Today we visited the "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island. Led by our wonderful tour guide, Donna, we kayaked around the preserve. Jessica and myself shared a kayak, and during the journey we saw various types of birds, crabs, and even held a starfish. After our formal tour broke off, we were free to kayak around the area for ninety minutes. Pete and Ayla were able to see a dead alligator (which I'm quite jealous of), though we were unable to locate it.

Some of our group, before heading out.

If you look closely, you can see a crab on the mangroves.

After heading back to the hotel for lunch, we went to Bowman's Beach to collect more shells. Some of us were more successful than others, but I did manage to find a perfect shell...Unfortunately, it was still the home of a hermit crab! Most of us were getting sunburnt at this point, so after spending a little longer on the beach, we headed back again.

Bowman's Beach 

Occupied shell

Tomorrow, we plan to go to Apollo Beach, which is north of our current location. We're going to be snorkeling, which is something I'm quite excited to do. Wish us luck collecting shells!