Across The Universe: Sanibel

Our favorite winter vacation spot remains Sanibel Island, Florida. We've been traveling there almost every springtime since 1990, starting when Tom and Lisa were very young, and continuing now when they are grown and off on their own. Cyndi and Rick just returned from our latest trip, a two week stay at the end of April.

Coconut palm

Strangler Fig and a cabbage palm

If you are not aware of Sanibel, it's an island off the southwest corner of Florida. It is connected to the mainland by a 3 mile long causeway. Sanibel has the distinction of being the foremost place to collect seashells in the world. Due to the topography of the sea bottom, the prevailing northerly winds in the winter months, and its east-west orientation, seashells roll up on shore in enormous quantities. People walk along the beach and perform the "Sanibel Stoop" as they search the waves for those shell beauties that will roll up.

Caution - sheller at work

beach collection

Sanibel has been inhabited since well before Columbus arrived. The Calusa indians lived along the shore and on the barrier islands such as Sanibel. Sadly, they have disappeared. Spanish explorers and pirates came and went. New settlers arrived in the 1800's and tried to make a go of farming here. Some moderate success was achieved but lost in a succession of hurricanes. A very small tourist base kept going. During the 1940's, the island's population hovered around 50 people and about 50 kazillion mosquitoes. Making a long story short, the mosquitoes were controlled (mostly) by a dike and some drainage, and the land developers harnessed by some brave residents who mustered the political clout to keep them controlled. Zoning and development are very strict. No building can rise higher than the palm trees - no high rises - and large areas of land and mangroves are protected as nature preserves. Now with a population exceeding 5,000 year-round (much more in winter) Sanibel can be crowded but it somehow retains an aura of older, less complicated times.

We like to stay at Pointe Santo, a condo development mid-island, right on the Gulf. Wide beaches, sunsets, shells, and long walks are all here. Some photos:

View from our condo

Sunset at low tide

Beach and pool

Condos at Pointe Santo

Hot tub pool - that's Lisa with some friends!

E building, Pointe Santo. We had top, mid right

Pointe Santo condos from the beach

The pool; with clubhouse on the island

Pointe Santo, interior

The symbol of Sanibel is the Sanibel Lighthouse, on the eastern tip at the channel where the Gulf meets the Pine Island Sound, which is between Sanibel and the mainland. We'll ride our rental bikes out here, walk in the water, look for shells, and enjoy the beach:

Lighthouse and beach

The view across the channel - causeway and Ft. Myers

The biggest preserved area is the Ding Darling Sanctuary, a federal preserve which occupies a large chunk of the island along the inside (Pine Island Sound). The dike runs through it to enclose a large area of tidal flats,and it is a haven for birds and other wildlife. Canoes or kayaks can be rented, and paddled through the mangroves.

Rick & Cyndi paddling through the mangroves

Renee and Jim, paddling

Mangroves. Thick, tangled, essential.

Heron wading on the flats

Alligator sunning in the Ding

Speaking of wildlife, it is all around - birds, the shells, and the ubiquitous alligators:

Lightning Whelk, crawling around under water

Ibex foraging

Anhinga in a mangrove tree

Dolphin passing the condo. Many do so.

Small gator, sunning by the pond at Pointe Santo

Brown Pelican, court jester

Terns

Plover, feeding

Blacktip Shark, caught with rod & reel from shore. Really. Released.

Snowy Egret

Sanderling

Pelicans resting in the australian pines

Always a local touch - it seems a local Minnesota family, well known as (former) owners of a large department store chain, also love Sanibel:

Jerry's Supervalu of Edina has a store mid-island, one of only 2 grocery stores on the island. No photo now, maybe later. Here's the other store:

Bailey's Market, long time Sanibel family owned & operated

The next island up, Captiva, is a 15 minute drive up to the west end of Sanibel and across a very short bridge. You know you're on Captiva when the smell of money becomes unmistakeable. If Sanibel is affluent (and it is) Captiva is a couple notches higher. We drive up there for the Crab Races at 'Tween Waters Inn, and to rent a motor boat for a trip to Cayo Costa - a state park on an undeveloped (mostly) island up the chain where you can drop anchor and hang on an empty beach, almost alone.

Capt'n Jim and Cyndi in the boat

Cayo Costa, the once and future barrier island

Cormorants on the intercoastal waterway sign

Feral pigs roam Cayo Costa. We named them Bonnie & Clyde.

Across Redfish Channel to North Captiva

The Minnesota Twins hold their spring training in nearby Ft. Myers. If we're here in March, as we were when the kids were younger, we would drive over to the mainland and see a game. Once the main season begins the Twins depart, but their A level minor league team, the Ft. Myers Miracle, plays in the same stadium. So I will run over there for a game; it's great, only a few bucks for a ticket to sit right behind the dugout and see the stars of a few years hence as they learn to play pro ball.

The Miracle at bat

Evening baseball under the lights.

The Boston Red Sox also train nearby, but who cares?

Still, everything is secondary to the beach - there's much to do, but most often we are out at the beach. Work on the tan, look for shells, take a swim, walk up or down the beach, in for a light lunch, repeat, wine in the later afternoon as the heat diminishes, then a walk up the beach to catch the sunset and maybe a "green flash".