NUFORC Sighting 12636

Occurred: 2000-04-16 19:40 Local
Reported: 2000-04-16 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 35 minutes approximately
No of observers: 2

Location: Sanibel Island (causeway between mainland and island), FL, USA

Shape: Unknown

A U-shape that at first appeared to be jet exhaust - but it never moved. It never got larger or smalled and stayed in the exact spot until it was just gone. This was just prior to sunset. At first glance I thought it was an early star then noticed the U-shape when I used the binoculars.

We were on the causeway between Sanibel Island Florida and the mainland, facing the Gulf of Mexico, looking for shells and waiting for the sun to set. The sun was about 1degree above the horizon when I noticed something to the right of the sun. At first I thought it was an early star, but my husband said that it looked like a jet because there were two jet trails. We both got our binoculars to get a closer look. It did look like jet trails...but in the shape of a U and at the curved part of the U was a darkened area. We could see it with the naked eye, but after the sun set we could only see it using binoculars. We both watched until about 8:15 pm eastern time. At that time...we just couldn't see it anymore. Neither of us took our eyes off of this thing for even one second. At arm's length, the U was about the size of going around the nail of a little finger fingernail. The "legs" of the U were pointed slightly west...towards the sun. An airplane passed in our field of view, at one point, and the brightness of the U-thing was much brighter than the trail left by the plane. The plane was much closer to us. Neither of us could make out any details of the darkened area inside the U. It was just too far away. From the horizon, the U-thing was about 30degrees up and only a few degrees North of due West. Long/26 26N, Lat/82 1W...approximately where we were located. There was never any movement. We watched until it was just gone. It disappeared before darkness rolled in.

Posted 2000-04-26