This is our last night in Sanibel. We have had a great/terrible/exciting/worried/magical time here! Thanks to everyone for all the pre-trip planning help. It was great to feel prepared when we arrived last Saturday.
First, let me say, I%26#39;m so glad we didn%26#39;t stay at Blind Pass Condos. They ARE beautiful, but the distance to the beach would have been too much for my kids and Bowman%26#39;s Beach is a little too rough for my younger kids. It is definately a place I%26#39;d love to stay when they%26#39;re bigger, but Loggerhead Cay worked out great for us.
We arrived on Saturday afternoon and went straight to the beach. My dear hubby let our eight year old sunscreen him up, and he proceeded to get fried the first day. Ouch!
Ate dinner at Jacaranda%26#39;s. It was good.
We rented bikes on Sunday after mass at St. Isabel%26#39;s from Billy himself. It was so easy. He set us up, delivered them that day and will pick them up tomorrow. The older two kids got their own bikes, but we got a tandem for Emily. You should have seen her doing the sole peddling some of the time!
We biked to the shell museum (a LONG way for a first trip for our 8 yr old) but at one stop, we watched some turtles on a bridge near Ding Darling. Would have missed that in a car...
Monday was our cruise to Cayo Costa with Captiva Cruises. It was so fun! We love the remoteness of the island. It seemed so exotic! Got some great shells. Claire found a sand dollar (dead) and was so excited. Saw lots of dolphins, even a baby one. After the cruise, we went to the beach at the other side of the island from the marina. Great beach, but again, a bit rough for Emily. Ate dinner at R.C. Otters. Good food! Not so pricey as Mucky Ducks. Watched the sunset on the beach after dinner. Dessert at The Bubble Room that evening. Fabulous day!
That night, I was cleaning the counter in the kitchen and didn%26#39;t see that my daughter had put her sand dollar on the counter under her stuff. I moved her things and the sand dollar flew off the counter and smashed on the floor. Talk about feeling HORRIBLE mommy guilt! It wasn%26#39;t a pretty sight. The next morning, I went to She Sells Sea Shells and bought some more, and my hubby and I took them and the girls out to the sand bar to see if they could ';find%26#39; any more. Didn%26#39;t realize that these new ones would float! We had to smash them into the sand to keep them down. Lost track of a couple! Girls were estatic. All is good.
On Wednesday, we learned that my husband%26#39;s sister has breast cancer that has metastisized to her lungs, liver, spine, and pelvis. She is 37 and has two small kids. We live in KY, and she is in MN, so there was nothing we could do immediately, but it really brought us back to reality here in paradise. We decided to finish our trip and make the most of the time we had here together. Hubby will go in two weeks to MN for a visit. Please keep her in your prayers.
Enjoyed dinner at Island Cow and McT%26#39;s. Enjoyed beaches at Bowman%26#39;s, Lighthouse (my favorite), and in front of our condo. Great ice cream at DQ.
Had a fun tour at Ding Darling, but couldn%26#39;t go visitor center because of the island wide power outage. Thank goodness for Jerry%26#39;s generator for coffee! After all my previous worries about alligators, snakes, and sharks, and we didn%26#39;t see a one even at Ding Darling!
Ended up having to take my 11 year old son to Ft. Meyers to the urgent care clininc on Thursday because he got a terrible infection in his foot after stepping on something while trying to skim board barefooted. (The Sainbel dr. was closed due to the outage. Only ONE dr. on the island???) He had red streaks going up both sides of his leg! Kyle ended up with a shot of rocephrin (sp?) and 10 days of antibiotics. He%26#39;s feeling better now but had to stay out of the water on our last day here. Bummer.
We have seen dolphins, starfish, sand dollars, crabs, tons of birds, a nesting snowy plover, live mollusks (we left it alone), a sea urchin, and really neat fish.
We made some great memories. It wasn%26#39;t like I rememberd from childhood, but that was 30 years ago that I was here last. Not so many varieties of shells just right on the beach. Also, I remember my dad being much more cautious with us. We stayed at our beach and didn%26#39;t explore the island (stayed then at ';The Gallery,'; now called The SeaSide Inn.) Made new memories with my kids though. I think it was even better than before, minus the shelling... We%26#39;re even getting up to have breakfast on the beach before we leave tomorrow. I can%26#39;t wait to come back again!
Sad to leave :(
Thank-you so much for your report! Sorry about your son. And I%26#39;m sure more than one parent has done the sea shell/sanddollar plant. [and a husband or two - there was a REAL funny story about a planted junonia] so you%26#39;re in good company.
Know that your report gave others pleasure and now you can enjoy planning a return trip. :-)
Sad to leave :(
Please write a review of ';Loggerhead Cay'; %26amp; share your sanibel Island Vacation Rental experince
tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g34616-d227819-…
I hope your brother%26#39;s sister recovers ...we will pray for her
Thank you for your reviews of the island. I am so sorry to hear about your husbands sister, our prayers are with all of you.
We had the same (sort of) issue in March, about finding a dr. My kid had blood draining out of his ear on a Sunday. No urgent care/dr availale on island, had to drive him 45 minutes in Ft Myers to Urgent care. He was fine, and now we know the drill.
Take care...
Prayers for your sister-in-law.
My prayers are with your famililes. Thanks for the good info. Sounds like it was a wonderful time. I myseld had a similar experience with no DR. on the island due to it being Sunday. It was the first 5 minutes of beach time maybe 5-6 years ago a cute little stingray put a pencil eraser size hole in the top of my foot. Needless to say being from Indiana and not knowin anything about the ocean except it%26#39;s big, I was a little scared I was gonna die. After an intense car ride, waiting hours in Urgent Care in Ft. Myers, I finally decided to put the ';pee'; remedy to the test. Worked like a charm. If I only knew that now I probably would have never left the beach that day. :) Sorry to rant I just love Sanibel. We are headed there on July 8th for the time of our lives AGAIN!
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