Sanibel's Gulfside City Park

One of my favorite things to do, is a bike ride on Casa Ybel Rd to Algiers Lane and on to Gulfside City Park. If you keep your eyes peeeled for wildlife, you will most likely see plenty. I always watch for a huge Box Turtle that I've seen, several times, very near the bike trail on Casa Ybel Rd. If you don't get too close, it will allow you time to take photographs.

I usually ride to the Gulfside Park Preserve, past the old historic cemetery. This is a scenic and pleasant ride. I make the next stop at Gulfside City Park , then walk out onto the beach for a while. It's a beautiful area; shelling is usually pretty good there too.

If you are looking for a nice place to park, very close to the beach, this would be a good choice. It's nicely landscaped, has picnic tables, restrooms, barbecue grills and parking $2 per hour.

This spot has some interesting history. It used to be called Algiers, and was named after, an old Mississippi River paddle wheel boat, that had been used as a car ferry. It was purchased and placed on this 25 acre site in 1959 by Lathrop Brown. (Use link and scroll down to see photo of boat being moved into place, on Sanibel Island.) The boat was renovated into a 150 ft mansion that he planned to use for a winter home. There were a total of 13 rooms; 5 baths with gold fixtures, enclosed decks, restaurant kitchen,pool and a Picasso painting on the wall. Shortly after it was completed, he died in Fort Myers, Fla., November 28, 1959, from a ruptured gall bladder. For the next 23 years a caretaker lived on the Algiers, with Dobermans patrolling the acreage. The boat's stacks were landmarks for boaters until it was bulldozed in 1982.

Brown was a millionaire, had been in the real estate business and a Congressman from New York. His wife Helen Hooper of Cambridge Massachusetts, had become an heiress, at the age of 15, to the extent of $10,000,000. She traveled a lot after his death and lived in Bermuda, Tahiti and Hawaii, but never lived on the Algiers. She died in 1978 after living the last several years of her life as a recluse.

(There are a few more facts that I find interesting: The Brown's homes were mainly in New York and Long Island. Lathrop Brown was a close personal friend of FDR from being Harvard roommates. Brown was best man at the wedding of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt in 1905. Brown got involved in politics, his close friendship with FDR continued during the time of FDR's presidency as well. There are a lot of pictures (one of the Algiers being moved to the Sanibel beach), and very interesting and historical information about the Browns and Roosevelts in five installments of Lathrop Brown interviews. Follow the link, then on the right sidebar, scroll down to Lathrop Brown and FDR: Endgame, then go back to choose the installment below that etc.) Brown Family Info.

I had read about the Algiers in several Sanibel history books, but never really found enough about it to satisfy my curiosity. I think it has now been put to rest. :-) I LOVE history!

Next time you come to Sanibel, you may want to visit Gulfside City Park.

A Cooler Sanibel Evening

The humidity was high again today and the temperature got up to 93, just like it has been. We had to go off-island this afternoon and didn't get back until evening. There were many clouds all around the Ft Myers area, and we could see the beginning of a rainbow around Ft Myers Beach, as we were driving across the causeway.


While we were in Ft Myers, we saw a huge rainbow. It was actually a double one, but the one above, was not dark enough to show in the picture. While we were there, we only ran into a few sprinkles of rain, and that was it.




Going back across the causeway to the island, clouds were really pretty with the sun shining from behind them. There was hardly any activity going on at the spoil islands today. The people who were out there, had things to themselves. :)




When we got back on Sanibel, we drove over to the Nerita Street access, where we walked out to the beach. The sun was getting lower and there was a cool, refreshing south wind.






There weren't many shells. This is one beach visit, that I wasn't even tempted to bend over for a closer look at a shell. But I'm never disappointed, there's always tomorrow. There was plenty of wind to keep the noseeums away and was a perfect evening for a walk on the beach.

Sanibel Monday Evening

It's been another hot, 93 degree day. The humidity was very high, but the wind helped make being outside tolerable. This evening, it got really cloudy, there was some thunder in the passing clouds, but we took advantage of that cloud cover and went to the beach. Even though we got no rain, it was at least a relief to get cooler air.

At resident access 2 off West Gulf Drive, there were some shells up high on the beach at the high tide line, but not many anywhere else, except Ark shells.






I saw the bottom of a Top Shell exposed, reached down to pick it up, then realized the top portion was missing. This was the biggest one I had ever seen. What a shame it was broken.


There was a hole in the clouds (or hole in the floor of heaven :), and who better to shine light down on, than the lady you see in this photo.


Some of you, who come to this part of the beach often, can tell from her silhouette, who it is. She's the sweetest lady I've met on the beach, since moving here. And just guess what she was doing today! She had a bag of nice shells with her, and was dropping one here and there for other people to pick up, because there weren't any good ones on the beach. Yes, she's an angel alright. It's Ms Dottie. :)


We talked about collecting shells, bagging one of each kind and saving them to give friends who come, when they don't find many themselves. So, when we turned to go our separate ways, she handed a nice Fighting Horse Conch to me and said that she noticed I didn't have any shells, and I shouldn't go home empty handed. I should take that home and put it in with our gift shells. :) I love that little lady!




We could see shells when the waves broke on the shore, but after looking closer, didn't see too many good ones. If you wanted to work a little harder with a shell net, there were probably some there. Dottie had been using her net now and then, but hadn't found anything to keep. We were just happy to walk on the beach.







The noseeums began to bother us, so we left in a hurry.

Turtle Walk Thursday

Today we were out on the beach before sunrise. It was our 8th turtle walk of the season.

As soon as we walked out onto the beach, I could feel a strong breeze. I was thankful for that, as it kept the noseeums away and made our walk a very pleasant one.

First thing I noticed was the Snowy Plover nesting areas were enclosed and ribboned off again. I guess it's time for more nests. There were so many little Plovers running around today, the last group of hatchlings must still be here too. They kept me entertained through at least a 1/2 mile of the walk.


One little Plover standing guard, over the nesting area.




Holes, holes and more holes! This one was about 18" deep.




Every week, we have this kind of turtle activity. :)


The pastel sky, just before sunrise was very pretty today.


I know you can see the log of driftwood. Do you see the other log, the one I had to pick up?


I have a few pics for your cyber shelling pleasure, but it wasn't great this morning.


Two ladies were busy tromping through the dunes, looking for shells. I guess they haven't read beach rules. We aren't supposed to walk in the dune area. I hope there aren't any tiny plover eggs anywhere, that hadn't been found and marked, or they'll be smashed for sure. :(






If you see any special shells in these pictures, please don't tell me, because when I'm walking the the end of our zone, I don't look. Walking the return mile, I look.










If you enlarge the picture, you may spot the little baby plover that saw us coming and hid in a little cupped out place in the sand. It's parents were running all around trying to get our attention to keep us from seeing it too. It stayed right in that spot, with it's head down until we passed. At first I thought it was a dead one, because we were so close and it didn't move. But when Mommy came over it jumped up an ran off with her. I bet he was in trouble!


We weren't this close; just did a close up shot. All of it's feathers aren't even grown yet.


This was a cute mermaid when we passed, but on the way back, she didn't look so good. Someone had stomped in her face. :(






These two White Ibis, seemed to be acting a little strange. They were walking around in the sand, not appearing to be hunting for food, and not going by the water. Their appearance was also different because they both looked kind of dirty. No, it didn't look like oil on their feathers. But, I had to wonder if they could have had a little oil on their feathers, cleaned up and released. Maybe they just got dirty hanging out in a marsh. I thought they were just juvenille ones at first because their feathers are a little different color, but that wasn't it. Just another mystery. Oooh, did you know or care, that the American White Ibis was chosen as the mascot of The University of Miami because of its legendary bravery during hurricanes? :)


This lady was sitting cross legged in the sand, as I passed on my first mile. She was still in the same spot, when I passed on the way back. I think she was breathing in and out with the waves rise and fall, preparing to meditate. Or, could she be a bird whisperer?


I think this is a Grass cerith.


This is turtle #2 today.


A Drill.


There were a few chunks of Sea Pork on the beach this morning. I've been told that Sea Pork can be found in a lot of different colors. It's the first time I've seen it in a bright yellow color.


A little Scallop and a tiny Juvenille Horse Conch.


An Orange Scallop? :)


Another piece of Sea Pork. There was also a black one, which has been confused for globs of oil recently. We were told that it's easy to tell the difference. The black Sea Pork is smooth, firm and flexible like rubber. If you look closely, you can see the individual organisms make up this one piece, they're really interesting. The tar balls, that have been seen in the spill area, were black, very dense in weight, and felt sticky. So the moral to the story; if you see a black blob on the beach, don't get all excited. Look it over carefully and if you really have reason for concern, report it to local officials so they can check it out.




Can you spot the little Plover that thinks he's hiding right next to me. I walked on past and it continued on it's merry way.


We had two bags full of trash, but still no sea turtle, nesting activity in our zone. The beach and water is still clean and clear and I hope it stays that way.

This evening we were at Pointe Santo on West Gulf Drive, so I took the opportunity to take a few pictures on the beach. I know there are some Pointe Santo lovers who frequent the blog, so yes, these are meant to make you wish you were here. :)

The fella having such a great time riding his bike on the beach, evidently doesn't know that it isn't allowed on the island.


Somebody is going to have a lot of toys to pick up. :) That bright colored float looked like loads of fun!






I noticed a change. There are a lot of lounge chairs, now available to move around where you want them. Major improvement, in my opinion. :)