What did you like most to do when you were 6 years old? Undoubtedly C’MON and its focus groups of 6-year-olds and grown-up former 6-year-olds have already anticipated your answer.

The Golisano Children’s Museum of Naples, 10 years in the making, opens Tuesday, Feb. 28, to mounting anticipation. Here’s a sneak peek.

Some of what the 6-year-olds suggested has to do with what they experience here in Florida; some of it, what they miss.

That’s most obvious in the Mother Nature’s House seasons exhibit. In the

Fall in Woodstock, VT

spring in Martha’s Vineyard room, they can make a bird’s nest. In the summer in Naples section, they can do a news broadcast about a tropical storm on-camera, reading from a teleprompter.

But when they get to fall and winter, the fun really starts: a tree that spits out leaves they can rake up and a chilly igloo where they can write their names in the condensation on the window.

Naples environments

The Naples Trolley is the centerpiece as you enter the 30,000 square-foot hall of the colorful ship-shaped building. Inside the trolley, kids get their picture taken for a driver’s license and punch buttons to go to some of the museum’s 12 different galleries.

Behind it, a mammoth, very real-looking banyan tree has its 350 branches filled with stuff animals. Inside, kids can step into a virtual pond and watch the fish flit away and water plants grow.

The Journey through the Everglades exhibit’s boardwalk winds up into the tree and overlooks the mangrove maze of 20 or so pods with hands-on learning experiences such as making a rattlesnake noise. Looking through special glasses, you can see the world through an alligator’s eyes.

Colorful and ship-shaped C'MON

As visitors make the journey, lighting and sound effects mimic spending a day in the moody environment.

At the Beach, kids can fish with poles and magnetic bait, then identify the fish they caught. A paddle boat, crayon rubbing station, and 22-foot-tall walk-through shark’s eye shell t all teach in a cleverly sneaky manner.

At the Farm & Market, conveyor belts take sorted fruits and vegetables to the grocery story next door, where the check-out person runs functioning machinery to ring up what customers have taken off the shelves.

In Backyardville, a hedge maze, rolling hill, and graffiti wall provide outdoor fun.

Age Appropriate

Soft, touchable fabrics such as what covers a super-sized gecko upstairs make the museum’s toddler areas irresistible to the blankie set.

There’s even a room for those tricky-to-please ‘tween-agers. In partnership with WGCU, the local PBS station, Curious Kids holds computers, karaoke and sewing machines, a disco lounge where they can mix music, and science discovery experiences. Staff presents special CSI-type programs and others with appeal for 8- to 12-year-olds.

Adults too get their due with a fine art exhibit and one woman’s donated collection of masks, puppets, and other cultural artifacts from around the world. They also have their own night to come in and play without kids each month.

The dream-come-true – literally – of Naples mother Allyson Loos, the $25 million building is all green down to the organic food served in the Garden Café.

After Loos lost her 13-month daughter, little Bianca appeared to her in a dream in the setting of a children’s museum. That’s the moment the project began.

With the donation of $5 million from namesake Tom Golisano, the generosity of a community, and the vivid imaginations of some 6-year-olds, dream becomes reality in two weeks.

IF YOU GO:

Children’s Museum of Naples, 15080 Livingston Rd., 239-514-0084, www.cmon.org. The museum is part of North Collier Regional Park, home to Sun-N-Fun Lagoon water park. Open Tuesday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission $10, under age 1 free.

Visiting friends and family provide the perfect excuse to visit the new renovations and historic wonder of the Edison & Ford Winter Estates near downtown Fort Myers. And a walk around the riverfront property provides an excuse (if you need one) to try out a nearby new-for-you restaurant for lunch or dinner.

Steak gorgonzola with onion rings and mac 'n' cheese at The Edison

What could be more fitting than a sit-down at the Edison Restaurant, a few miles away at the Fort Myers Country Club?  Amid walls plastered with vintage photos of the namesake and his good neighbor Henry, American comfort fare warms the soul.

A special $6.95 menu makes lunch ultra-affordable, or choose from the all-day menu, where Yankee pot roast and chicken pot pie deserve the reputation they’ve earned. The pot roast nachos add a tasty new spin to the former.

Something more refined? I recommend the ahi tuna appetizer, herb-coated and seared rare, and Edison’s Gorgonzola Sirloin. (We asked for the sauce on the filet mignon instead with happy results).

Known equally for its nightlife, The Edison has burrowed its way into Fort Myers dining tradition.

“[We have] a lot of different facets,” co-owner Daniel Kearns explained the restaurant’s success. “We’re a big banquets center…. Second, our menu is conducive to a lot of people eating here often: The prices are reasonable. The key to a big building like this is keeping it busy. And of course we have our world-famous ladies night and lots of special events.”

So successful have Kearns and his partner fared at The Edison, they’ve co-opped the concept for another in-the-works restaurant downtown named Ford’s Garage, scheduled to open February 2012; Firestone’s will follow.

Another older downtown dining tradition, The Veranda occupies its own historic circa-1902 homes in a cozy setting of fireplace and bay windows looking out onto the garden courtyard, where there’s also seating.

Historic Fort Myers photos and well-stocked wine cases line the dark-wood bar.

For lunch, you’ll get a good sampling of the place’s Southern accent with grit cakes wrapped in pepper jack cheese and served with a grilled andouille sausage and red sauce.

Grit cakes at The Veranda

It’s also well-known for its fried green tomato salad with ham and bleu cheese, and Carpetbagger sandwich, stacked with beef, turkey, bacon, and tomato.

On our recent visit, we tried the crab cakes for the first time – generally unimpressive with overbreading and deep-frying. The day’s fish special however, blackened swai, was a real keeper.

If you stay for dinner, try the filet medallions with a rich, smoky sour-mash whiskey sauce. Rosemary merlot sauce complements the rack of New Zealand lamb. Tender crawfish top pan-seared yellowtail snapper.

All entrees come with a house salad, bread, muffins, and a wonderful pepper jelly. For dessert, I’d recommend the peanut butter fudge pie over the chocolate pate with raspberry coulis, which arrived frozen rock-hard to our table.

A new pretty face in the neighborhood, Cristof’s on McGregor opened in October 2011. It keeps with the historic theme, having converted a string of dilapidated Cracker-shacks into a spiffy Old-Florida-style structure with a wrap-around porch and front-yard tables.

But, beware, looks can be deceiving, as I will explain shortly.

Inside, a series of intimate but uncrowded dining rooms lead to the inviting, and sometimes noisy bar in back.  Affordable prices recommend it to both the lunch and dinner crowd.

The food is good enough; on our two visits, we especially liked the blackened scallops with key lime risotto, the Cajun chicken fettuccine, double chocolate

Double chocolate cake at Cristof's

cake, and key lime-passionfruit pie.

On our first visit, the service was slow to the boundary of making us feel ignored. Our Stella Artois draft was warm, and there were other small annoyances.

Since it was during the holidays, we overlooked them for a recent return trip. Again, the food was hit or miss, and after finding two of the five mussels on my son’s seafood pasta plate tasting off, we told our server (this time we lucked out with a good one).

She asked if we wanted something else instead, and we told her “no” and resumed with our family visit. UNTIL… the owner/chef showed up at our table and proceeded to question our judgment on the scallops in a very insulting way.

Finally I had to tell him that we didn’t want to argue about it, we weren’t asking for any compensation.

Nor did we receive any. After that confrontation, one would think a round of drinks or at least a comp on the key lime pie would be in order. To her credit, our server apologized for having told him. It wasn’t her fault. He was WAY out of line, and we shall never return.

Mistakes happen in the restaurant business. All three of us at the table that night have worked in the business, and know better than anyone. We don’t believe the customer is ALWAYS right, but rarely does he deserve to be berated and shamed.

So, my advice after the first visit would have been to give Cristof’s a try. Now I can only tell you: Stick with The Edison or Veranda instead.

Cristof’s on McGregor

Where: 10231 McGregor Blvd.

Prices: Lunch salads and sandwiches $7-10; dinner starters $3.50-$10, entrees $12- $23.

Information: 239-791-8473

The Edison

Where: 3581 McGregor Blvd.

Prices: Starters $4-$11; pizza, sandwiches, and entrees $9-$28.

Information: 239-936-9348, www.edisonfl.com

The Veranda

Where: 2122 Second St.

Prices: Lunch starters $4.25-$12, sandwiches and entrees $9-$14; dinner starters $7-$12, entrees $29-$39..

Information: 239-332-2065, www.verandarestaurant.com

Just back from a whirlwind trip to Miami to research a new guidebook I am working on – DK Eyewitness Travel’s Florida Family Guidebook. 

BIG sandwich at Big Pink

Between playgrounds and zoos, I made sure I had plenty of time to grab me some of that legendary Miami cuisine – the very definition of melting pot. From Everglades ‘gator tail to Brazilian churrascaria and over-the-top Italian, Miami restaurants more than cover the globe.

Here are the top ten dishes I tasted there lately. 

1. Octopus ceviche at Cantina Beach, Ritz-Carlton Key Biscayne.
2. Conch and corn fritters with roasted yellow pepper puree at Ortanique, Coral Gables
3. Fried green tomato BLT with jalapeno mashed potatoes at LuLu, Coconut Grove
4. Three-guac sampler with nachos and chicharron at Cantina Beach, Ritz-Carlton Key Biscayne
   

   Guac sampler at Cantina Beach

5. Turkey reuben and homemade chips at Big Pink, South Beach
6. Egg and ham quesadilla with café con leche at Al’s Coffee Shop, Coral Gables
7. Dark chocolate and chile gelato at Dolce Vita, Coconut Grove
8. Short ribs and pasta with marinara sauce at Kitchen 305, Newport Beachside Resort, Sunny Isles Beach
   

   Ribs and pasta at Kitchen 305

9. Fried alligator at Coopertown (population 0008)
10. Smoked sea bass at Jimbo’s, Virginia Key

‘Tis the season. No not that jolly one.  I wish. The one that brings flurries of lily-skinned snowbirds and tourists to our fair Southwest Florida.

Preceding them like sun before the storm has been a burst of new or newly designed restaurants on the horizon of the Fort Myers-Sanibel Island area.

I’ve made my rounds to a few, and happily report a great dining forecast for season 2012.

Get Funky

For those flying in to RSW in time for dinner, skip the airport food (although there’s a new-concept Shula’s Steakhouse opening there this week), and get thee to Funky Fish (8911 Daniels Pkwy., 239-362-2042).

Macadamia-crusted yellowtail snapper at Funky Fish

Brought to us by one of the meatballs behind Two Meatballs in the Kitchen, practically next door, this one doesn’t totally foresake Italian; its signature dish it borrowed from Meatballs, namely seafood fra diavolo.

It doesn’t take a meatball to realize, however, that this place is about seafood. (I heard that “duh!”) Try the Funky Spicy Shrimp appetizer and macadamia-crusted yellowtail snapper.

With a ceiling sealife mural and 3-D glasses to make it pop, live music, and a lively bar – this may not be funky in the old-Florida sense of the word, but it certainly makes its own rules.

Heavenly

On Sanibel Island, the big news is Il Cielo (1244 Periwinkle Way, 239-472-5555), which can be translated as the sky or heaven. I pick the latter. It opens tonight, but I got a sneak preview late last week.

Totally gutted and refurbished, the piano bar holds the old conviviality of its former self, Dolce Vita, but has grown to majestic proportion with new

Chef Loretto Paganini welcomes guests to Il Cielo

appointments and fixtures in the dining room.

At the helm, Loretto Paganini is a familiar name on Sanibel Island. For more than a dozen years, the Bologna native has come to the island from her International Culinary Arts & Sciences Institute in Ohio to teach a week of informal – and typically hysterical – food classes.

She’s serious in the kitchen along with Milan-born Chef Marco Corricelli, creating dishes that reflect their homeland with down-to-earth authenticity. I can recommend the oxtail meatballs, homemade sausage with rapini, lamb chops, and impossibly light tiramisu.

Sweet Tweaks

At Sanibel’s Beachview Golf Club, Melissa Talmage spreads the love she shares at her loudly applauded Sweet Melissa’s Café.  Bistro @ Beachview got a makeover with a serious injection of warmth and a menu that tweaks its old steakhouse regime with fresh touches.

There’s wasabi guacamole with the excellent tuna poke and wonton chips appetizer and jalapeno creamed corn with the crab cakes. Pure Melissa.

I was especially happy to see her grilled Caesar transplanted to the new location: A halved head of romaine gets scorched on the grill, and heaped with a creamy Caesar dressing and parmesan cheese.

The signature bone-in filet is still there, served with a nice red wine reduction, but there’s more seafood and some ethnicity in the corned beef and cabbage and Cuban marinated pork tenderloin with black beans and rice.

Radar Readings

Stay tuned for some on-the-verge restaurants that have recently crossed my radar:

• The owners of The Edison restaurant, also near the Estates, will open Ford’s Garage this winter downtown Fort Myers. Firestone’s, naturally, will follow.
• Rosa Kim, owner of 18-year-old Origami in Fort Myers, plans to open Nami, an Asian steakhouse nearby by March.
• At the old Dixie Moon downtown Bonita Spring, rumor has it a new Caribbean restaurant will open.
• For those wondering when WILL McT’s reopen on Sanibel, word is – as they say in Jamaica – “soon come.”
• Anyone have any other juicy restaurant news?

Victor Mayeron was a well-loved fixture at the Mucky Duck on Captiva Island, and I missed him already when I was seated yesterday with no pranks, pratfalls, and wise-ass comments.

But alas, he has retired (and bought the entire staff iPad2’s I hear), selling out his interest to partner Andreas Bieri, who also own’s Captiva’s Green Flash restaurant.

Andreas has been busy! The sandy front yard now has pavers, which are spreading to the parking lot.

Frozen key lime pie.... mmmm!

As for the menu, you will still find classics such as the BBQ shrimp & bacon, fish & chips, crab cakes, and the famous frozen key lime pie. (Today frozen key lime pie on a stick is big in the Keys, but I think The Duck did it first.)

I was there for lunch, attended by the expert and smiling Alaina, a longtimer. (Almost all of the Duck’s employees rank as longtimers, a testimony to good management. And good tips.)

But back to the lunch menu, which had some newbies since my last nosh – grilled chicken burrito, salmon en croute, and the so-called Captiva sandwich, to name a few.

I bit at the mention of a seared ahi tuna Caesar as one of the day’s specials. The tuna did that proverbial melting in the mouth routine, and the salad was crispy and nicely dressed. And besides that, I actually felt rather saintly to have sidestepped the pub burger or crunchy grouper sandwich in favor of something relatively healthy.

Tuna Caesar special

Then, entirely unprovoked (I told Alaina I was done!), a piece of key lime pie arrived to my table. They hit my weak spot, telling me it was a bribe to get me to write something nice about the Duck. How could I not?

Final analysis: The Duck will always be The Duck, but the changes are for the good. They’re even open on Sundays now!

Key lime pie stuffed French toast:: It's what's for breakfast in KW.

I’ve often been known to eat key lime pie for breakfast in the privacy of my own home. On my latest Keys noshing binge, however, surprise! I actually found a restaurant that indulges my secret quirk.

Okay, Azur restaurant at Eden House inn disguises it as key lime pie stuffed French toast – making it at least SOUND like breakfast food, but it’s actually two slices of pie (graham cracker crust and all) wedged between four slices of egg-dipped sautéed toast and topped with berry compote. 

There ought to be a “Life Is Good” T-shirt for that.

Every winter when I travel through the Keys to update the Fodor’s guidebook, I try to hit different restaurants. Here’s how it went last week.

Day one. Touchdown.

My teeny Cape Air plane landed Sunday morning just in time for breakfast. I headed to the closest place to the Key West airport serving breakfast – Town N Tavern at the Beachside Marriott. In Key West New Town, the restaurant was originally a Norman Van Aken creation.

Norman has long left the kitchen, but there’s still much to be said about the handsome décor that has that certain masculine Hemingway quality of so many Key West spaces. And if my house-made corned beef hash and eggs were any indication, the kitchen still has at least a glimmer of star quality.

Mostly cubed potatoes, the hash was topped with poached eggs, a departure that didn’t necessarily add to the eye-appeal, but cut down on the inherent fat content of the traditional dish. The “homemade catsup” tasted exactly like Heinz, and the toast arrived late, evidently because someone was waiting for it to reach a charred state.

So…. not the best breakfast I’ve had in Key West, even before the key lime French toast.

After three hours of stomping the streets of Old Town and discovering Ambrosia and The Café to be closed on Sunday, I skipped sushi and vegetarian for Irish at Finnegan’s Wake.

A Key West fixture despite its far-off Duval location, its slogan “Come for the beer, stay for the food, leave with the staff,” tells a part of the story: This is a party pub loved by sports fans and spring-breakers.

Alas, the crowd was screaming obscenities at the Sunday game, but as the luck of the Irish would have it, the back dining room and courtyard provide relative quiet for true “stayers for the food.”

Wishing for Irish stew, I did find a number of traditional homeland dishes such as steak pie, calcannon balls, and banger and mash.. However something closer to my European roots grabbed my attention, a Germanesque sandwich of lovely ham and muenster cheese melted open face on a pretzel roll.

The side dish, however, threatened to upstage it. Given my choice, I decided to try the cauliflower mash. Topped with melted white cheese, it tasted creamy and so much more interesting than potatoes. I’m now in desperate search of that recipe.

Day two. Stuffed.

Yes, it started with the stuffed French toast at a charming restaurant made out of an old gas station. They do the darndest things with buildings in Old Town.

To offset that guilt, I finally made it to The Café, a “mostly vegetarian” place on Southard Street, just off Duval, for lunch. I ordered a beet salad and waited. And waited. Finally, my server came to explain that the roasted beets were just coming out of the oven and apologize for the lag.

She then made up for it with a free cup of the day’s homemade creamy tomato soup. Let’s just say it more than made up for it. I’d heard about the soups here, and now I know why.

The beet salad on arugula with goat cheese and pistachios was massive and too delicious not to overeat it a little. So much for assuaged consciences.

Hog snapper in citrus beurre blanc at Cafe Sole.

At dinner I celebrated FINALLY dining at Café Sole, a goal of mine since I started working on the Keys chapter five or so years ago. I imagined, while trying to peer into the closed dining room through the surrounding latticework, a snooty Italian chef and stuffy dining room getting in the way of wonderful food.

The only thing I had right was the wonderful food. Chef-owner John Correa turned out to be just as Key West as his restaurant, and just as Italian. When I raved about the conch carpaccio, telling him I’ve never seen that even in the Bahamas, he regaled us (me and two colleagues who joined me) with Bahamian cooking stories. Clearly his personality is the foundation of his success on Southard and justified motivation for all these years of my longing.

I had the signature dish – hog snapper – a true melt-in-the-mouth triumph.

Day three. Out of Key West.

Once again thwarted in my best intentions to have breakfast right outside of KW at Geiger Key Marina Smokehouse (they weren’t starting seasonal weekday breakfast for another week), I proved once again that when one kitchen door closes, another flies open.

I was going to settle for Sugarloaf Key Hotel restaurant up the road. Settle nothing! The old humdrum restaurant had just reopened as Zaza Pizzeria Napoletana, and the dining room looked unrecognizable with clean, sharp appeal and a blue-tile pizza oven.

Given the real-deal perfection of my frittata with shitakes and homemade smoked mozzarella, I’ll be back for its pizza. The accompanying crostini alone convinced me of that.

Next, a quick run up to Islamorada before I headed back down to Hawks Cay Resort to check in. A cup of the Green Turtle Inn’s famous green turtle chowder (don’t faint, it’s farmed turtle and tastes like…. wrong guess – it tastes close to beef) slaked my hunger momentarily. (I was trying to save the best of my hunger for a highly anticipated dinner.)

Back in the Marathon area, another cup of soup – this time lobster bisque with a hint of nutmeg at Fish Tales – belied, with its elegance, the simple setting of a fish market.

Tuna with mashed boniato at Alma.

At last, dinner at Alma. I cannot lie, this was not a new place for me to try. I ate there just last year, and could not wait to return to this new Latin fusion tastebud-fiesta at Hawks Cay.

A trio of ceviche – conch, tuna, and wreck fish – kicked it off with utter freshness and delight. Scallops and gnocchi followed – a bit salty for my tastes – and then an ahi tuna dinner to trump all ahi tuna dinners.

The fish was cooked rare to my specifications, served on a bed of mashed sweet boniato, and complimented-up with a dimension-boosting warm tapanade-esque relish with garbanzo beans and tomatoes. Thank you, Chef. Same time again next year?

Day four. Headed to Thanksgiving.

Let’s just consider this training for Thanksgiving, I kept telling myself through this pre-holiday research trip. At that rate, I should have been able to finish off a 15-pound turkey on my own.

I did another repeat for breakfast at the Island Grill, where more than anything I love the Keys-y (as they say – not to be confused with queasy) funky fish house setting. The huevos rancheros were secondary to gazing out at mangroves from an open-air porch next to a slightly listing wooden shack. The sauce was not the expected red, but the chunks of fresh tomatoes, bell peppers, and onions made up for it.

True Keys-y at Key Largo Conch House

Finally, my last new discovery of the trip rated right up there with the Azur, Café Sole, et al. Key Largo Conch House. How did I miss it on the Travel Channel and Food Network all those times? Not to worry, it and its conch chowder bread bowl are now on my revisit Keys-y dining menu.

Happy Thanksgiving gobbling one and all!

A Maori woman told us the island’s name means “beginning of a book” in the language of her tribe.

At 11 letters, the New Zealand isle of Urupukapuka could practically qualify as a book on its length alone. Coincidental that book-writing guy Zane Grey once stayed on the island?

Locals around the Bay of Islands, at “the top of the North Island” as they say, tell that the famed American cowboy scribe took to writing about fishing here on the other side of the world from the wild, wild west.

Kicking back on Urupukapuka Island.

“He holds the record for the number of marlin caught in New Zealand in one day,” our guide told us on our Bay of Islands dolphin tour boat when it landed for a little terra firma break last week during my first-time NZ adventure. That record has never been broken, mainly because laws have since restricted the number of marlin taken at one time.

Chapter 1: Goat Island

My love of islands coerced me off the main North and South islands in Kiwiland to the Northland and its Goat Island, Poor Knights Islands, and Bay of Islands — the latter of which embraces 144 islands, including Urupukapuka, a tiny island where budget travelers can find cabins and bunkhouses among the peace and beauty of the rocky and forested island maze.

One of the North Island’s most popular resort areas, Bay of Islands is known for its snorkeling, dolphin swimming tours, charming towns, and dramatic geographic features like the Hole in the Wall. Chill spring waters, for a warmth-seeker from south Florida such as myself, kept me fixated on above-deck and on-land activities.

Not that I didn’t try. The first day out from Goat Island, I donned the thickest wetsuit I’ve worn, determinedly jumped in, immediately screamed obscenities.

“I can’t feel my face!” I shrieked after a minute, but obstinately continued in the below-60-degree water, figuring I’d adjust. After three attempts, however, my head began to ache, and I remembered the vows I made following my scuba certification dive in Febrrrr-uary Crystal Springs, Florida, waters: Never again!

Chapter 2: Poor Knights Islands

My husband and fellow travelers filled me in on the snapper, spiny lobsters, sea urchins, and other underwater life below the rocks. Me? I was equally thrilled with the feeding frenzy of Bullin’s shearwaters – migratory birds that arrive to Poor Knights Islands to nest in the spring, their only breeding grounds in the world.

Bullin's shearwaters feeding in Poor Knights Islands.

I kayaked in Brady’s Corner bay while the others dived. Our tour boat, A Perfect Day, toured Poor Knights, squeezing into the world’s largest sea cave and through one of the many archways carved into the rocky precipices that punctuate the marine and nature preserve.

Each night of our four-day adventure we stayed in a different spot. Night one, we fell exhausted into bunk beds from jet lag and sea adventure at Sawmill in the eye-blink town of Leigh. But not before sampling the unexpectedly well-crafted home-brewed beer and locally farmed and caught dinner specialties in the setting of an old logging mill.

Headquarters for Poor Knights Island, day two, was at the Oceans Resort Hotel in Tutukaka, less rustic and steps from the marina, dive shop, and Schnappa Rock Cafe, where we dug into a feast that showcased New Zealand’s best seafood and lamb.

Chapter 3: Bay of Islands

Day three landed us at Copthorne Resort in Paihia, a salty coastal town known for its Waitangi Treaty Grounds, a nice introduction into New Zealand’s native Maori culture. I spent a half-day ferrying across to storybook-charming Russell, once the nation’s capital and a bawdy whalers

Maori carving at Waitangi

haven.

Trips to the famed Hole in the Wall arch and dolphin swimming tours ranging from a half-day to two or more days, are the first choice for most visitors.

Like most of the dolphin tours, our operators, Fullers GreatSights, adhered to strict guidelines about allowing guests to get in the waters to swim with wild bottlenose and common dolphins. Most importantly, no babies can be present in the pods if guests are allowed to slip into the waters with them.

We saw dozens of dolphins that rainy morning, and they merrily swam and leaped alongside the boat for great photo ops. Unfortunately conditions never presented themselves for swimming with them.

The stop at Urupukapuka came as a pleasant surprise as the sun opened the sky and we settled into picnic tables with hot chocolate or cold NZ beer against yet one more backdrop of pure, enviably green beauty – island beauty that deserves a book to capture its breadth of captivation.

An Indigo Bunting in St. George Island State Park near Apalachicola, Florida, did me in.

I was on a morning birding tour, and we racked up 46 different species within a few hours. A Big Day for me, but they had me with the brilliantly hued, hopping little bunting: I was officially hooked on birding.

It gave me a small taste, 1/365 to be exact, of what a Big Year must be like.

The topic of the nonfiction book The Big Year by Mark Obmascik and a recently released eponymous movie starring Owen Wilson, Jack Black, and Steve Martin, it follows the often comical chase of three obsessed birders trying to break records for the most species spotted in the U.S. from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 1998.

Birders at "Ding" Darling refuge on Sanibel Island

Sandy Komito, one of the book’s birders, won the Big Year that year with 745 birds. He continues to hold the record for number of species spotted in any given year.

The men’s slap-dash travels around the country bring them often to Florida, with its important way stops along the great American flyway migration route.

“Since Florida is a peninsula, it offers a long landscape to birds traveling south to the Caribbean and South America,” said Tara Wertz, biologist at J.N. ”Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge, one of the state’s most renowned birding sites, on Sanibel Island.

“This is especially important for the fall migration because of the abundance of tropical storms that form during the migration time,” she added. “Birds can find shelter and make landfall easily when storms hinder their flight south.”

Florida claims 485 species of birds, many of them rare for the U.S., because of our range of climates and the state’s positioning. Birders the world over have flocked the state for centuries since the days of John James Audubon and before.

Bird-hunters came on their heels in the late 1800s, shooting birds for their plumes – worth more by the ounce than gold — for use in women’s millinery.

Other pressures – egg-collectors in the Dry Tortugas and statewide development among them – have diminished the numbers Audubon once described as a “cloudlike mass.”

Still, Florida holds some of the nation’s top birding refuges and parks.

“We think the neo-tropical migrants crossing the Gulf of Mexico each year  — things like warblers, orioles, flycatchers, cuckoos, shorebirds, etc. — may have only half the numbers they did 50 years ago,” said Paul N. Gray, science coordinator with Audubon of Florida.

“The Dusky [Seaside Sparrow] was a Florida specialty that was lost just in 1987. The last Carolina Parakeets were seen in Florida, with reports continuing until the 1930s. And the infamous Ivory-billed Woodpecker probably is extinct.

“But amongst the bad news, there still are many great birds that are doing fine, and Florida is a unique place to see specialties.”

During spring migrations, Florida is the first rest stop the birds reach after a long flight, and a phenomenon known as fall-out often occurs, where birds drop exhausted onto beaches like hail from the sky.

As fall migration now reaches its peak here in Florida, it’s a good time to spend a Big Week circling the state and starting or adding to your birding life list.

The Great Florida Birding Trail lists nearly 500 “hot spots” for finding birds. However, if you use the strategy of Big Yearers, you’ll head first to the places where you’re most likely to see rare birds, and then chalk up whatever species you find while there.

Here’s an itinerary to guide you on your Florida Big Week. Birding hotlines exist where you can call or log in to see what’s been sighted where. See the sidebar for more information on those and other resources.

DAY ONE: Dry Tortugas

Starting in Key West, you will follow in the footsteps of The Big Year birders by hopping aboard the Yankee Freedom catamaran for a cruise through the seven keys of Dry Tortugas National Park, with some time on main Garden Key, home to historic Fort Jefferson.

It takes an entire day, but as even one seasick-prone Big Year birder understood, it is crucial to a high-digit list.

Because of its southernmost U.S. latitudes, the park plays host to a number of pelagic and rare-for-the-U.S. birds including the Bridled, Sooty, and Roseate terns; Brown Noddy; Magnificent Frigatebird; and Masked Booby.

It is home to the only U.S. breeding population of Sooty Terns – some 100,000 fly in March through September to Bush Key. The other rarities might be seen year-round or at least, in the case of the Brown Noddy, into October.

September through October, large flights of raptors such as Sharpshinned and Broad-winged Hawks, Merlins, and Peregrin Falcons appear.

Nearly 300 bird species have been spotted within the park, so chances of checking off dozens of other birds such as the Brown Pelican and Double-Crested Cormorant are excellent.

The boat returns to Key West around sunset, giving you time to try spotting birds coming to roost in the mangroves, or watching another form of wild life at Mallory Square. Or head to the Everglades for an early start on the morrow.

DAY TWO: The Everglades 

Because of its vast acreage, the Everglades commands another day of your bird-chasing. Everglades National Park claims 366 species that have been spotted within its 2,400 square miles, among them a dozen of the state’s most sought-after species.

“This is one of the biggest birding parks in the world,” said Linda Friar, park public information officer. “It’s because we get the birds going back and forth from the Caribbean.”

Start early morning at the park’s Main Entrance outside of Homestead.   

Several trails between the entrance and Flamingo, 40 miles down the road, travel into the habitat of the Gull-billed Tern, Purple Gallinule, Roseate Spoonbill, Snail Kite, White-crowned Pigeon (typically seen March through September), White-tailed Kite, Wood Stork, and Yellow Rail.

If you’re really lucky, you may even spot the increasingly rare Smooth-Billed Ani, a Caribbean species once found in South Florida in four-digit figures.

Big Year birders found Greater Flamingoes on the Snake Bight Trail, close to Flamingo. They’re scarcer since the 2004 hurricanes, but if you use a scope (and bug juice) at high tide, you may have some luck spotting them.

It’s also where you should look for (but you probably won’t hear this time of year) the secretive Mangrove Cuckoo.

At the Flamingo Visitors Center, the Short-tailed Hawk is commonly sighted October through March.

Head across Tamiami Trail with a stop at the park’s Shark Valley entrance, where you may pick up some of the above birds you missed at the Main Entrance.

Here and at the Gulf Coast entrance, you’ll be able to tick off a great number of spectacular, but more common shore and sea birds such as the White Ibis, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Anhinga, Osprey, and Bald Eagle.

Between one entrance to the other, you will pass through Big Cypress National Preserve, another good birding area, particularly for Snail Kites. So keep one eye on the sky while you drive.

If you have time, fit in Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, an Audubon facility north of Everglades National Park’s Gulf Coast entrance.

Known for its winter Wood Stork breeding colony, it sees the bird year-round, along with Limpkins (which breed only in Florida), Purple Gallinules, Painted Buntings in the fall, and about 200 other species throughout the year.

“It really is such a large diversity because of the temperate-tropical climate,” said Director of Education Rebecca Beck. “That makes it great for the general tourist as well as the avid birder.”

DAY THREE: Gulf Coast 

Today you’ll be focusing your binoculars and scopes on coastal species; head to West Coast beaches for shorebirds from plovers and terns to sanderlings, sandpipers, and the Willett, Red Knot, Marbled Godwit, Whimbrel, Ruddy Turnstone, and perhaps even a Long-billed Curlew.

Start at first light on Sanibel Island at J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge. Known for its great populations of Roseate Spoonbills, it also hosts, among its nearly 230 species, other specialty birds such as the Mangrove Cuckoo, Belted Kingfisher, Black-whiskered Vireo, and Gray Kingbird, plus easily accessible charismatic species like the Reddish Egret, Tricolored Heron, and Yellow-crowned Night Heron.

Starting in mid-October, White Pelicans begin their winter vacations here. Pileated Woodpeckers, Red-shouldered Hawks, Purple Gallinules, and Common Moorhens populate the refuge and its off-campus Bailey Tract branch.

To the north and inland enough to change the birding landscape, stop in at Myakka River State Park east of Sarasota to look for the Black-bellied Whistling Duck, Limpkin, and Purple Gallinule.

Just south of Sarasota, Oscar Scherer State Park is prime habitat for the Florida Scrub-Jay, Florida’s only endemic species.

Next stop: Fort de Soto Park near St. Pete Beach. With both beach and mangrove habitat, it hosts rare shorebirds such as the Piping and Snowy plovers, Black Skimmer, and Roseate Spoonbill. Look to the sky for Magnificent Frigatebirds.

The twin islands of Honeymoon Island State Park and Caladesi Island State Park north of St. Petersburg is another hot spot for finding Black Skimmers and plovers if you have the time.

Then drive north to the Panhandle to be ready for morning birdwatch there.

DAY FOUR: Panhandle 

St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge south of Tallahassee has counted more than 300 species (98 of which nest) within its nearly 70,000 coastal and wooded acreage.

Fall brings migrations of ducks, birds of prey, and shorebirds. October is also the time when migrating monarch butterflies blanket the refuge.

One of its most unusual denizens, the Whooping Crane follows an ultralight plane to Florida to winter here, and birders can watch its flyover when it arrives in the winter.

Its oversized cousin the Sandhill Crane, too, can be sighted in migration; the uncommon Black Rail also inhabits these parts along with Roseate Spoonbills and Black Skimmers.

The vast Apalachicola National Forest is worth a visit to try your luck at spotting the elusive Bachman’s Sparrow. Around sunrise or sunset, look for the Red-cockaded Woodpecker in pine tree stands.

Continue westward to St. George Island State Park. The Indigo Bunting that cemented my interest in birding is fairly common; its cousin, the Painted Bunting is a year-round resident but rarer.

In fall, you might also see Northern Gannets, plovers, vultures, gulls, warblers, and the Belted Kingfisher.

DAY FIVE: Central Florida 

Jump on Interstate 10 and head down Interstate 75 to reach the exit for Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park. It may be a little early in the season, but if you’re lucky, you might spot Sandhill and even Whooping cranes in the vast wilderness of 27 different biological communities.

Though rare, fall sightings of the Common Loon, Yellow Rail, and Snow and Canada geese have been reported. More common species include the Black-crowned Night Heron and Black-billed Whistling Duck.

Central Florida’s hardwood and pine forests harbor a set of smaller rare birds all their own. In Ocala National Forest, look on the trails at Alexander Springs Recreation Area for the uncommon Hairy Woodpecker and easier-to-find Red-cockaded Woodpecker.

At the north end of Lake Apopka, between Ocala and Orlando, the 19,825-acre Lake Apopka Restoration Area is a good place to pick up some of the sought-after species you’ve missed to this point, including the Bald Eagle, Black-billed Whistling Duck, and Purple Gallinule. The water district-managed area tallies more than 270 sighted species.

DAY SIX: South Central Florida 

Below Orlando, Kissimmee’s system of lakes feeds into the Everglades and attracts its own unusual species.

East of Lake Wales, Lake Kissimmee State Park’s undisturbed scrub, hammock, and water habitat encourages visits from Bald Eagles, Hairy Woodpeckers, Sandhill Cranes, Wild Turkeys, and the rare Snail Kite. Other rare sightings: 19^th century Florida cowhunters in the park’s re-created cow camp.

Following the Kissimmee River south brings you to Three Lakes Management Area, named for its perch on three lakes that host such elusive and endangered birds as the Bachman’s and Florida Grasshopper sparrows, Crested Caracara, Red-Cockaded Woodpecker, and Whooping Crane.

The day’s last stop at Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park can also yield some spectacular and unusual finds, including the endearing Florida Burrowing Owl, Florida Grasshopper Sparrow, Yellow Rail, and Crested Caracara. Look also for Wild Turkeys and Sandhill Cranes.

DAY SEVEN: South Florida 

For some beach time, plovers, and other shorebirds, swing out to the shoreline around Hobe Sound. Because of coastal development, inland around Lake Okeechobee and Everglades terrain, however, will make best use of your final day.

On his last day of his Big Year, Komito spent time in a Delray Beach sewage plant-fed wetlands stalking an errant White-cheeked Pintail from the Caribbean. Which just goes to show, competitive birding isn’t always glamorous, predictable, or pretty.

The less-than-glamorously named Stormwater Treatment Area 5 below Lake O, for instance, happens to be one of the state’s best spotting spots, but admission is by pre-arranged birding tour only.

Serious birders report Snail Kites, Glossy Ibis, Bobolinks, Purple Swamphens, Blue-Winged Teals, and other unusual ducks including the Fulvous Whistling, Black-bellied Whistling, and Mottled species.

Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge claims many of the same specialty finds among its 257 species and within the prettier, more natural setting of 221 square miles of wetlands.

Look specifically for the Fulvous Whistling Duck, endangered Snail Kite, and Limpkin. Abundant species include the American Coot, Green Heron, and Magnificent Frigatebird.

BIRDING SPOTS:

Apalachicola National Forest 850-643-2282, www.fs.fed.us/r8/florida/apalachicola/

Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge 561-732-3684, www.fws.gov/loxahatchee

Big Cypress National Preserve 239-695-2000, www.nps.gov/bicy

Caladesi Island State Park 727-469-5918, floridastateparks.org/caladesiisland

Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary 239-348-9151, corkscrew.audubon.org

Dry Tortugas National Park 305-242-7700, www.nps.gov/drto

Everglades National Park 305-242-7700, www.nps.gov/ever

Fort de Soto Park 727-552-1862, www.pinellascounty.org/park/05_ft_desoto.htm

Honeymoon Island State Park 727-469-5942, floridastateparks.org/honeymoon

J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge 239-472-1100, www.fws.gov/dingdarling

Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park 863-462-5360, floridastateparks.org/kissimmeeprairie

Lake Apopka Restoration Area 386-329-4404, http://www.sjrwmd.com/recreationguide/lakeapopka/

Lake Kissimmee State Park 863-696-1112, floridastateparks.org/lakekissimmee

Myakka River State Park 941-361-6511, floridastateparks.org/myakkariver

Ocala National Forest. 352-236-0288, http://www.fs.usda.gov

Oscar Scherer State Park 941-483-5956, floridastateparks.org/oscarscherer

Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park 352-466-3397, floridastateparks.org/paynesprairie

St. George Island State Park 850-927-2111, floridastateparks.org/stgeorgeisland

St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge  850-925-6121, www.fws.gov/saintmarks

Stormwater Treatment Area 5 561-686-8800, my.sfwmd.gov

Three Lakes Management Area 352-732-1225, http://myfwc.com/viewing/recreation/wmas/lead/three-lakes/

OTHER RESOURCES

Audubon of Florida 305-371-6399, fl.audubon.org

Great Florida Birding Trail floridabirdingtrail.com

Rare Bird Alerts:

South Florida: tropicalaudubon.org/tasboard

Nationwide: www.rarebirds.com, http://ebird.org

The slim, dimpled, white platter held six different varieties of salt: vintage merlot, espresso, chipotle, truffle, Spanish rosemary, and garlic.

Each, applied by the pinch to my bransino Mediterranean fish, popped a new taste sensation at Sea Salt restaurant in Naples.

Sea Salt restaurant's retail salt collection

Call it salt-hopping or salting around, this trend by any name takes the tastebuds out for a spin.

Salt, often considered a culprit in the American diet, has nonetheless grown into its own gourmet food group.

The Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island, inNortheast Floridahas grabbed hold of the trend with a salt sommelier, Isabelle Chety, who doles out tastes of everything from citrus-infused salt to Chardonnay salt mixed with wine sediments from barrels at her family’s vineyard in France.

At the resort’s Salt, the Grill restaurant, Chety selects and presents tableside salts to enhance the flavors of each course. 

Closer to home, shops such as Sanibel Olive Oil, Naples Olive Oil Company, and Florida Olive Oil in Naples and Sarasota carry extensive lines of salts from distant seas and lands as well as infused salts.

At Sea Salt, Chef Fabrizio Aielli starts diners out with a trio of imported salts. This varies from among his 130 different types and flavors of salt.

On my most recent visit, the tray contained kala namak from India, sel gris from France, and a smoky red clay salt from Hawaii. Like many of Aielli’s customers, I asked for more, thus the six-salt flight.

Besides sea and land foundation salts from around the world, Aielli features salts he infuses himself into pink Himalayan or Sicilian trapani salt.

“There was no other place I knew of that was doing the salt,” he says in his still thick Venetian accent. “Now it has started elsewhere, and it has become pretty popular.”

He opened Sea Salt in 2009 on Third Street South after the success of his Teatro Goldini restaurant in Washington, DC.

Aielli goes through more than 2,000 pounds of salt each year between the kitchen and retail shop.

The unique concept came to him one night when he was planning his Naples

Salt sampler at Sea Salt restaurant

restaurant.

“I wake up in the morning and said to my wife ‘I want to do something with sea salt,’” he remembers. “We’re close to the water, it makes sense. I did research to learn more and more about salt. Even in Washington we were already using 10 different types of salt.”

One thing he discovered in his research was salt’s healthy, healing properties.

“I know there’s a huge debate about whether salt is good for you,” says the chef. “I found out our body needs salt. Not the bad salt that’s in preserved and canned food. People go to the spa and spend a lot of money for a salt bath. If you cut yourself and put salt on it, it will sting, but it will cure it. Salt kills bacteria.”

Elsewhere in Naples, salt’s healing properties inspired the opening of the Salt Cave spa.

It harnesses the healing power of Himalayan-mined salt crystals to help stimulate blood flow, burn calories, and purge harmful toxins, according to its website. In its cave made from Himalayan salt, guests undergo a relaxation therapy.

“Himalayan pink [has] all 84 minerals and nutrients; Dr. Oz recommends it as your everyday table salt,” said Sheila Davis, who runs the retail salt operation at The Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island.

There Chety features 12 varieties of global salts and 13 infused salts, plus seasonal varieties.

Whereas Aielli coaches guests to try varieties of salt to discover how each differently affects the taste of a dish, Chety actually does food and salt pairings.

She pairs, for instance, the chilled avocado and cucumber soup with Mediterranean Black Olive Sea Salt and a beef tartare and poached egg appetizer with Black Truffle Sel Gris.

“Each meat from our wood-burning grill is paired with salts,” says the salt sommelier. “The salt is served in a small container in the plate seat below the pairings.”

With the grilled beef tenderloin, for instance, she pairs horseradish salt; with the veal porterhouse, rosemary salt; with the lamb T-bone, mint salt; and with the chicken breast Adriatic Citrus Salt.

“The Adriatic Citrus Salt is harvested off of the island of Pag, the northernmost salt pan in Croatia,” said Chety. “It formed in the 16th century where an amazing salt magazine lies, consisting of nine rooms made from rock called prosika. The Adriatic salt is blended here with peels of Florida citrus to create this delightful Croatian citrus salt. It will enhance any sea food.”

“She will take a large sheet pan of organic Meyer’s lemons, Uncle Matt’s Organic Oranges, and grapefruits, bake them and grind and mix the zests for a perfect taste,” said Joe Murphy, director of public relations at the Ritz-Carlton.

The infusion process at Sea Salt in Naples takes 40 days, says Chef Aielli. Not all infused salts are created equally, he cautions. Some are artificially flavored.

“They’re like lemon candy,” he expounds. “There’s no lemon in there, it’s just flavoring. If you find infused salt for $2 a jar, it’s probably not good salt.”

At Sea Salt, where blocks of Himalayan pink salt topped with carved salt candle holders decorate wall dividers, a three-ounce jar of salt sells for $8 for most and up to $25 for white truffle or saffron infused varieties.

Year-old Sanibel Olive Oil, which is part of the three-store Florida Olive Oil chain, stocks nearly 30 varieties of salt including Himalayan pink, fleur de sel, alaea Hawaiian, ghost pepper, aged balsamic, coconut and lime, and spicy curry.

“Lots of customers have been asking for more kinds of salt, so I will be adding 10 to 20 different varieties,” said Arnish Patel, owner of all three stores. He buys his salts from a distributor; prices start at $2 for two ounces. “Just like olive oil and balsamic vinegar, it’s a gourmet item.”

The growing popularity goes beyond taste, however. Fans are catching onto its health benefits. “In some cases [it is] 80 percent better for you than the bleached, heated [salt] with non-caking additives added,” said Davis. “And last but certainly not least, they use less.”

IF YOU GO:

Sea Salt, 239-434-7258, www.seasaltnaples.com

Salt Cave, 239-403-9170, www.saltcave.us

Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island, 904-277-1100, www.ritzcarlton.com/ameliaisland

Sanibel Olive Oil, 239-579-0151, www.floridaoliveoil.com

If you’re like me, you’ve driven past the Days Inn Fort Myers Springs, formerly the Springs Motel, a hundred times without a thought or even a question about why it was once called the Springs.

We’ve even stopped for a cold one between our drive from Naples and Fort Myers at the motel’s popular tiki hut. Still, I had no idea that a historic treasure lies in the backyard, just steps from the bar.

With a recent major renovation, Days Inn management has restored the mineral springs to their 1960s origins.

The story goes that oil-drillers made the one domed and other open-air pool happen. The 1,000 foot well they drilled evidently tapped into an artesian pool of hot mineral water.

Talk about "springing" a surprise!

It comes out at 82 degrees and smells of sulfur, but many believe it to having healing powers – particularly for skin, muscle, and arthritis problems.

For $5 day visitors can purchase a pass to lounge around and walk the ramps into the pools to relax. The dome over the round pool is next to be restored, said Front Desk Supervisor Laurie Brown.

“It was really a mess,” she said of the lawn area around the pools, now inviting with columns, tables, and fountains. “They put in all new landscaping and walkways.”

The second pool, rectangular with no covering, is better for sun-seekers and those wishing to escape the mineral scent and sediment of the round pool.

The Days Inn people, who took ownership in July 2010, also have plans to pipe music into the pools area and possibly reformat the adjacent building for spa or wedding use.

Guests at the motel will find affordable rates, a regular swimming pool, MarLiDa’s Diner, and the local’s watering hole under the great banyan tree.

239-267-7900, 18051 S. Tamiami Trail, Fort Myers.