Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge

Mounted the GoPro onto my bicycle while Connie and I rode through the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island this past June. The camera is mounted on the front of the frame, below the handle bar and turned out better than the time I tried taking video with the camera mounted ON the handlebar. Still not perfect, however, but good enough, I guess.

NEAT!, but next time shoot the video in time lapse mode so it looks like
you're pedaling your tush off. 70 MPH on a mountain bike? Sure! No sweat!
Just watch this video of me doing it!
Andy :wavey:

We live about 10 miles from Ding and we go about twice a month .Early morning brings out the best in wildlife

Sometimes the odder of red tide is a little overwhelming but not as bad as last year .

Yeah, Connie and I haven't stayed on Sanibel for a couple of years now because of the red tide problem. But honestly, even without red tide, the water there has always smelled a bit off to me. Probably from the runoff coming out of the Caloosahatchee River and the fact that there is so much mangrove swamp area all around the place on the bay side. Not really bad enough to stop me from snorkeling, but not the usual salty sea smell you might expect.

One year we went to Englewood right around this time of year, and we didn't realize that red tide was in full swing. Of course, no one at the motel told us about it. Couldn't spend much time walking the beach because our eyes were stinging so badly. Nowadays if you are planning a trip to any of the Gulf areas, it would be wise to check on the status of red tide there.

https://myfwc.com/research/redtide/statewide/

Are there any Australian Pines left on the islands? I believe Hurricane Charley took them all down in 2005. I was there working with the Sanibel PD providing some much needed relief for their officers and it appeared that nearly all the trees were down. They had to use a loader when they reopened the island to push them out of the way to be able to use the roads.

Didn't notice if the pines we're gone but will next ride down .Florida is like a jungle and everything grows quickly .I do need to get a book on Florida trees to get more educated .

Yeah, there are still some there. There is a road going into "Chateaux Sur Mer" that has a number of them along the road. Probably more in spotty locations too. I just never really paid all that much attention to them, as you get used to seeing them in south Florida.

I understand that the Australian pines are particularly difficult to eradicate, and there have been projects to try to do so in some areas. So they are probably pretty tough and resilient.