Captiva Wins the Beauty Contest!

Yesterday, we spent the day on Sanibel and Captiva Islands, barrier islands off the Fort Myers coast, a 45-minute drive from Bonita Springs.  We left Bonita early, hoping to get the driving done before the heat of the day became too unbearable.  We started out by
stopping at the Sanibel Tourist Bureau for directions and tips on the best shelling beaches.  The gentleman we spoke with suggested we head to Bowman Beach. 

Sanibel Island is known world-wide for its great shells;  this was not our lucky day.  The shells were bountiful, but far from unusual.  Despite this disappointment, we enjoyed a nice, long walk on the beach, cooling off by dipping our feet as we went.  We then sat and had our picnic lunch while doing some serious people watching.

Upon leaving Sanibel, as it was still quite early in the day, we decided to drive on to Captiva Island.  As the tourism focus seems to be placed entirely on Sanibel, we thought Captiva would be an isolated strip of land.  We were in for a shock.  It was paradise!  The island itself is very narrow, with one two-lane road extending from one end to the other.  The beauty is in the landscape, the ocean and the real estate!  We had difficulty seeing most of the homes along the road due to the abundance of trees and flowering shrubs, but those we did see were breathtaking. 

We stopped along the way for a cold beer at a local pub/terrace-type restaurant, with live entertainment to boot.  There was a small beach supply store there with not one tacky item in sight.  We can safely say we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves in this itsy bitsy town.  (Even the bird -eagle?- in this picture was entertaining!)

On the way off Sanibel, we stopped for a brief time to visit their much-bragged-about lighthouse.  Now, where Captiva wins the beauty portion of our day, the lighthouse wins the ugly duckling award.  To call this rusted hunk of steel a lighthouse is laughable.  The residents of Sanibel should take the time to visit the Maritimes and New England to learn what a beautiful lighthouse really looks like.

All this to say we thoroughly enjoyed our day from start to finish.  (Floridians can even be forgiven for the ligththouse!)  And ironically, not five minutes after we had driven off Sanibel Island, it started to rain.