Sanibel and Captiva

We left Ortona and headed for Sanibel Island.  Sanibel has not a single traffic light and is largely residential, with just a short stretch of commercial businesses and restaurants concentrated in a central area of the island.  If you are seeking to simply escape to a fairly quiet island without all of the commercialism, this is the place for you.  For those of you familiar with Duck, NC in the Outer Banks, Sanibel is similar, although probably even less commercialized than Duck these days.






We stopped by the beach to check it out and have a bite to eat on a bench under a shade tree. George pulled a live Conch out of the water. Too bad we couldn't have conch fritters tonight (you are not allowed to collect live shells). He released it back into the ocean.






Captiva, located just north of Sanibel, is what Key West used to be, "the best kept secret for the wealthy." It too is nearly completely residential with very little commercial development, and very, very nice. It is void of nearly all the touristy destinations with which Key West and Miami Beach have become overrun, and very desirable. Captiva has been one of my favorite beach towns we have visited so far, although the gulf waters here are not nearly as clear or calm as they were further south.














On our way back to the mainland we spotted an Alemania (a German motorhome built on a Mercedes truck platform, shipped to the US for touring by some Germans) and pulled over to snap a few quick pictures.






We left the islands and traveled inland to our camp for the night in the Myakka State Forest.