South Western Florida Highlights

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Here are some of the real gems & highlights of our Florida trips.

The beaches of Sanibel and Captiva deserve their great reputation. You estimate how much time you want to stay at each and pay to park accordingly. Most have bath houses for changing. All have restrooms. The shelling is wonderful. We did the Sanibel walk - slightly stooped over to spot shells. Beach shoes and a container for collected shells will add to your comfort. Great spot for sunsets.

The Bailey Mathews Shell Museum and the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, both at Sanibel are interesting for all ages. We saw a very large female crocodile at Ding Darling. Sanibel is very bicycle friendly. We are only reluctant to highly recommend Sanibel and Captiva because we want to guard it from too many visitors. These islands are just lovely.

The Bubbleroom for lunch at Captiva. This is the spot that has thousands of photos of celebs past and present and tons of collectibles, mostly old toys and Christmas items. The servers are dressed in Boy and Girl (short shorts) Scout uniforms. Lunch was fine. For dessert - we picked the White Christmas coconut cake - sublime. Looks like a great place to take Casey, Jack & Vivian some day.

The Mucky Duck for lunch or sunsets at Captiva. Very fun Brit owned beach pub with great seafood, friendly, mildly quirky staff, a world of different brews, and great view. They’ll let you stay parked to walk the beach if their traffic isn’t too busy.

Pinchers Crab Shack at North Fort Myers. To get to this gem you literally tunnel through a Best Western Motel. The restaurant sits on the Caloosahatchee River looking east, which didn’t prohibit us from seeing a gorgeous sunset off in the corner. Later on the lights of Fort Myers play on the water. It’s paper tablecloth casual and the seafood likely flipped its fins that same morning. In December they kept the big windows open; which we love but we hit a cold snap in February and they closed them at dusk.

The Light House Restaurant is just before the causeway to Sanibel Island in the Fort Myers Beach area. This is a linen tablecloth spot - a bit more formal than lots that we like, but not pretentious. The food and service are wonderful. The setting is great for sunsets. We took a Champagne Sunset Cruise out of the pier close to the Light House Restaurant. It was charming.

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Photos

Crocodile at Sanibel
This female crocodile lives in the Ding Darling Nature Preserve on Sanibel Island. She was re-located several times, but always returns. Volunteer rangers "guard" her durning the day. Thoughtless tourists have been known to throw rocks at her to make her move - even more moronic are the people who want to get to close to be photograped with her. She is an awesome sight.

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[Silver Back Cuda]

The Croc Has Moved On!
Our docent on a tour at Ding Darling in Nov. 2010 broke the news - they had a memorial service for this croc - toasted her life with "Gatorsde." Her skeleton is being prepared for display at the Visitor's Center - stay tuned.