Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge

After leaving the action of downtown Fort Myers, a couple of days at Ding Darling Nature Refuge was a nice contrast.  We anchored in the large bay just outside of the markers showing the boundries of the preserve, alongside a large mangrove island.  We quickly launched the dingy and took off on a 'sploring expedition.

Jeff was in his glory, snapping away.  We went over to the ranger station hoping to dock only to find they were about to close up for the day.  We made plans to head over in the morning to spend the whole day.

That changed the next morning.  We were FORCED into a slow morning as the tide was particularly low and we weren't able to make it over to the ranger station through the cut out in the mangroves.  Ho hum.  We poured more coffee and sat on the flybridge in the sunshine, enjoying breakfast with the dolphins.  We watched, spellbound, as they worked together to herd the fish into the shallows beside our boat and indulged in a full-fledged feeding frenzy.  Amazing teamwork!

The tide came up and we were off.  We spent the day at the refuge, taking a loooong walk in the heat, going on a tram tour and learning everything we ever wanted to know about mangroves. Actually, probably more than we ever wanted to know. Back at the Ranger Station dock we had to carefully manouver around a couple of lumbering manatees to get the dingy out of their bay and back to our boat.  We enjoyed yet another quiet evening in paradise.  The parks are proving to be one of the highlights of our trip.

We barbequed out in the cockpit and enjoyed a quiet evening (no sirens) watching the amazing show in the sky, a multitude of stars in all their glory.  While we were quietly sitting there we could hear the dolphins coming up to check us out, snorting through their blowholes.  Jeff shined a light on the water and we could hear the snorts getting closer and closer but we couldn't see them in the dark.