30 Da Beach Bum (Riddle Me This)

 I soar above, looking for a treat, sometimes I'll snatch what you eat.

answer:

For the Bold


Snatched from Beach Bag and opened before you could say Do-Rit-Tos

We put together a Scavenger Hunt for the girls while they were here.  Lexi and Taylor have been Beach Angel certified for a long time. They have been coming here since they were babies.  The three girls that came down with them were making their first trip.  We told them they needed to do the Scavenger hunt in order to become Beach Angel Certified by NaNa and PaPa. 

The scavenger hunt was in the form of riddles much like the one I opened the blog with.  I figured it was one way to get them to pay attention to the beauty of the island instead of spending their day focused only on their phones taking selfies.  Trust me they got plenty of selfie time but they did manage to work on the scavenger hunt too!


The 2025 Scavenger Hunt for the big girls

Lexi and Taylor were able to help with the hunt and Cristyna and Lexi rocked it.

I'm round and flat a coin from the sea, A fragile treasure for you to see!

$23

Blind Pass Beach

Sunset at Turner Beach

The Beach Angels after completing one of their Sports Illustrated Swimsuit shoots


NaNa made some of her Paint Poured Resin tumblers for the girls.  She gave it and a little memento from Sanibel once they completed the Scavenger Hunt.









Just like the ocean one wave has come and gone and another one is on the way.  We got some more first timers coming for this next week.  Ryan, Kristine and their little ones Adalynn, Riley, and Lucas.

Ryan was here once before but didn't like it because he spent too much money on cigarettes.  Not because he smoked them all but because he kept forgetting to take them out of his pockets before getting in the ocean!  

More Beach Angels in training (Adalynn & Riley) and a Land Shark(Lucas) to get certified.  We have another scavenger hunt prepared just for them.  While they are not total rookies to the ocean (They have experienced in the frozen waters of Oregon beaches) They have yet to experience the warmth of the gulf paradise here on Sanibel.

We went to Lighthouse Beach today.  It was packed and was really a little too crowded for my liking so I'm just sitting back enjoying the breeze and watching people.  In my observations I discovered another Beach Bum requirement. Treasure Hunter! 

Everywhere I looked the beach was filled with treasure hunters.  Some just walking the surf line looking for treasures on the shore.  Others were waist deep in the gulf battling the waves for the oceans hidden treasures.  There were even old guys in search of our discarded treasures using a metal detector.  One particular treasure hunter duo caught my eye and took me back to a fond memory I had with one of my Beach Angels.  

A young girl I assumed with her dad was vigorously scooping up shells from the oceans floor.  She would find something and bring it to him.  Not sure if she was brining it to him just to show it off or asked him what type of shell it was.  It took me back to when one of my Beach Angels would walk the beach with me and come running up to me to share her special find.  She's older now and I miss those days! 

I can only hope my next batch of Angels in training are treasure hunters too!     










































 


Comments

JimBob said…
Nice story! Now, back to those SI swimsuit models! 😂
June 13, 2025 at 8:58 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

30 Day Beach Bum (The Ocean is like a box of Chocolates)

Image
The 30-day Beach Bum tour has come to an end.  Back home to reality and Day 1 had me wishing I was back at the Beach.  Why is it when you're gone from home for an extended period of time, the home has a way of reminding you that you can run, but you can't hide from the maintenance requirements of being a homeowner. The well tank decided to give me such a reminder while we were gone. The pressure relief valve decided to pop off and partially flood the basement.  Fortunately, water was contained to the unfinished side of the basement. I spent half the day yesterday troubleshooting and making repairs. A faulty pressure switch was the culprit causing the system to over pressurize, I shouldn't complain it was the original switch from when we built the house but of course it waited to fail while we were gone. Thanks to Ryan, the grass did get cut once while we were away for a month, but today I'm sure I pissed off all the local frogs. I sent them running for their life while ...
Read more

Our Journey 45 Years Down Life's Highway

Image
Normally  we would be on the road today heading back to reality.  But today is a bonus day.  Tonight we stay at "Casa Ybel" on Sanibel. June 12, 1976,  Forty-five years ago.  It would cost you 13 cents to mail a first class letter.  Gas was 61 cents a gallon.  The average annual income was $12,688.  A new home would run you around $49 grand. Platform shoes, flares, afros, and mullets were all in style.  On the TV there was M.A.S.H., The Carol Burnette Show, and Hawaii Five-O.  The top song was "Silly Love Songs" by Wings. Our non-married friends would come over to our apartment on Saturday nights and pass out on the couch watching "The Three Stooges". We were young.  We were unsure.  We had no idea where Life's Highway would take us back then.  But through love, dreams, and hard work we plotted a path and worked on this journey together and look at where it has taken us. Life lessons along the way were all landmarks in the...
Read more

Superman & Tweety Bird

Image
Thursday morning it was time for more seafood omelet research.  We went to the Island Cow and I got a what?  answer: Seafood Omelet.  Just seeing if you've been paying attention.  The cow's omlete did have a pretty good amount of seafood but the crab meat was only shreds and there was more shrimp than anything.  There was also a watery consistency to the inside of the omelet that was most likely from not suffciently draining the seafood before adding it to the omlete. So ranking order so far IMO is: 1.  Hungry fisherman @  Lighthouse Cafe 2.  Crab & asparagus omelet @ Amy's Over Easy 3.  Loaded Seafood Omelet @ Island Cow On Thursday the high rollers came to Captiva.  I'm not referring to a group from vegas with money to burn, but mother nature rockin the waves in the gulf.  You know it's rough when you look down the beach as far as the eye can see and there is not more than a hand full of people in the water. W...
Read more

30 Day-Beach Bum 2025 version

Image
So, after being a novice Beach Bum for many years I think this year it's time to turn it up a notch and move up to Semi–Pro. Normally we only spend about a week on Captiva or Sanibel. This year we’ve rented a house on Sanibel and the plan is to spend the month of June. This will give me plenty of time to hone my Beach Bum skills. I won't be going it solo my trusty co-pilot is of course here for the fun and during the month we will feature guests appearances from some seasoned Beach Angels and we will also be qualifying some new Beach Angels who will be here on their inaugural tour.   What do you think is required to be a successful Beach Bum? Here is my checklist.  Let me know if there is anything I missed. Love for the Beach Willingness to relax Sun protection Hydration Comfortable chair Towel I read to qualify as a professional Beach Bum it requires a minimalist attitude.  Seeing the back of the Pickup bed was fully packed for the trip down here I may not meet t...
Read more

Prepping for Paradise

OK! Its time to blow the dust off this blog and get ready to share our next adventures in Paradise.  In my book Paradise is Captiva/Sanibel Florida. A place where we call our home every one-two years for a week away from the daily grind. I'm drawn to Captiva so that is where we set up our home base for the week.  We also seem to zero in on Laika  Lane.  We have stayed at several of the houses on Laika lane over the years and this one will be no different.  This one is a Cutie! Our group this year will be the usual suspects.  My granddaughters, the beach angels.  My daughter, wife and a new rookie to Sanibel/Captiva my daughter's boyfriend. So the truck is washed, waxed and ready to load.  Its become somewhat of a ritual to put a coat of wax on before the trip.  Some say its because I want to have a nice looking vehicle to start off on the trip.  In reality it makes it easier to clean all the love bugs and other unfortunate insects...
Read more

Sand Dollars, Starfish, Stingrays and Sandy Sanibel

Image
We're back home now and I thought I would make one last post to catch up and share some pictures from the week.  Have you ever noticed the older you get how time seems to fly by faster?  I can remember as a child summer vacations that seemed like  they went on forever.  Now a week is here and gone before you know it and a weekend goes by in the blink of an eye.  If I didn't know better I would swear the earth was turning faster.  One thing for sure when I was a kid it was a time when things were much simpler and took longer.  While technology is great, I think it will deprive some of our younger generation from some of the simpler joys in life.  Things like "kick the can" and staying out and playing all day just making sure you got home when the street lights came on. The waters have been clear and full of sea life this trip.  You can stand in the ocean chest deep and see your feet!  We were concerned about how the week was going t...
Read more

Branson by the Ocean a.k.a. Gulf Shores Alabama

Image
So today reality sets in and its back to the daily grind.  I still haven't told you about our last day at Gulf Shores, Alabama so here goes. We left St. George Island around 11:00 a.m. on Thursday.  Next stop, Orange Beach and Gulf Shores Alabama. We drove along the coast most of the way.  Lots of swamp logging going on in this area and somewhat unfortunate to see so many closed businesses and abandoned buildings scattered along the coast line. It was a different story when we got into Orange Beach/Gulf Shores.  I compare it to a place we have in the southern part of Missouri called Branson.  Lots of people, lots of cars, and a bunch of tourist type attractions.  So to me Gulf Shores was Branson by the Ocean. It has a higher density of people and high rise accommodations than my heart desires but we have never been here and now we know.      The slogan for Gulf shores is "Small Town, Big Beach"  The beach was wi...
Read more

Ticket to paradise

Image
$6 for a ticket to paradise.  I'll take it. Sanibel Causeway Price for admission $6 We're here!  Great trip down we actually arrived earlier than we normally would and we even made a stop in Sarasota to pick up a new water camera.  On day one we stopped in Valdosta Ga.  We got a text from our daughter she was surprised we made it there as quickly as we did then she politely ask us to let her out of the trunk!  I know she really wanted to come but a new job this year meant no trip for her and the Beach Angels.  I'm sure we will torture her all week long with text and pictures. We'll  put this new camera through the paces this week and hope that it holds up better than the Fujifilm one  did. It bit the dust while we were vacationing down here a couple years ago.  I really wanted to get a Panasonic Lumix T5 but it was impossible to find it without ordering it on-line and we waited too long and didn't think we could get it delivered...
Read more

A Special Shell

Image
Yesterday evening we had one on the lowest tide we were able to catch this week.   I walked the surf at the shoreline to see if there were any shells. I was able to find a few but the shells have not been plentiful this week.  We actually collected more at Barefoot Beach the other day than we have here all week. As I was walking along I began remembering some of the times on the beach with the Beach Angels.  The younger one "Taylor" taught me a life's lesson that I would like to share with you. Taylor especially when she was smaller was always amazed with collecting rocks.  It was nothing to dump out a pocketful of rocks that she had collected from around PaPa's Koi pond or in NaNa's garden.  They were nothing special they were just rocks. Naturally when we began bringing Taylor to Captiva where the beach is full of shells as far as the eye can see. She did what most of us do down here she began collecting shells. Taylor's shells were crac...
Read more