Bokeelia ~ Pine Island

Another trip was made to the SW coast,

This time to check out Cape Coral...

C.C. is located on the E side of Charlotte Harbor...

What we saw we did not care for,

But we mosied on over to Pine Island

(The largest island on the W coast of FL)...

Bokeelia is on the N tip of the island,

At the mouth of Charlotte Harbor...

It is one of five communities on the island...

There are two piers; this one has a locked gate...

The other pier, you can walk out on part way...

At its gate you have to pay $8 to enter...

While we ate a seafood lunch at the rustic restaurant

Across the street from the piers,

Ru saw a fin out in the water between the piers...

We finished our lunch and went to watch

A porpoise! It was hunting,

And I couldn't get any photos besides of the fin...

...and the splash as it caught a fish,

After zipping at warp speed towards shore...

We did see the fish flip up into the air...

Nearby, and further back down the road, there are two huge osprey nests...

I was able to get photos of the osprey at the nest by the piers...

I did see an osprey in the nest, being fed by the one I photographed...

The osprey flew around nearby then landed on a nearby post...

...And another nearby post...

Here's a perspective shot of the nest...

A brown pelican between the piers.

The porpoise sighting was my first ! Very cool.

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A special thanks to Caroline for ID'ing the "duck" in my previous post (Feb. 21) as an Egyptian goose! I KNEW it was a legit bird, not a hybrid, but the memory was too hazy to roll off the tip of my tongue, and it wasn't in either of my two bird guides (where on earth did I see it then?)

Another aside...we have made the tough decision not to buy a home in Port Charlotte/No. Port,

Due to the communities mostly being on well/septic water, something we're both uncomfortable with.

I'm pretty disappointed, but we will push on and have another area to check out on the NE coast...

I soooo wanted to live on the SW coast but the water and Chinese drywall issues are putting the kabosh on that....