3-19-2025 Siesta Key Beach

 We had a lovely dinner at The Cottage last night, but the drive home was a nightmare.  Apparently they shut the bridge down to one lane early and it took about 45 minutes to get home - a distance of 3 miles at the most!  When we finally got back it was too late to walk across to the beach to catch the sunset so we will try to do that tonight.  Dave and Russ won again at cards, but it was a fairly close game until the end when they whooped us big time.

Today was our last beach day and it was a beauty!  Clear skies and warm with a light breeze - perfect.  There were a lot of dolphins frolicking in the waves today.  There were also a lot of gulls on the beach.  The only ones I can name are the laughing gull and the royal tern (see pics).  We finally caught up with Eddie the Egret!  He was standing at the counter as if placing an order of shrimp and chips.  When he had no luck there, he went to the back door of the kitchen.  He didn't get fed while I was there so am not sure if he got lucky or not.  We all took walks on the beach at various times.  Russ and Dave bumped into Scooter shooting his facebook morning report on the state of the beach.  We saw several guys with metal detectors checking the beach for treasures.  Dave chatted with one guy who has found a couple of expensive diamond rings so as well as a hobby, I guess it can be profitable.  Russ tried feeding the seagulls his leftover french fries.  They wouldn't take them out of his hand, but did enjoy it when he tossed them on the nearby sand.  Dave and I left after lunch and spotted an osprey as we walked to the shuttle stop.  We will have fish tonight for dinner.