Sanibel Sunday

The last time we visited Sanibel Island, it was overcast and cool.  We didn’t have ideal beach or photo conditions.  So, this year I waited for the holiday crowds to thin out and for some ideal weather.  We got both this past Sunday.  With an early start we unhooked the RV and drove the short 6 miles over the bridge and causeway to spend the day at Sanibel Island.

Sanibel Island is very quaint.  There’s no high rises or urban sprawl and there’s limited public areas.  There’s only one main two lane road that traverses the island and traffic can be a crawl.  Also, there’s not many places to park an RV.  With our early 9:00 am start we lucked out and had very light traffic.  Our target destination was Bowman’s Beach, which is about midway up on the island.  Bowman’s has a small public parking lot with restroom facilities.  It also has a few parking spots for small RV’s (less than 30 ft).  We got there when the lot was pretty empty and got our pick of a nice shaded spot to park the RV for the day.  Bowman’s is a nice spot to enjoy a great beach and do some shelling.  It’s also a good spot to stay parked and bike up to Captiva Island.

We spent a few hours at the beach with ideal conditions – a cloudless blue sky, brilliant sun, and a light southwest breeze.  We got there when the tide was about half way in, so its wasn’t great shelling conditions.  Also, our timing was great as the beach (and parking lot) quickly filled up.  Here are some beach pictures.

Bowmans Beach

After about 2 1/2 hrs of beach sitting I was starting to roast, so we got on our bikes and made our way up to Captiva Island.  Sanibel is great for biking as it has a nice bike path the entire length of the island that parallels the main road.  From Bowman’s, Blind Pass, the inlet between Sanibel and Captiva, is about 3 miles away.  Blind Pass has a nice beach and is very picturesque, but there is limited parking.

As you cross over to Captiva, you enter another world.  It the land of the 1% or maybe the top 1/8 of 1%.  Its Florida’s small tropical version of the Hamptons with multi-million dollar beach bungalows carefully hidden behind beautifully maintained tropical fauna.

The little village of Captiva is another 3 miles from Blind Pass.  We were on a mission to get the wife to The Bubble Room for desert.  The Bubble Room is very unique with its kitschy decor and world famous desert cakes.  We went all in with 3 pieces of cake.  They were all delicious, but I especially like the Orange Crunch Cake.

While there, we explored the small village area and checked out the beach at the Mucky Duck.  Its such an idyllic area and well worth a visit.

Its good that we had a 6 mile bike ride back to Bowman’s as we needed the exercise to work off the cake from the Bubble Room.  It was a great way to spend a day – beach time, biking, shelling, picture taking, and eating.