351 Living well in Paradise

I love living in Indiana and I love living in Naples Florida as well...It is becoming a problem for me. but not one that for now I can not handle. I think I love Indiana the most but, when winters bite is biting then its alfully nice to have a warm place to pitch ones tent....Naples is hard to beat for sure with the terrific weather, wonderful town, great fishing that I have come to know with a few freinds...Some of them have boats which gets me into the backwater catching fish like sheep head and snappers and trout...It is such a great way to pass a winter snow and ice free...In the pic above you see a happy camper who has just caught a hammerhead shark.  They are not the best eating fish as far as I am concerned.  The sand trout in the picture below are pretty good eating but my favorite is the snappers and the sheep head which is what I fish for as often as I can... 

 And then when one tires of fishing there is alway the beaches of Naples seen here.  This photo was taken on 3rd Avenue South.  The site of the ole Naples Peir that was taken out by a hurricane many many years back..But the piers or post that held it up are still there...makes for good fishing I guess but I have not caught any there...I do however dig for sand fleas there to use as bait to catch other fish in other areas...There are good beaches on Marco Island as well but I prefer the Naples beaches as they have less shells and more nice sand...Also it is only 4 miles drive from my condo so it is close and quick....I love the gulf waters as the surf is usually gentle but a great sound...It has no rip tides to wash you away and no huge surf to knock you down flat...It is nice, it is Paradise, and one that if I had to I could learn to enjoy year around...

I walk about every day here in the neighborhood.  Tonight I took a different path though an area to the east of my condo area.  I noticed that behind the homes there was a forest and that many large bald cypress trees are present there...So that tells me that it is maybe a borderline swamp area..But it was fun looking at these giant trees that are making a comeback here in Southwest Florida....Bald Cypress was pretty much clear cut and removed from this are during world war two...The wood was used for caskets and PT boats I have read and seen in the local museums...But now they are making a comback and that is good to see....someday we may need them again who knows.  Glad to be back blogging again it has been over two months since my last blog...I will try and do better from here on.