Sanibel Island is located on the Gulf of Mexico just off shore of Fort Myers, FL. It is a barrier Island and because of the gulf stream and it is a collection of sand where Pine Island is more solid coral rock. The population of Sanibel is 6,064 with a median income of $79,044 and a median age of 60. The causeway leading out to Sanibel was originally built in 1963 replacing the ferry that use to be the only way to get to Sanibel. With the causeway it brought new tourism to the island but the islanders fought to keep the tourist attraction down and were successful in doing so. A higher bridge was built on the causeway to replace the drawbridge and was finished in 2007 which brought even more tourism to Sanibel and Captiva. Tourists come to Sanibel for its beaches, shelling and wild life refuges. Over half the island of Sanibel is a wild life refuge. Sanibel beaches are attractive to tourists for the white sand and the large quantities of seashells that wash up on shore. One of the reasons Sanibel accumulates so many shells is that it sits east/west where most islands sit north/south. It is also part of a large plateau that extends into the Gulf of Mexico. Due to shelling, there is name for the stance people take while bent over looking for shells. It is called the "Sanibel Stoop".
Captiva Island is connected to Sanibel by a small causeway. It is smaller than Sanibel with 5 miles of white sand beaches and the shells on Captiva seem to be larger in size. Captiva is mostly residential with huge homes and a small grocery on the island. Sanibel and Captiva share 16 miles of white sandy beaches, 22 miles of bike paths, 50 types of fish, 230 types of birds and 250 types of shells.
We had a nice day on Sanibel and Captiva Islands. We took our bikes with us and after touring both islands by car we parked and rode the bikes around. We wanted to spend more time on the beach looking for shells but one main thing stopped us from finding anything good, High Tide. The Gulf has been rough the last few days so it was churned up and not as pretty as it usually looks. We rode our bikes along the bike trails that were very well built. It made it easy to go from one side of the Island to another. We stopped for lunch at Island Pizza and Sanibel's famous Crusty twist crust on our pizza. It was good. We then checked the lighthouse. The lighthouse was built in 1884 and is not the conventional lighthouse that we are use to seeing. We checked out a couple more beaches and went pass where the hotels are on the island. We finished our ride through one of the preserves where we came across an Osprey nest with the little heads sticking up. It was a nice day and next time we will go when the tide is at low tide so maybe I can actually find some of the 250 types of shells.
Today it is rainy so we are going to wait for it to stop, after noon, then head to Fort Myers Beach for the afternoon and evening.
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