound. I had originally planned on kayaking from Bokeelia, around the east side of Part Island, across to Cabbage Key, then onto Cayo Costa, but after departing from Bokeelia and surveying the distances from my kayak, I decided to switch to a shorter route. Instead of Part Island, I shot directly over and around the east side Patricio Island, then over and along the north side of Punta Blanco Island, then on to Cayo Costa. The sound is fairly protected from the wind and waves and is for the most part shallow throughout so the chop was light, making for easy navigation in the kayak. While paddling to Patricio Island I decided to try trolling some live shrimp and picked up a couple hard fighting ladyfish as a result. As I reached Patricio, I worked along the shoreline casting with live shrimp, retrieving very slowly. After a few casts I hooked up with a nice sized redfish that put up a nice fight all the way to the boat. I stopped on a beach shortly after catching the Redfish and ate a granola bar, some gatorade, and a PB & banana sandwich for lunch. Most of the islands I came across were completely covered in mangrove and this was one of the few beaches I found. As I was looking around the shoreline I spotted a skull of some kind. After looking closer I discovered what appeared to be a skull of a wild pig. I took off from Patricio and head on over across the Intercostal Waterway to Punta Blanco Island. On my way over I passed some very shallow water, there was Redfish all over the place crashing through the surface chasing smaller baitfish. At one point I got stuck on some kind of oyster or shell bar. The shells were very sharp which made getting out of the kayak out of the question. I had to use my hand and body momentum to painfully scoot the kayak over the bar. After crossing the shell bar, I paddled across and up the north side of Punta Blanco Island. About halfway up the island I spotted some dolphins some 100 yards or so ahead of me. I got within 20 feet of one pair before a power boat came up and scared them all away. The dolphins reappeared after the boat left and one of the dolphin was showing off by repeatedly smacking is tail fin against the water. I continued paddling along Punta Blanco and into Pelican Bay. I stopped on a beach on the Cayo Costa side of Pelican Bay to take a break and get my bearings. As I got out and looked around I noticed a small lagoon in the back of the bay. There were fish jumping completely out of the water, some appeared to be very large, possibly tarpon. As I was walking up closer to the lagoon I heard a huge crashing noise behind a bush between myself and the shore. I cautiously rounded the bush but did not see anything in the water. The noise sounded like something was crashing into the water from the shore so my first thought was alligator, but it could also have been a tarpon in shallow water next to the shore. I checked my GPS and confirmed my location and looking to my east I could see a dock in the distance further down the bay. I got back in my kayak and starting making my way down to the dock. About halfway there I was paddling along when all of the sudden I heard something very large break the surface of the water close behind me. I turned around and to my surprise I saw a manatee with its head above the surface staring back at me. I quickly grabbed my camera to snap a shot but by the time I had it ready the manatee was gone. I circled back to see if I could spot it again but had no luck finding it. I abandoned the manatee and continued onto the dock and arrived shortly thereafter. I found a pull-out spot for kayaks and got my supplies together and stowed my kayak in a grassy area next to the pull-out spot. At the end of the dock was a trailer serving as the ranger station. I found the ranger, got checked in, and hitched a ride over to my campsite on the other side of the island. The campsite was completely empty, apparently I was right on the cusp of the busy season, and had just avoided the mosquito season by a week or so, perfect timing if you ask me. I unloaded all my stuff, and set up camp. The camp area is on the Gulf of Mexico side of the island near the beach. At this time it was around 4pm or 5pm so I decided to take a walk out to the beach and check out the sunset. I ended up walking a mile or 2 down the beach checking out different things as I went. I even came across a lagoon with a sign cautioning swimmers of alligators. The ranger had mentioned the island had several resident alligators, which surprised me considering the salt content of the water. I got some beautiful pictures of the sunset and made my way back to camp. Upon returning to camp I realized I should have collected firewood before going to the beach as the sun had set and I was almost out of daylight. I managed to collect some dried palm fronds and a few pieces of wood here and there, but for the most part, finding stuff to burn wasn’t very easy. I got a nice fire going and a half hour later I was scarfing down a dinner of hot beans and rice. I finished up the night was a cold outdoor shower in the dark at the nearby bathrooms. The next day I woke up early with a big day ahead. I had to catch a flight at 2pm which means the 8 hour trek the day before had to turn into a 3 hour trek today. After the mile walk across the island with all my supplies, I got back onto the water around 8am. Since I had to make good time, there was no time for fishing along the way. I had the wind to my face and the chop had picked up from yesterday which made for slow goings, and white knuckled paddling through some sections. Luckily, I managed to paddle the 2 some miles back to Bokeelia on schedule in around 3 hours. I arrived back around 11am, turned in my kayak and hit the road for the airport. Overall it was a great time, I was a little skeptical being a first time kayaker, especially since the trip covered relatively open water, but luckily I was blessed with good weather and no problems. Pine Island and Cayo Costa are both very beautiful places to visit. They’re somewhat off the beaten path which is nice if you’re looking for a relaxing time away from the crowds and closer to nature. I hope to visit again sometime.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 5th, 2007 at 5:58 pm and is filed under trips, personal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.