Reinfatuated with Punta Gorda in May

May in Punta Gorda is even better than April and definitely better than the winter months that while warm are unevenly spiked with cold spells and overrun with temporary residents. In May the days are hot, but not too hot, and the nights are magnificent.  In May,  Punta Gorda  day skies are bluer and more golden orange as the night arrives.  Reflections on the harbor and canal waters are sharper and the natural world encircling her more noticeable and intense.   And Punta Gorda puts on her prettiest dresses, the bright red Royal Poincianas bloom all over town.

The restaurants are full of locals now.  There is usually a place at the bar at our favorite watering holes.  Frequently the owners have time to share stories and chit chat with the need to hustle by to serve tourists and snow birds gone. 

The traffic is gone.    Many of the homes in the isles are bundled up with hurricane protection for their long summer's rest.   Reminiscent of a shore town up north in late Fall, there is an eerie but peaceful quiet.

As we walk along the shoreline this exquisite May day, watching the herons fish under the bridge and the occasional fluttering disturbance as pelicans zoom in to try and steal a catch, we are reinfatuated with this little fishing village along the Peace.