Boudoir marina

A lot of manatees have visited our marina in the past few weeks. Singles, mother and calf, and yesterday a rather amorous couple who used our marina as their boudoir.

Note the propeller scars on the larger one. Sadly few adult manatee escape this type of injury.

This is a not-to-clear picture of mother manatee and calf. The mother has a large propeller injury and the calf just has its nose out of the water.

I almost hesitate to include the next picture since it was visible to everyone; however, during a happy hour last weekend that persisted into the evening, Ron (next door neighbor)  got out his big camera and tripod for this full moon shot.

Alone again

Spring break is over and the snow birds have left. We are alone again on our island.... well, almost. The population has dropped by 50 or 60 percent.

 Traveling now makes us appreciate where we live. We do get jaded about Longboat Key until we travel the mainland, then the reality of the outside world comes rushing at us and we can't wait to return to our idyllic island.

 Note in the picture below that De Anne abandoned her little Walmart kayak in favor of the neighbor's top-of-the-line Hobie kayak with the peddle fins.

There is still some occasional excitement in the bay. This 80 foot cigarette boat (complete with 3 cabins and 3 baths) is docked on a lift across from us. It is easy to get a picture since you can hear it coming for several minutes before it passes us. The link below the picture is a youtube of the boat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BotcJP0D3vw

The fish have returned in huge numbers and the herons and egrets work our docks fishing at high tide. Every bird is fat and sassy now and when the tide is out and fishing is not so good they now have the strength to fight. 

Two egrets attacking each other in mid-air on the clubhouse patio: