Wednesday (October 24) was a transition day. We were moving from Tarpon Lodge on Pine Island to Captiva Island. We were a little reluctant to leave right away. Since our boards were already out on the lawn (in the gardeners way) we decided to take them out before for a paddle in the morning. We launched again right from the dock behind the Lodge. At breakfast we had chatted with Erik, a local fishing guide (Native Attitude Fishing Charters). Erik suggested a route for us to take going south from the marina into the mangrove estuary. We think we found the right place. We paddled in through the mangroves along a creek. Kathy went first and she had to knock out the spider webs and spiders along the way. It was fairly shallow and there were lots of submerged logs and roots. In some places we had to crouch down. It was fun but a little eery since we didn’t know where the trail would lead or what was ahead. We eventually ran into a dead end and had to turn around our boards in a creek that wasn’t as wide as the boards.
Loading the boards on my car, now that we have four, was quite a feat. The trick was to remove the fins and do a practice stack on the grass to see what order to load the boards. These are clever girls and after an hour we had all four boards securely loaded with four straps and some noodles and bubble wrap for padding. It was entertaining to watch three opinionated women (I was taking pictures and keeping my mouth shut) negotiate this effort.
One last dip in the Tarpon Lodge pool before moving on.
We took a short detour to Bokeelia at the Northern tip of Pine Island. There isn’t much up there. Pine Island doesn’t have any sandy beaches so its not been heavily developed like other barrier islands in the area.
The main road going North and South is H. Stringfellow.
View of Sound from North end of Pine Island at Bokeelia – Stringfellow Road
We stopped for lunch at Captain Con’s which faces the Sound. It was good enough, once we finally got some service. There were only two tables of people in the restaurant and it took the waitress fifteen minutes to get our order. We were about to walk out. We thought the sign “We have a skeleton crew today. Bear with us” was a Halloween joke but maybe not. Anne is still talking about her mushrooms and onions which Kathys says were sopped in butter.
We headed South towards Captiva Island down Stringfellow Road. Took a short detour through Cape Coral, a once up and coming planned canal neighborhood that now looks a little tired and foreclosed upon to look at a lot that our family has ended up with.
At Bokeelia on Pine Island, there are two empty chairs for Pres and VP.
Drove straight through to Tween Waters Inn. It’s a casual resort, located between the Gulf and Pine Island Sound on Captiva Island. It has cottages and suites some facing the Gulf and others the Sound. Lots of trees and sandy roads. Highest building is three stories. Our room faces the sound with a screened in balcony. The building is a cement painted yellow and orange. It’s a 2 bedroom with 1 bath and a living area and small kitchen, recently renovated.
We watched sunset on the Gulf, a treat for those of us on the Panhandle. There are some decent shells on the beach right in front of the resort. It was late so we ate at “The Crows Nest” where we had a $30 credit. Our waitress was a very big girl so we decided to eat light – a sampling of appetizers which were fairly good. The Bruschetta was best, lobster quesadillas and shrimp were okay and the Gyozas were good.
