Sanibel Captiva Island Message Board

[fern60514]

This was our 5th or 6th year spending spring break on Sanibel...

We left Midway on Saturday, March 27th via Air Tran. Full flight but pretty smooth going. Arrived in Ft. Myers about 2:30 and the sun was shining. I walked out towards the rental car area and just stood in the sun for a few moments soaking it in.

After we checked in with Alamo and picked our car – Saturn Aura, we headed to the island. We headed to VIP to pick up the keys to our condo – Sanddollar A304 and then to Jerry’s to stock up. I bought a loaf of Jerry’s cinnamon swirl bread to make toast with for breakfast…very good!
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After checking out the condo – very nicely appointed but top floor and I'm proud to say I took the stairs all week! Did not use the elevator! We were hungry and headed to Grandma Dot’s. I had the Grouper Sandwich and I have to agree with many of you – best one on the Island, IMHO. Also had their homemade potato chips – very good. Glass of pinot grigio. All is right in the world!
We get back to the condo and find out there’s no Wi-Fi!! I fight back the panic – am I so addicted to my laptop??? We find out later in the week when I stop by VIP that the owner was supposed to install it but never did.
Sunday was overcast and cool, breezy. I still walk on the beach and immediately begin my hunt for Olives. I decided to focus my shelling on looking for Olives this year, and of course whatever else I stumbled across that looked interesting but olives were my theme. I think I ended up with 20 or so! Pretty good shelling the whole week.
Sunday lunch – Schnapper Hots
Sunday dinner- Mermaid Kitchen and Cake Factory – wow – usually I like this place but they were having a very off night. They were out of ½ the wines on the wine list. Then they didn’t have the Mermaid cake or their carrot cake!! Pretty much the whole reason we went there! I was very bummed. Went to the Bean for ice cream afterwards. Praline Almond was pretty good!
Monday lunch – Amy’s Over Easy - good
Monday dinner –Matzaluna have to say – didn’t care for the lasagna but everything else was good. Very busy.

On Monday, my son’s friend from school and his mom drove up from Naples to pick up my son to spend the day/night with them. My husband and I drove to Naples Tuesday morning to go pick up son. This is the first time we had been to Naples so I was curious. Although we drove straight to the condo – and didn’t really explore – we did go up in the condo and I have to say, it’s a very different feel to me than Sanibel. It felt a little too formal although the condo was lovely – gated community – it felt like a very nice luxurious hotel and the trek to the beach was not as convenient as to where we stay on Sanibel. I think I prefer Sanibel. I did get the nicest/largest olive from the beach on Naples! We had lunch at a very nice casual pub across the street from the condo, in a nice shopping area. I would have liked to explore more but we wanted to get back to the beach!

Tuesday dinner – Beachview Golf Club – first time we tried it. Sat in the bar where a very nice couple gave us their table since there was 3 of us an only 2 of them –they sat at the bar so we could have the only table left in the bar. I tried their crunchy grouper sandwich – it was good, my husband had the steak sandwich. Good not great but good.

Wednesday lunch – The Bean, had the tuna salad, I really like their lunches – they come with fresh fruit,- grapes, orange wedge and piece of grapefruit and chips. Very enjoyable and filling. Son had chicken caprese Panini.
Wednesday dinner – pizza’s to go from Matzaluna.
Thursday lunch – Amy’s
Thursday dinner – Doc Fords – wow – place was CRAZY. They no longer do call ahead seating. I was a little disappointed in our appetizer – we order the jerk chicken nachos and it looked like they were just thrown on the plate plus the portion was pretty skimpy. I order the Bahamian shrimp roast that I had last year, I still liked it but it wasn’t as good as I remembered it. Overall it was okay.
Friday lunch – Cheeburger Cheeburger to go. Love the frings.
Friday dinner – Timbers – excellent as always. They do call ahead seating and it seems everytime we go – we hardly wait 15 minutes even though they quoted us 30 minutes. At Doc Fords – when they say 30 minutes – it’s always an hour or more in our experience.
We had friends staying at Sunset Captiva so one night we drove over to Captiva with the idea of getting some cake to go from the Bubble Room – I think it was Wednesday or Thursday night…wow, the Bubble Room was insane and it was almost 8:00 - we gave up, lucked out and found a parking spot near Latte Da and waited in line to get ice cream. Had the raspberry chocolate - very good. Stopped by our friends but they were out somehow we missed them.
Shopped at Amy’s near the Over Easy Café – bought a cute pair of sandals called Switch flops – the thong part can be switched out – has Velcro – very cute. Also visited Periwinkle Place and fell in love with a store called Island Style. I could have spent $$$$, I ended up buying a cute bracelet type piece and some other pieces for my son’s girlfriend.
On Monday afternoon – my husband and I visited the Shell Museum for the first time. It was very interesting and fun to identify some of the shells I found and made me want to find the elusive Junonia and Scotch Bonnet that I lack!
We saw dolphins several times while strolling on the beach – usually when I was walking around Ocean’s Reach but also in front of our condo as well.
I found some nice shells and will try and post a picture later, I’ve been having trouble downloading my pictures on my Mac…have to put some serious effort into figuring out what I am doing wrong.

All in all it was a relaxing week, we were really lazy this year but it was good for hubby so he could unwind and relax from his stressful job. My son was supposed to study for ACT that he is taking this Saturday but I don’t think he gave it much attention – too busy texting and talking to his girlfriend! From Tuesday on the weather just got better and better. I am hoping to bring my mother to visit in the fall - we'll see!

Saturday morning went to the Bean for my coffee one last time and a short stroll on the beach before we had to leave for what we thought was an 11:45 flight home but turned out to be delayed until 2:50! Such a gorgeous day to be stuck in the airport but the week made it worthwhile! Can't wait to come back.

[PD]

Very nice trip, enjoyed your report, had a nice vicarious daydream.

[brimac]

Thanks for the report!