Friday, February 15, Out for a drive

There were light showers off & on thru the night. Apparently about 2 1/2 inches of rain fell, which is VERY unusual. Everyone is blaming us! It's a very damp morning.

At 10:00 we were off for a drive. It is cloudy and 18C. By 11:30, we crossed a drawbridge onto Pine Island. Pine Island is the largest island in the state of Florida. Located on the Gulf coast of southwest Florida, it is also the 118th largest island in the U.S. Pine island is surrounded by mangroves and includes three aquatic preserves. Residents and visitors are attracted to Pine Island's natural rural character, fishing and boating. Pine Island is mostly agricultural zoning; some visitors travel over a hundred miles to purchase tropical fruit such as lychee and mangos grown and sold on Pine Island. The Intracostal Waterway passes through Pine Island Sound, to the west of the island. Matlacha Pass runs between Pine Island and the mainland. Pine Island lies west of Cape Coral. Pine Island is home to four unincorporated towns: Pine Island Center, St James City, Bokeelia and Pineland. Matlacha is also considered one of the communities but is actually on its own small island. Pine Island has a small town atmosphere, with no traffic lights and mostly agricultural zoning. Each community has its own largely volunteer fire station, marinas, shops and fine casual restaurants.

Upon reaching the "T" intersection, we turned north to Bokeelia, where we stopped at Capt'n Con's Fish House for a nice seafood lunch overlooking the water. It has turned out to be a nice day, 20C, with some sun & cloud.

After lunch, we walked out on the pier & watched pelicans catching their lunch.

Then we drove south to the other end of the island where lies St. James City. There are many canals throught the town which provide the homeowners water access for their boat right in their back yard. Also, many backyards had an enclosed pool.




By 1:50, we were back on the mainland, planning to go to Sanibel Island. However, by the time we got through traffic, it was getting late in the day and we were getting farther from 'home', so decided to just go back to the Park.

We did make one stop at Papa Murphy's Take'n Bake Pizza (we have fond memories of their pizzas from Arizona last year!). They assemble it in front of you, wrap it up & you take it home to bake.

On our return to the trailer, I cooked up the five meat stuffed crust pizza for supper. AWESOME!
And only $10.00!!!