Sanibel Island, FL

We were told that one of the must places you have to visit in South Western Florida is Sanibel Island. Located on the Gulf of Mexico just a short drive from Ft. Myers lies this picturesque Island. Sanibel beaches attract visitors from all around the world, partly because of the large quantities of seashells that frequently wash up there. One of the reasons for these large accumulations of shells is the fact that Sanibel is a barrier island which is "part of a large plateau that extends out into the Gulf of Mexico for miles. It is this plateau that acts like a shelf for seashells to gather." Sanibel also has an "east-west orientation when most islands are north-south. Hence, the island is gifted with great sandy beaches and an abundance of shells.

   

 

In order to get to Sanibel from Ft. Myers you have to take the Sanibel Causeway which spans the San Carlos Bay, connecting Sanibel Island with the Florida mainland. The causeway consists of three separate two-lane bridge spans, and two man-made causeway islands between them. The entire causeway is three miles long from end to end, and currently has a six dollar toll in effect for island-bound vehicles only.

Arriving on Sanibel Island from the causeway.

 

Sanibel Island has a climate that is subtropical and humid, and produces a very lush and diverse landscape with several different types of palm trees.  During our entire stay in this area, the temperatures reached a consistent 85 - 90 degrees  (30 celcius) and the evenings did not cool down and stayed just as warm. It was beautiful sunny warm weather in such a tropical place.

More than half of the island is made up of wildlife refuges.

 

We arrived at one the beaches on the island  and were eager to see what kind of sea shells we might find. The best time to go shelling is at low tide. Yes there were shells everywhere along the shoreline. And of course if you get into the water from your knees to your hips, like everyone else was doing you could find even more special shells hiding ontop of the sands below. People were in the water with their nets scooping up sea shells and also just walking up and down the shorelines with their nets and special gadgets to find the seashells. There were alot of serious shell collectors on-site each comparing with each other their finds of the day.     

 



We found alot of very beautiful colorful sea shells. This is just a small assortment of  the type of sea shells that were found there.

 

We found a Live Sea Urchin that had nestled itself inside of a semi opened large clam shell. The clam shell had washed up on the beach and I retrieved the sea urchin out. As the sea urchin was still alive I threw it back into the ocean. 

Well it was no ordinary day at the Sanibel Island Golf Club. We pulled up to the 8th tee box and saw what looked like to be an alligator chewing on something. He was tossing around a iguana and then eating it. One of the fellows that we were golfing with hit his ball and it landed about 5 feet from the gator. When we got up there the gator had finished eating his prey and was just sunning. He then saw us taking pictures and started returning to the lagoon which he came from. He was estimated to be about 11 feet long, not a animal you want to get close to or mess with thats for sure.

A picture from the Sanibel Golf course that shows the nice palm trees that line the course.