Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Spring Break, Part 2: Sanibel Island


When I think of a vacation to Florida, my first thought is... the beach. The one pictured to the left is our "night beach" where we went every evening to enjoy the shelling and the creatures in the tide pools.  Jonathan was very good about "saving" sea stars. There were some other creatures that we didn't quite know what they were, but we figured out that if you touched them, they would squirt at you.  This became Jonathan's favorite activity!  He and Andrew would search for them and try to get them to squirt water at them.

Camping at Sanibel was interesting; the one campground on the island only had a little corner dedicated to tent camping, and it was primitive. But it was also pretty well empty.  We were warned that the road noise would be bad, but it turned out that it just reminded us of home.  And just like home, the beach was an easy bike ride from the house/tent.  Except that here, the beach was, well, slightly different.  The Gulf of Mexico or Buckeye Lake.  Take your pick.  But I bet you won't see dolphins swimming in Buckeye Lake (like we did almost every day in the gulf).

Sanibel was a great place for us.  The atmosphere was extremely easy-going and laid-back.  The only time we even looked at a watch was on Sunday, when we wanted to make it to church on time.  We did some different activities, usually something in the morning, the beach in the afternoon, and the "night beach" in the evening. The evenings were the only time when we could go for walks on the beach; when we went to the beach during the day, the boys were all about playing in the sand (usually in a big hole - especially ones that other kids had previously dug).We took a bike ride through the "Ding" Darling Nature Preserve one day, and that was really nice.  Sanibel is also extremely bike-friendly.  There are bike paths everywhere (and bikes everywhere).  We were glad we brought ours (and the tagalongs for the boys).

It did rain one day, but that wasn't so bad, because it was Sunday; we spent all morning in church in Ft. Myers, went out to eat, and then went to a children's museum all afternoon.  When we returned, much of the campground was flooded, but our tent was almost completely dry (except for the corner of my blanket and Tara's sleeping bag - no problem: I threw them in the dryer and they were as good as new). 

We loved Sanibel, but we had to leave there on Monday, headed for Fort De Soto County Park (near St. Pete).  I'll cover this in my next vacation post.

2 comments:

Shenandoah bed and breakfast said...

Your trip report is really awesome and thanks for sharing with us. Sanibel is really gorgeous destination and it is include my favorite islands list. There atmosphere and weather is really ideal. I have been there many times and really enjoyed in every tour.

Best Regards,

Tootie said...

Happy to hear you enjoyed your time here at Sanibel. I hope the kids enjoyed the birds at Periwinkle Park. :)