HAPPY NEW YEAR from SANIBEL ISLAND

Thanks to all of my family, friends and followers for sharing your time with me during the past year. I hope to have many happy memories to share with you in the coming year.

Make a Smilebox greeting

A Very Crowded Sanibel

I know you want a peek at the beach. :) But first, I wanted to show you a little of the new landscaping in progress on the spoil islands. I had made a slide show with those photos, but I'm having all kinds of difficulties getting things to work with my new computer. So after saying a few bad words and then giving up, I am just posting them below. :(

Going off island yesterday to do some grocery shopping was a real experience. The traffic was horrible. Some kind person finally gave us space to get onto Periwinkle Way. There were cars lined up to go off the island, as well as bumper to bumper traffic coming on island. Traffic in Ft Myers was bad too, but nothing like Sanibel, where there's only one way on and off.

I can tell you that there's still no where else I'd rather be. If you have to sit in traffic, at least you have beautiful scenery to look at. The new plantings along the roadsides are really very nice.

Trying to get down Periwinkle.

Finally turned onto Causeway Blvd.



Trees as you approach causeway.


Tree plantings.







Low tide on north side of spoil island.





















Late this afternoon we braved the traffic and drove over to the beach. The island is very busy this week. There were hundreds of check-ins on the island the day after Christmas. The roads are gridlocked several times a day, even with police directing traffic at the intersections. Multi-use paths are crowded with bicycles. The restaurants all have long waits at dinner time, and the other businesses seem to be quite busy as well. I noticed that about all of the parking spaces were full at the condos along West Gulf Drive.

Here are a few photos of some of the activity going on while we were waiting at the intersection of West Gulf Drive and Tarpon Bay Rd, facing west. As usual none of the pictures shows how crowded it really was, by the time I took one, half the people had already moved out of view. Yesterday I was thinking that riding my bike where I wanted to go would be an option. But, after seeing how congested the bike paths were today, I'm not sure that would help. Taking into consideration the amount of vehicles at intersections, I'm not sure it's too safe to be on a bicycle. I really think what you would need is a tank!









After driving back and forth past all seven of the resident access on WG Drive, we finally found one empty parking space at access 5.

It was a beautiful day, sunny and it got up to 74 degrees. I'm sure the visitors were really thrilled with the weather. The beach that is usually deserted in the summer was pretty crowded today. There were some shells at the high tide line, but not a lot coming in. I did find a small handfull to take home. I'm guessing that early this morning, there may have been some treasures in that high tide line. :-)























The beach art didn't seem to be up to Sanibel standards. :-)



Somebody tell me that they see a Driftwood fish in this picture. Please...


We saw the Sanibel Thriller passing by. It didn't look like a dolphin cruise so I'm assuming that they're returning from Boca Grande. Looked like they had a full load.



When we were looking for a parking spot at one of the resident accesses, there were quite a few cars among those parked, that didn't have a resident parking sticker. When we came back from the beach, the one car at this access that didn't have a sticker, was wearing a ticket. Their time on the beach will be an expensive one. I could see the police vehicle at the next access and he was busy writing tickets there.

The Day After a Sanibel Christmas

With the forecast of a cold front and rain passing through here on Christmas Day, you would think that was bad news. But, on Sanibel, where I was, there were only a few sprinkles. By afternoon, the sun was shining and it was a pleasant 70 degrees. No, that wasn't the picturesque image you think of at Christmas time, but I'll take it over freezing temps and a blizzard any day. :-) I suppose it's all in how you envision 'Winter Wonderland'. Palm trees and sunshine is mine.

The temperature was rather chilly last night at 58 degrees, but today it was sunny and 65. On the beach, I was comfortable with a sweatshirt on. I really didn't intend to get my feet in the water, but there were some rather large waves that sent water up pretty high on the beach now and then. Of course I was looking down for shells and got caught in it. The water felt a little cold for just an instant, but after the first shock was over, it wasn't so bad.

Coming onto the beach from resident access 5, this is how the beach looked if you turned west. There didn't seem to be many shells between access 5 and 6.




Turning to go east, there was an area that did have a lot of shells. After a quick look, I didn't see anything spectacular, but there were plenty of shells to look through and I imagine some treasures are hiding somewhere.







Walking west again....

I was walking along with my head down, of course, when I noticed a smell that was vaguely familiar. When I looked up, I saw that it was some red drift algae. I didn't notice any as I walked east from access 5, but walking to the west, there was narrow strip, as far as I could see.







You could certainly tell who lives here; the ones with sweatshirts on. Others were in short sleeve t shirts; which I perceived to be visitors. The island was infiltrated today by hundreds of cold travelers looking for some warm air and sunshine. The multi-use paths were crowded with bikers, wearing huge smiles. Traffic on the streets is once again, bumper to bumper. I hope all of our visitors find some R & R after the hustle and bustle of the Christmas holiday and plenty of warmth. I'm sure we will all enjoy the gradually climbing temps this week.