Bowman’s Beach was really something back then, and I spent many happy hours there. In August, you could swim out to just beyond the breakers off Ding Darling and find sand dollars galore by feeling them with your feet, then diving under to pick them up, sometimes finding a flounder by mistake, which was kind of exciting for us kids. We always put the sand dollars back because they were alive and there were always plenty of dead bleached ones to be found on the beach.
My Dad had fun catching lots of snook off the mangrove flats and I, being a kid, caught lots of redfish and sheepshead at Blind Pass. My mother amassed quite the shell collection. I marvelled at the huge floppy fins of the Tarpon towering over me as I bobbed in the water, loved to see them. So many good memories. We were always invited to dinner at the retired admiral’s house once a week, which was quite an occasion to me as a little girl. His housekeeper who served at the table was named Modess! It wasn’t until I was a teen that I realized why my parents found her name, er, unusual. Ah, we kids were so innocent back then.
On North Captiva, I had long amazing swim alongside a manatee, who kept looking over at me as if laughing and saying “can you keep up?” You don’t often see them on the Gulf side, but that big guy was having a blast and so was I.
I had always wanted to go there from reading all the Randy Wayne White Doc Ford novels. He’s a worthy successor to John D. MacDonald, imo.
Wonderful memories, thanks for sharing.