Come Fly Like A Bird
Created | Updated Feb 10, 2005
Sanibel and Captiva Island in Florida.
As we touched down on a little airstrip that afternoon an unforgettable view of the unspoilt beauty of Nature just opened up right in front of me. In my mind this is how it will stay for ever although the little cottage situated by the water's edge is not there anymore.
After we landed we could taxi right next to our lodgings with the plane. The owner soon greeted us, offering us a choice of cottages in which we could stay. No hotel, no check in, not even any other humans to see. Those were the days. Ah, such happy days! They have gone, just gone as the area has now been developed and filled with hotels and the trappings of the tourist trade.
The name of this small enclave was Casa Ybel and it consisted of just a few small cottages on the shore of the Gulf of Mexico. As was proven in the future, Leo was a true master of finding unspoilt places such as this. There was nothing there; just the quiet water ending somewhere on the horizon, the sky and some birds, including egrets, poking into the water to catch some dinner. If there was any noise it came only from the birds and the chattering splash of the water. No human civilization, only the sounds of Nature.
We walked for about half an hour to a restaurant, which naturally had no fancy exhibition of tasteless decoration, but did have the best meal I have ever eaten. Some new food was introduced to me such as Persimmon - a very pretty reddish-orange coloured fruit grown right there and ripening in the winter months of January and February. It was a delight. The restaurant only had a few guests - people avoiding crowds, like ourselves.
I quickly learnt that, when you fly with your own airplane into somewhat unknown territories, you have to walk a lot. There are no car rentals, no parking lots and no keys to your hotel room. This was true of Casa Ybel but I can honestly say that we did not miss these so-called luxuries.
Walking back to our lodgings after the meal we passed the Ding Darling Bird Sanctuary. It was that time of night when the birds seek out a place to roost for the night. Unfortunately we didn't have time, on this trip, to stop and take in all the wonders of this event but I was so thrilled to have discovered this sacred place that I determined to come back - to watch and just sit there and see the wonders of Nature. In fact, it touched me so deeply that I did, eventually, make it back. I gathered more than enough information to fill a separate article which I will produce at a later date. What could be more appropriate than to call it 'As The Birds Go To Sleep'! Thankfully Federal Law, at the time, protected the sanctuary, meaning that no human destructive activity was permitted. Some politicians recognise the importance of protecting wildlife although, many times, this acknowledgement comes too late and does too little. I hope that this sanctuary has survived the insane developments for huge profit which have occurred recently on this island and others on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico.
We had too few days to spend on Sanibel Island and it was obvious that, as there were so many interesting activities to see and explore at once, we would have to come back. So, at the beginning of this visit, Leo drew my attention to the seashells. This island is renowned, particularly to the scientific community, for its great variety of shells. The shell is a magical creation of Nature. The creature which lives in it creates a beautiful object for humans to admire. We collected some shells but we bought more at the local store. After all, there is a certain limit as to how much one should take from the wilderness. The best thing to do is only take photographs and leave everything as you found it.
The edges of living water, like the Gulf of Mexico, have many other objects to offer - for example, driftwood. Driftwood shows us, once again, the endless variety of Nature's wonderful creations. If driftwood could talk, we could really learn about the life in the ocean. What started as a simple piece of wood is tossed around for years and fantastic carvings are formed by the water, the wind and whatever else the driftwood is exposed to.
Too soon our time came to leave the island. Going home was not going to be as happy as when we came. It was February and, up north, it could still be very cold, with snow a distinct possibility. We certainly did not rush back to the New York City region. Leo stopped to refuel in Venice to show me another lovely place in Florida. We picked some oranges, drank fresh juice and put some fruit in the plane for 'a rainy day'. We stopped a few more times just to see the weather reports on Teletype. These little places were mostly run automatically like the lighthouses.
We arrived back in the late afternoon. Yes there was snow on the ground and it was not really a very nice way to greet people coming from Florida! There was, however, the hope of a plan to return for more unforgettable days learning about everything which was there and, mostly, about the art of 'Weather Flying'!
