FLORIDA'S GULF COAST & THANKSGIVING

Jules’ Journal:

By: Julianne Lillie

11/22/22 – Shelling on Keewaydin Island:

Today was our only “fun day” in the Naples, FL area and originally our plan was to be camping in Ft. Myers and do a day trip to Sanibel Island for shelling. However, Hurricane Ian wiped out most of the RV parks there and Sanibel Island got hit hard, too, (still recovering) so we had to find alternative plans about a month ago. Luckily Naples wasn’t hit too badly and we found an open RV spot for 2 nights! (Thank you, Lord!) So instead of shelling at Sanibel, I booked a shelling tour to Keewaydin Island which is just off the coast of Naples – in between Naples and Marco Island.

We had a lazy morning with cinnamon rolls for breakfast and an early lunch at 11am. At noon we left the camper and checked in for our “3-hour tour” to go shelling.

Here's Jett in front of our boat:

We departed promptly at 1pm and the tour wasn’t crowded at all. There were only 2 couples and 1 single outside of the 4 of us plus our Captain and first mate. On our way, the captain (a certified Florida Naturalist) narrated all about the history of Naples Bay from real estate to ecology to wildlife we encountered!

We saw mostly birds and he was extremely knowledgeable! Here's one of the many pelicans we saw. This one we know is an adult because it has a white head. The Juvenile pelicans have brown heads.

Then we came upon 1 dolphin (male) and watched him for a bit. The reason we know it's a male dolphin is because it was along, not in a "pod." Females alway travel in a pod... naturally.

Then moved on and saw several Ospreys & their nests. We also saw 1 bald eagle nest, but sadly no eagles in or around it. The bald eagle nests are so big!

However, we did see plenty of White Ibis, Pelicans, Egrets, & Herons! Here's one of the many White Ibis we saw. Their white bodies are easy to spot against the green mangroves.

Then we came upon another dolphin (another male) who was fishing! It was neat to watch him slap his tail which apparently stuns the fish so he can eat them. Pretty cool!

Then we made our way through Rookery Bay (AKA the mangrove forest) where manatees are often sighted. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any though. We finally made it to Keewaydin Island where we disembarked & they handed each of us a complimentary shelling bag. They gave us 1 hour which went by SO FAST!

Shells were EVERYWHERE! I’ve never seen so many shells before in my life… not even on Sanibel Beach! Our captain said that Hurricane Ian ended up doubling the beach size and dumped so much more shells. In places you couldn't even see the sand because of all the shells… and you could dig through layers upon layers of shells! We had a blast collecting all different types of shells we also make a tortoise friend!

This guy was extraordinary! Even though he is a land animal by nature, he left his nest (in the mangrove trees) solely to come take a little swim/bath in the ocean. We watched him with awe walk into the waves and ride them back in several times. Then we observed him walk along the beach (with Jett) for a bit and then head back into his nest in the mangrove trees. It seemed like the tortoise enjoyed Jett’s company while they were walking on the beach. Of course, we didn’t touch him… we let him have his space and watch in awe as he did his little peculiar thing.

Jett took a liking to him and named him “Shelldom” because he has a shell and tortoises seldom swim in the ocean!

Jason and Jett also found a little hermit crab:

After we got back in the boat our naturalist told us that he was an endangered Gopher Tortoise. And that they tried to rescue as many Gopher Tortoises from this island that they could before Hurricane Ian hit and they haven’t reintroduced them back onto the island yet. So, he was super pumped to see that at least one survived the hurricane naturally.

On our way back to Naples Bay we watched all the pelicans fish for their afternoon snack!

Once we got back to the RV with our shell bags full, it was operation clean shells! It took the 4 of us cleaning for about 1.5 hours before we got them all done!

Here’s a picture of our combined booty for the day!

So thankful for this super awesome day full of memories! And now we're ready for Christmas crafting with all of our shells!

11/24/22 – Thanksgiving at the Beach:

We had heard from some locals that Clearwater Beach is really crowded and instead, we should go to Honeymoon Island State Park. So, we took their advice, packed a picnic, and headed north to the hopefully less crowded beach. As we were driving onto Honeymoon Island we were so surprised to see SO MANY PEOPLE out walking, running, and fishing on Thanksgiving morning! People were everywhere!!! We paid our $8 entrance fee to enter the State Park and headed first to the Nature center.

We looked at all the neat exhibits including their shell collection. And Jett joined in as a Florida State Park Junior Ranger. He took an oath to get a badge. And then once he completed 6 activities he can earn his patch (which the Park Ranger gave to me to give him once he finishes.)

After that, we headed to the beach and we were so surprised to see that a ton of other people were here, too! I guess the beach is the place to be in Florida on Thanksgiving! There were several groups with huge canopy tents and their Thanksgiving meal spread set out for the whole family. I thought they were pretty brave because the sea gulls on the beach are just relentless when it comes to your food!

We passed all of them and went a bit further north on the beach and found a little spot close to the water.

Jaycie and I walked the entire 2-mile beach (and back) collecting special & unique shells that we lacked to create some Christmas crafts. And I was so surprised here, too! There were SO MANY SHELLS!

The Park Ranger told us earlier that Hurricane Ian brought a ton of shells onto the beach so shelling would be good! And she was certainly right! It was much like Keewaydin Island… just heaps of shells to sift through! We were specifically needing small one and spiraled ones that look like unicorn horns. And boy did we find lots of those! We hit the jackpot!

While we were beachcombing, we happened upon a fun little shell tree! And, of course, Jaycie had to find a big shell with a hole so she could add to the marvelous little tree!

Once we made our way back to our spot, Jason had already got our cooler from the truck and was setting up for lunch. We had turkey sandwiches, of course!

And while we were eating we watched a pod of dolphins diving and jumping. It was so neat, like God orchestrated a dolphin show just for us! They were jumping and diving and splashing!

We also found a tiny little hermit crab

And then also a fairly good-sized spider crab… for a spider crab!

At about 2pm we headed back to the RV where the boys dropped us off and headed to Clearwater Beach to go parasailing. Meanwhile, Jaycie and I cleaned shells until our hands were so pruny we couldn’t keep going!

So, then we started the fun part…. Crafting with them! We ended up making 24 Christmas gifts together while we listed to Christmas music (& did laundry!).

When the boys came back (about 5:30pm) they said they had a blast parasailing! But that Clearwater Beach was SO much more packed than Honeymoon Island! So, I’m very thankful for the advice we were given earlier!

We looked through their amazing photos & Jett said it was such a great experience! He loved being up so high!

We had Salad and Spaghetti for dinner and then started packing up for the traveling day the next day. These 2-night stents are hard… and we have 4 of them in a row. We are booking it to try to get home to Great Gram!

Jaycie’s Bunny Hoppin’ News: Eco-Shelling Tour to Keewaydin Island, FL

By: Jaycie Lillie, 11/22/22

We got on the boat and started on our journey. We saw many birds!

Here was a pelican fishing:

We saw dolphins, too! Multiple dolphins are a pod of females and one dolphin is a male – they travel alone. So this was a male dolphin. He was fishing.

When we got to Keewaydin Island shells were all over. We got free shelling bags! So, we got to work! We had to be fast because we only got one hour!

We saw a Gopher Tortoise. We didn’t touch him. He played in the waves a bit. Then he kind of walked with us as we were shelling.

Once we got back to the boat we had a bunch of shells! We really had a LOT of washing to do! So, we formed an assembly line at home and washed them all!

Jett’s Wild Flight: I see Jett in the SKY!

By: Jett Lillie, 11/24/22

We awoke, had breakfast, and hopped in the car. We drove to Honeymoon Island Beach State Park and found lots of giant mosquitos everywhere except the beach, thankfully! We found the perfect spot and set up camp.

I built a huge sandcastle, and we found lots and lots of seashells, both big and small. My dad and I got in the water and found a hermit crab in his shell. We had lots of fun, but it was time to go home.

My dad and I dropped my mom and Jaycie at our RV and we went to Clearwater Beach to go parasailing! It was AMAZING!

I saw a dolphin and a boat, too! We were 500 ft. in the air, but it didn’t seem that high!

They let us down so we could splash our feet in the ocean!

If you have not parasailed before, then you HAVE to do it! Even if you are afraid of heights, show your phobia who’s BOSS! Just DO IT! [Nike, please don’t sue me!]