A STAR IS REBORN
You should hear this, I thought to myself, contemplating how I’d elucidate to those not present the sounds that unfurled around the quay where the Bertram 61 sat. It had been pleasantly silent within the confines of my sleeping quarters—the 61’s full-beam master stateroom. But after I made my way on deck, the predawn air seemed to vibrate with life. I sat on the gunwale, bare feet on the dock and took in the melodies of Sanibel Marina.
The barrier island is rich in wild ecology, with the nearby J.N. “Ding” Darling National Refuge—home to 51 types of reptiles and amphibians, 32 mammal species and over 270 species of birds—occupying one-third of Sanibel. (Over half of the island is protected.) Many of its creatures seemed to be awake, jabbering away. Over the low hum of countless insects, tree frogs and other unidentifiable creatures, the grunts of roseate spoonbills intermingled with the high-pitched pizzicato of a pair of circling ospreys. A black-crowned night heron zoomed past, the
