Pine Island and Sanibel Island

One of the places I had always wanted to paddle was the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, so My companion and I made plans. The first obvious thing we discovered was the total lack of camping spots available in Sanibel, but I had a backup plan. We would camp on Pine Island across the bay! That proved to be difficult as well, but finally we secured a spot at Sea Isle RV Resort in Malakta on the isthmus which leads over to Pine Island itself. There we met Carl and a number of his friends who called the Resort their home. 

It turned out Carl only ever had one site for transients like us and I think thenidea was so that he could have someone new to chat with when the locals got a bit much. Many of the permanent inhabitants were at their last stop in life having been everywhere, done everything already in their lives, mostly thanks to the military. They were quite the crowd each having a small corner on some speciality so that all together they could manage to get by on practically nothing. 

Anyway, Carl was a gem. He got us decent internet, a great meal out just across the bridge and a yummy breakfast in the other direction. All places that mostly cater to locals which gave us a glimpse of the Florida we wanted to see.

Sanibel Island proved itself as well. We ended up renting a canoe and got a first hand look at the mangrove tunnels and typical west coast Florida paddling. We had a great time, although there was less wildlife than I was hoping for. After all it was a refuge!

 

Lunch was just up the street at Dr Ford's new bar and grill. It lacked some of the charm I was expecting as a fan of the books, but I was glad to have see it and we both enjoyed the meal.

I had thought I would take a little tour around on Pine Island the following day and there was a new hiking trail Carl told us about, however, we wanted to see the Keys and we had secured a reservation on Key Largo so we headed south once again.