Day 9 - Sanibel Island, FL

We checked out of our hotel in the Everglades this morning and headed along Highway 41 to Sanibel Island on the west coast of Florida to see some beaches. This was our last night in a hotel for 5 nights, we were going to be camping now until New Orleans and it was going to be a different location every night!

On our way to Sanibel Island, we stopped off at Naples to visit the pier and take a break on the beach. The pier was still partially closed due to Irma damage but we will still able to walk out half way and take in the awesome view of the beach. The beach was beautiful! The sand was soft and white, the water was a lovely shade of greeny blue. The waves were a little too rough for a swim but we could see dolphins swimming not to far away from the shoreline.

After the beach, we walked across to the historic area of Naples to the marina on the other side of the town. The historic area and marina were pretty, there were lots of very large boats and even larger houses, some lovely bars, restaurants and boutique shops. We both said this was a place we would love to come back to so we can explore some more over a couple of days.

Our next stop was a camp store. We started our trip in Florida for a number of reasons but one of them was because we thought it would be a good state to get camping equipment (i.e. the good weather in Florida meant that lots of people would go camping so there would be lots of camping suppliers). We were wrong. We struggled to find the very few stores in Miami who did camping supplies so we ended up buying our tent online and getting it shipped to the hotel and then buying a lot of our camping equipment in Walmart. When I saw we were going to go past a Bass Pro, we had to stop. We urgently needed a couple of supplies after our first night camping.

The store was the largest, most over-the-top outdoor store either of us had ever seen! It had a waterfall in the middle, stuffed animals (including bears) and its own restaurant! We found almost everything we needed including a couple of lights (one solar and one with a car charger), some very large steel tent pegs, a mallet (yes, we were trying to bang the tent pegs in with a bit of wood previously, it didn’t work), a tent dust pan and brush and some more propane for cooking. We still haven’t managed to find a good kettle (I wish I’d bought our whistling one from home) or tent carpet but we can live without these for now.

After shopping and finally managing to squeeze everything into the car, we continued our journey to Sanibel Island. The drive to the Island is incredible and worth the $6 toll. You go over several bridges and islands where the sea is almost coming up to the edge of the roadway. There were lots of turn outs for small beaches which despite the road next to them, looked really private and secluded.

We reached the campsite just after lunch and decided to pitch straight away so that we didn't get caught out in the rain or the dark. We were a lot quicker this time and almost seemed like we knew what we were doing! It helped that we were both motivated by the heat and humidity, trying to do anything at lunchtime in Florida is difficult but putting up a tent was super hard. Sweat was pouring off us and running into our eyes; we just wanted to get the tent up quickly so that we could head to the beach to cool off.

We had a primitive camp site (no electric, water or sewage hookups) and were the only people in this part of the RV park, we had a huge area all to ourselves. Even in the RV area there were only 2 so the whole site was very quiet and very few people were using the facilities (no queuing for showers!).

With the tent pitched, we headed to the beach. Parking is expensive in Sanibel Island and we needed the exercise so we walked to the beach which only took 20 minutes. The beach itself was spectacular. It is a natural beach which looks untouched, there are loads of shells in the sand and the water was lovely and cooling in the midday sun. There were very few people on the beach and those that were there, were quietly reading or sleeping, we didn't see any big noisy groups or families.

We walked up and down the sea shore shell hunting and paddling in the sea before having a snooze in the sun.

After the beach, we did some exploring around Sanibel. We went to the lighthouse at the end of the Island which was one of the first lighthouses to be built on the west coast of Florida and then drove down Periwinkle Way checking out the bars, restaurants and shops.

For dinner, we went to the Island Cow where we had Pig Wings (like chicken wings but made with pork), seafood macaroni cheese and the yummiest pudding - homemade Key Lime Pie! Lee was 'sharing' the pudding with me which meant he is only supposed to have a spoonful but it was so good, he ended up eating half! We sat at the bar and the barman Terry was awesome! We had a really enjoyable time chatting to him about travelling and blogging.

After dinner, it was back to the tent for a night camping. I am writing this blog on my phone inside the tent just as we are about to go to sleep. It is very hot and humid, it feels like there is a storm in the air. I love this type of weather and I am all snuggled up inside my sleeping bag. Lee is completely naked, sweating and dreaming of cold showers. I will save you from the photos but I have a few!

Not long after going to bed, we saw loads of fireflies outside out tent. Pictures and videos never do them justice but I took some anyway just to see how it would come out, they were amazing to see.

Health warning: Lee did say that this is one of the worst videos he has ever seen. It's not great but you can see a couple of fireflies being cute.