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Published: December 12th 2006
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I know, I know! Considering that our fellow travel bloggers are scouring throughout the third world for their adventures, our little pre-holiday RVing escapade to Florida must seem lame at the most. But we’re having fun and we didn’t have to take any extra shots or vaccines to stay healthy here.
A typical day finds us checking our e-mail and doing a little client work as we sip our coffee. Then we decide on our day’s itinerary based on the weather and other factors. We have a sort of a “brunch” in the RV before we head out for the day. We have discovered that brunch plus nice seafood or other restaurant meal in the late afternoon suites us.
Yesterday, we re-visited old favorites: Sanibel and Captiva Islands. We like to eat on the beach at the Mucky Duck in Captiva; but found out that it is closed on Sunday. This was bad news/good news for us as it meant that we could park free in the Mucky Duck parking lot for an unlimited amount of time. We brought our chairs and books and a bag for shell collecting and settled right in on the beautiful Gulf of Mexico
Naples Beach Looking Toward the Town Pier
Great view. Great seafood. Great location. Great service. beach. Had we gotten hungry or thirsty, we could have bought snacks, waters, soda and hot dogs from “Joey.” Joey has the dream job. He plies the gentle waters off the beaches of Captiva in his pontoon boat which is all set up with a gas grill, coolers of goodies, and a menu sign. He seems to choose a spot where there are sun bathers. Then he beaches his craft and goes to work - grilling and selling refreshments.
We discovered that Captiva is a little like Italy in that the restaurants close for a few hours in the afternoon - sort of like a siesta. We stopped in at the Green Flash for a beer and drove back to Sanibel toward sunset seeking food. Among all of the private condos and resorts we found a goodie, the Casabel Inn’s dining room and pool pub seem to be among the few resorts with dining open to the public. We ate while the sun was setting to the west and a wedding party was having their marathon photo session on the lovely lawn. It was perfect, a flute and harp from the outdoor cocktail reception serenaded us with great tunes
Eat at Joey's
This is pure genious. Joey has a pontoon boat outfitted as a beach stand. He cruises around Captiva Island; spots a pod of sunbathers; and sells waters, sodas, and snacks on this pristine beach NOT known for it's commercial establishments. Joey is our new hero! like the Beatles Norwegian Woods.
When we got back to the RV, we checked our e-mail (we have two lap tops with us - otherwise we might have serious problems about turns on the PC), read our books - Wes is on his third Ken Follett novel - I finished Richard Russo’s Empire Falls and am in the middle of a Gothic type work by Carlos Ruiz Zafon called The Shadow of the Wind. I also download and edit photos, and sometimes get to write my blog entry - which is really fun - even if we are not scaling Kilimanjaro in our flip flops.
This morning, Wes made arrangements to store the RV here at Cypress Woods when we leave to fly home on Friday. It is an afternoon flight which will give us time to clean out the RV - we give perishable foods to neighbors - get The Schooner into a storage facility, return the rental car, and head to Albany Airport.
We headed toward Marco Island - where we had never been. A wonderful ranger at the Tigertail Beach told us that we would first use a boardwalk to get to a lagoon; and
Beach at Marco Island
It seems to run infinitely. Beautiful - white, soft sand! to walk to the left about 15 minutes to get to the Gulf of Mexico. It was astoundingly beautiful - we keep thinking we have seen the most beautiful beach and Voila, ANOTHER beautiful beach. This one also HUGE. Clean, soft, white sand and interesting shells - lately I have been looking for perfect miniatures - little preemie, perfect, immature shells. And today I found what I had been looking for.
We left Marco and headed for Naples, stopping at an RV park that we are interested in for next year.
We had been to a restaurant at a marina, The Dock at Crayton Cove, in Naples prior and made a return visit; but first we went to the Naples Beach - which is similar to Marco Island if slightly more populated and slightly not as broad. We also parked and strolled down Naples 5th Ave. which is very aptly named and seemed like the seasonal thing to do - GREAT shopping!
So, it is the end of a great day, Wes is reading; I filed a story for a client and am writing my blog. Soon I will return to my own book. We are thinking of
View from The Dock Restaurant, Naples
Great view. Great seafood. Great location. Great service. doing Cape Coral tomorrow - and are thinking that one day this year; we will go deep sea fishing. Stay tuned.
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