Bobcats sightings aren’t uncommon on the islands, but it was the nature of this particular feline that Hoch said made the experience so strange.
“It was about 7:30 in the morning, and I’d just gotten up on the dock at Sunset Captiva, when I spotted something out of the corner of my eye,” Hoch said. “I looked over and there was a bobcat sitting 10 feet away from me in the mangroves just staring at me.”
Hoch, a nature photographer, was without his camera at the time, so he had to go all the way home on the other side of the island, put his camera together and come all the way back.
But when he returned to the dock, the bobcat was gone.
Disappointed, Hoch looked around — just in case — and that’s when he realized that the bobcat was actually under the dock.
“He walked out from under the dock and along the edge of the property, stopped, looked at me, I got the shot, and then he turned around and walked off into the mangroves,” Hoch said. “I was so excited about it and it was just the neatest thing — talk about a beautiful animal!
“That was the second time I’d seen a bobcat on Captiva, but this was a close encounter. He was very cool and casual, just sitting there in the mangroves looking at me. I wish I’d had my camera because that would have been a perfect shot, like something out of National Geographic.”
And while Hoch said he would have loved to capture a perfectly posed photograph of the bobcat, he’s glad he was able to get at least one great shot of the creature. By JANE BRICKLEY
“Usually you don’t see them so close, but I never know what I’m going to see out at Sunset Captiva — I’ve seen otters, eagles, osprey, armadillos. It’s a really great location.”
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