Sarasota Reunion & Sanibel Stoop

When we last left you, we had just arrived in Sarasota for a week-long stay.  We’ve done this many times over the years, but this year was exceptional because my siblings and I were going to get together for the first time in 10 years.  My brother and his wife live in Sarasota, so visiting them has been fairly common as we have traversed the state, but my sister from Colorado was coming to join us for a belated Thanksgiving.  It was very nice having us all together once again.  Rochelle, my brother David’s wife, and sister Sandra whipped up a delightful Thanksgiving feast for us and we all had an opportunity to catch up in person rather than by phone or email.  Additionally, we managed to carve out some time for a water-side lunch and a tour of Casey and Siesta Keys.

Los hermanos - Thanksgiving/Birthday Dinner 

Los hermanos en Siesta Key

Sanibel Island is our home for the next two weeks.  The last time we were here Hurricane Charley had just devastated the place.  It has completely recovered and things look to be back to pre-storm normal.  Indeed, there are many new restaurants and all of the beach resorts have been repaired.  In December of 2004 there were lots of blue tarp roofs, and debris, both natural and manmade, littered every street.This year, our first order of business after setting up in our RV park was to walk the short distance to the beach and enjoy a long stroll along the Gulf of Mexico--an activity that has become a daily ritual.

A 12-mile spit of sand, shells, and silt jutting out into the Gulf of Mexico, Sanibel is world famous for its shelling. Up and down every beach are people doing the “Sanibel Stoop”--that bent over crouch that signals the finding of yet another prize. Because of geography, Sanibel is uniquely situated and shaped to scoop shells from the Gulf. Rather than lining up north/south along the coast like its more compliant barrier island cousins, Sanibel is comma-shaped and juts out into the Gulf. That unusual configuration makes it ideal for those who love shelling, and who doesn’t? We’ve been told that there are some 275 kinds of shells found in the shallow waters of Sanibel and approximately another 500 species found further out in the Gulf of Mexico, many of which wind up on the beaches here after a strong northwestern winter blow. These mollusks are an integral part of the Gulf’s life chain.

Guess who!

When asked why we like Sanibel Island so much we usually reply with banalities, but the truth is that it is hard to put into short, distinct reflections.  However, I will now try to be succinct:  Sanibel’s culture is what makes it exceptional.  Started in the 1830s as a colony established by land developers, it has become a place where the elite come to play and, occasionally, live.  For example, a former CIA Director and jazz great Dave Brubeck have made their homes here.  There is also plenty of room for regular folks like us.  We stay, not in one of the hundreds of resorts and vacation rentals, but at Periwinkle Trailer Park here on the Island.  It is far from the usual up-scale places we prefer, but it’s the only place on Sanibel to park and live in a motorhome.  One parks on the sand, but they’ve recently added cement patios to most sites, which is an improvement over what we had in 2004.  It is also a short walk to the beach and has excellent access to the myriad bike paths scattered throughout the island.  The park’s owners are wild bird breeders and have extensive aviaries in the park.  There is a fascinating array of fowl to peruse…they screech, honk, and whistle at passersby.  One pair of exotics here that we don’t see in the USA often are black swans that were common when we lived in Australia.

Real people live on Sanibel and they run bicycle shops, book stores, restaurants, and sea shell shops.  Most are understated and are not garish like one would find at Fort Myers Beach on the other end of the causeway.  There is a $6 toll to cross the bridge, so that probably keeps some folks at bay.  Sanibel dwellers are ecologically aware and have preserved a great deal of real estate to protect wildlife…the renowned J. N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge comes immediately to mind, but there are also several other organizations protecting nature’s habitat right in the midst of the head-long race to amass the almighty dollar.

Sunday was a day of rest lazing around reading the Sunday newspaper and watching NFL football on TV…we were stunned that both the Cowboys and the Broncos won their respective games; actually, we weren’t stunned that the Broncos won.

On Monday, we renewed our exploration of the islands; yes, there is more than one.  Captiva, a small, exceedingly upscale island on the northern end of Sanibel where the ultra-rich relatives of the Sanibel dwellers reside, can be accessed by a short bridge across Blind Pass or by boat only.  Since our yacht is in for repairs, we took the jeep up to Captiva for a look around and to have lunch at an award-winning restaurant we read about.  The Key Lime Bistro did not disappoint.  We had Crab Cake Benedicts for a mid-afternoon brunch accompanied by a fruity rum drink for me and a pretty good Pinot Griego for Susan.  For company, a jazz flautist kept us entertained while we dined al fresco on the bistro’s intimate patio.  Well above our heads, a sea eagle of some sort had his/her brunch of some variety of sizable fish…we think he/she enjoyed the music, too.

 

Hangin' on the beach with that jolly old elf!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two years ago when we last visited Sanibel-Captiva, we stopped off at an open house for a place that was for sale on Captiva. We don’t recall how many millions of dollars they wanted for the place, but it was more than we had in petty cash, so we passed. However, we were impressed with its size and the fact that there were two houses on the property as well as a pool and a covered boat slip. The four-car garage was under the main house. We couldn’t find that specific house again, but took a shot of a similar one for you to appreciate.

Captiva beach shack