I joined an Outdoor Adventures Klub (OAK) outing, biking Sanibel Island. Sanibel is a noncommercial island between Sarasota and Naples, Florida. It's also the home of J.N. "Ding" Darling National Park -- a wildlife refuge. OAK is a social organization where people get together for adventure activities. You never know who you'll be with. We were 8 strangers sharing a day of new experiences. 
Sanibel is 12 miles long with bike paths criss-crossing it. After a couple miles we stopped at a lighthouse for a photo op. The real find though came a little later when we passed a primitive, yet tropical cemetery. Seemingly for the disenfranchised, one gravestone said "Unknown Man Found Near Lighthouse." We wondered if the dead were in coffins. Sorry.Riding down the path to our right were homes, condos and tennis courts embedded into the flora and fauna. It dawned on us that they were predominately vacation rentals. It hadn't been obvious because
there was no commerce. No hotels, no restaurants, and no outfitters lining the roads. Even the one restaurant we past and ate at was an oasis.
To our left were obscured sand dunes and wide beaches. We stopped at Tarpon Bay Beach, where everyone shell-shopped in the sunny bright white sand. I was struck by an oddly looming sky behind me, and the eeriness of the fog in the dunes. Spooky.
Collective hunger set in. We ravaged a list of restaurants. I wanted to pick one that sounded irreverent, like Island Cow, but no way -- that one meant backtracking. The most convenient was the tired sounding Doc Ford's Rum Bar and Grille ("Doc Ford" is a protagonist in Randy Wayne books). It promised to be a sports bar with "gourmet cuisine" - an oxymoron. Apparently not, because instead of grouper on a bun, I ate panko-crusted basa fish on a role with a romoulade. Twas delicate, satisfying, and humbling.
Ding Darling (I keep wanting to say Ding Dong) was a refuge for wildlife and for us! We followed a group of people with telephoto lenses the size of telescopes. One man allowed us to put my lens to his and snap a picture of a Roseate Spoonbill bird close up -- an event for us wanna be orinthologists. At the bottom of the mangrove estuary were multiple species of crabs. Below the water were Sand Sharks, translucent Needle, and other tropical fish. Black ducks swooped below the water, while Long-feathered Craines shook their booties on land. Most were scoping prey. After 6 hours or so, I started to put out some harmless whines about my baking skin and sore bum. I knew I would get over myself. Despite me others remained upbeat and flexible. Nothing mattered to my new travel companions. Everyone was in the moment. Thank you OAK.
Outdoor Adventures Klub www.geocities.com/outdooradventuresklub/
Sanibel Island Chamber of Commerce www.sanibel-captiva.org/
J.N. "Ding" Darling National Park www.fws.gov/dingdarling/
Sanibel Beaches www.sanibel-captiva.org/play/beaches.asp
Tarpon Bay Beach www.sanibeltrails.com/tarponbay.aspx
Doc Ford's Run Bar and Grille www.docfordssanibel.com/
We love Sanibel Island. That is where I had my unintentional swim with dolphins (as a class of school kids screamed from the shore "They bite, they bite!!!!!"). I didn't get bit, but I was surprised at how HUGE they were. I guess Flipper looked so much more sweet and cute on TV.
Anyway, my folks are going there this weekend. I should have read this first so I could tell them about Doc Ford's!
XO,
MG
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