Cerulean Day

Seaside Sentries, Cayo Costa Florida - February 11, 2024

​Dark slate water and soft silver clouds tinged in varied hues of greens and blues greet us as we step onto the dock. My mom, dad, daughter and I are headed out for a day of discovery with Captain Jenni of Flipside Eco Charters. Leaving from the marina on Captiva Island, Florida, we’ll  explore Pine Island Sound. The sound lies between Pine Island and the barrier islands of Sanibel, Captiva, North Captiva and Cayo Costa. These barrier islands separate the sound from the Gulf of Mexico.

My dad had been dreaming up this idea for months, a foray into the open blue with his favorite three-generation gals. It is a bonus to have our captain be another strong, capable woman. 

Captain Jenni welcomes us aboard with a warm smile and twinkling eyes. Popping our shoes into a waiting bucket, we settle in comfortably at the bow, and tend to our first order of business: manatee spotting. Rumor had it a mother and daughter manatee were hanging around the docks, but unfortunately we don’t see them. We do learn from Captain Jenni, however, that manatees can weigh between 800 and 1200 pounds, and their closest relative is the elephant. 

Motoring up the sound, we learn about mangroves which make up many of the little islands in this area. The mangrove seed can survive for two years. When it finds the perfect spot in the oyster beds, it puts down roots. As the mangrove grows upward, the roots grow downward towards the water, and the oysters cluster on the dangling roots at water level like giant charcoal-brown grapes. Together the mangroves and oyster beds form islands that provide vital habitat and shelter. The oysters are also efficient water filters - cleansing as much as 80% of the water in this area.

The boat slows, and Captain Jenni noses us gently onto a sandbar, right in the middle of the sound! We jump out, mucking about carefully in the ankle-deep water and discover anemones, starfish, and tiny sea urchins. Captain Jenni points out little tubes poking up from the sandy floor. These are the siphons of the clams hidden below; the siphons are the way bivalves take in and expel the water. 

The sun gleams in a cerulean sky as we step foot onto Cayo Costa (“Key by the Coast”) for some shelling and wandering. The tip of the island is home to a grove of dead trees which form interesting sculptures. Charlotte finds a sea urchin that has suckered large shells all around its body as camouflage - the urchin looks like it is covered in radar dishes. She also finds some sea sponges and explains to my parents and I how they work. Captain Jenni has gathered and created a lovely tableau for us when we return to the boat: a shiny orange rock that is actually a calcified tube worm mass, a seashell medley including tulips, jingles, and a shark’s eye, and a lovely sea oat branch. 

By now we are all hungry. Cabbage Key is the place for lunch out here - only accessible by boat. The key gets its name from the Cabbage Palm. The palm is named for its edible heart (you guessed it, it tastes like cabbage) that can be eaten raw or cooked. This delectable dish is known as swamp cabbage. 

Sadly, the restaurant is fresh out of swamp cabbage, so we make do with a mouth-watering meal of grilled tripletail fish on a bed of yellow rice and black beans. We scrape our plates clean. This restaurant in the “Old House” focuses on reduce/reuse/recycle whenever possible, as all waste needs to be removed from Cabbage Key by boat. The main room is covered - walls and ceiling - with dollar bills that patrons brand with a marker and tape up with masking tape. The bills are taped in layers to each other, and some are taped in chains that hang down to snag the hair of anyone walking beneath. The restaurant donates over $10,000 to charity annually - all from taped-up dollar bills that fall.

This custom of taping the dollar to the wall of the bar originated with the fisherfolk. When they stopped in at the bar after a long day at sea and a good catch, they’d tape up the bill for the inevitable time when their catch would not be so good. That way they could still buy a beer on the lousy days.

After lunch we head to Useppa Island, home to the Pink Promenade, which was originally made of shells and pink sand in 1903. This path wanders through lush tropical flora including orchid trees with fragrant magenta-and-white blooms, a show-stopping century-old banyan tree, and strangler figs, to name just a few. We also encounter gopher tortoises, large and small. They tend to be on the move, and like to eat hibiscus flowers. Well, most of them. One tortoise turns its nose up at my hibiscus and tromps the flower into the dirt in its rush to get on with its day. These tortoises dig large burrows that serve as habitat for at least 300 other species, including gopher frogs, indigo snakes, and burrowing owls. 

On the way back to our starting point at Captiva, we motor by the historic fish houses of Captiva Rocks - colorful square and rectangular buildings sitting on pilings in the middle of the sound. Also known as ice houses, they were built starting in the late 1800’s as ice storage, and to provide living quarters for fishermen and their families. These iconic structures have been the subject of some controversy - in the 1980’s the state started burning the houses as they were deemed to be interfering with travel on the sound. Some were saved by placing them on the National Register of Historic Places. These resilient fish houses withstood Hurricane Ian in September 2022. 

There are several brown pelicans awaiting us as we pull up to the dock at the marina. Our hair is wind-tossed and briny, our skin warm from the sunshine, our grins tired and happy. My senses feel saturated in contentment.

A couple of the pelicans swim close enough that we can see the downy yellow fuzz on their heads, like the last wisps of hair adorning an otherwise bald pate. They are expecting food, and getting none they simply fix us with their side-eye stares, ready to dart and grab if we produce some hors d'oeuvres after all. I wonder if their observant gazes pick up on what an inspiring and extraordinary adventure we’d just had. Probably not. For them, it is just another day.

Mom holding starfish on the sandbar

Charlotte holding camouflaged sea urchin

Sea Sponge on Cayo Costa