Sanibel Island, Florida
I’m going to start this post off with three words: Fried. Grouper. Sandwiches. If these three words appeal to you, so will these islands. If they don’t, you really need to plan a trip!
Sanibel and Captiva are two Florida Gulf Coast islands sandwiched (you see where this is going) between Miami and Tampa. Driving through Sanibel to reach Captiva takes about 15-20 minutes. Our first stop coming from the mainland was Gramma Dots, where we had our first friend grouper of the trip. Absolutely delicious, and the marina location set the tone for the rest of the trip.
Captiva, the smaller of the two islands, is essentially two beaches with a road between them. We stayed there to optimize our beach time at South Seas Resort. Now fair warning, this is a resort, which means it’s big and resorty, but the buildings are spread far enough along literally miles of open beach so it’s not too bad. My other choice was ‘Tween Waters (named so because the hotel sits in a prime spot “between” the Gulf and intercoastal waters), though the name frankly threw me off a little. Both spots could use some updating, but they hold enough classic beachy charm for a couple of days and nights exploring the island. A third option would be one of the many gorgeous homes for rent, but we only had one night.
We thought it would be fun and romantic to rent a boat for the day, but it turns out most places won’t give you one if your last boating experience was when you were seven. So instead we rented bikes and thoroughly enjoyed it. There are a lot of nooks and crannies to explore, lots of beach to stop at, and an abundance of wildlife. The island is full of birds and gorgeous gardens. Djing Darling is a nature reserve I wish we had time to visit, but we did see manatees just off a marina dock, and dolphins pretty much every time we looked at the gulf horizon. Sanibel is known for shelling, and for good reason. There are a LOT of shells. The most and best we found was Bowman’s Beach, where we found some unique treasures to take home.
The Mucky Duck is THE place to go to watch the sunset, and pretty much all of Captiva goes for a cocktail on the beach each day at dusk. It’s one of the only places to watch the sun hit the horizon, and apparently a great place to catch the elusive Green Flash! And yes, they have grouper sandwiches there too.
We had dinner at the Bubble Room, where it’s Christmas every day! The bread basket comes with cinnamon rolls and garlic bread, and the cocktails taste like candy. The food definitely isn’t light, but not to be missed for the kitschy decor and the famous orange cake.
On the way out we stopped at Gramma Dots for a grouper sandwich. Yes, I know I’m mentioning this again, but it really is worth a second trip. So enjoy, sit back, and really give some thought to living on a yacht full time.
