My birthday on the water at Sanibel

I was looking through the last few months' worth of photos and realized that I haven't posted any of our time in Sanibel in July. So here goes.

I first went to Sanibel Island on the Gulf Coast of Florida in 1992, I think. I'd gone to Florida with my youngest sister and one of her friends, and we drove across the state to spend the night at Sanibel.

I fell in love. White sand, narrow beaches, lots of palm trees, few people on the beach, warm water. Calm water. Shells everywhere. (It's the third best shelling in the world due to the orientation of the island; east-west instead of north-south as most barrier islands run.)

The following summer I needed to get away by myself, so I looked through the brochures I'd picked up the summer before and chose a couple of small motels to call. Back then, the internet wasn't what it is today. Had to use the phone. I called the Blue Dolphin Inn and made reservations for 10 nights.

I drove down by myself, dividing the driving into two days. I got to Sanibel in the early evening, which is a bad time for mosquitos and no-see-ums, I would discover. I loved the motel. I had the only "motel" room; the others were efficiencies and a couple of small apartments. The beach was maybe 50 feet away. I discovered that it is the last motel on West Gulf Drive near the dead end of the street, so it was perfect for a quiet vacation. On the most crowded days, there might be as many as 10 people on the beach, as far as I could see in both directions. Summer is the low season, so it's less expensive then, which was a nice bonus.

Anyway, I spent 10 wonderful days there that summer, and went back the next two summers for two weeks each. I went back a couple of times after that, but it got to be too expensive.

Tom asked me where I wanted to go for my birthday this summer, since we were going to be in Florida that week. Guess where I wanted to go? We took a boat tour of the nearby islands; I'd read a lot about the area in novels and nonfiction and wanted to see places we could only get to by boat. One of my favorite authors, Randy Wayne White, lives on nearby Pine Island and writes about the Sanibel area in his Doc Ford novels. His son is a fishing and tour guide, so we booked his services for the day.

Eight hours on the water. Lunch at Cabbage Key. Stops at a luxury resort on a private island and at uninhabited islands. Views of Sanibel and Captiva from the water. Slight sunburn in spite of application of all-day sunblock.

A wonderful day.