Fabulous Stay in Sanibel!! Just returned.

I will post this again on the travelers review section but I want to add photos so just sticking this here for now...Thanks for all your advice...had a wonderful and relaxing time.

Simply fabulous is the only way I can describe Sanibel and Captiva Islands. I flew down on Friday, September 12th with a friend of mine for a mini getaway (3 nights, 4 days), we are both mid 30’s and was in the need of some peace and quiet. I booked the trip on expedia, airfare, car rental and 3 night stay at Songs of the Sea for $450 per person. We flew on Air Tran from Boston, had a stop in Atlanta then landed in Fort Myers. The flight was short and we had no problems in the airport. The car we rented from Dollar was supposed to be a small compact but we upgraded for $12 additional dollars to a convertible. We stayed at the Songs of the Sea resort which is located on Sanibel. I can not say enough wonderful things about Songs of the Sea, our room was #4117 and my guess is that it was recently renovated. The room had two queen beds and the beds were super comfortable. I usually only average a few hours of sleep a night and down in Sanibel I slept one night for nine hours!! In each room was a full size refrigerator, microwave, small sink and mini stove. Each room is equipped with paper towels, silverware, plates, glasses etc..There was a welcome note on the table with a complimentary bottle of wine. The Songs of Sea has a great pool (each room has a small porch with chairs, my room faced the pool) and the property is located on the beach. Each morning the staff puts out umbrellas and lounge chairs for guests to enjoy. This resort is perfect for adults and let me stress ADULTS whether singles, couples etc.. there are many other resorts on the island that caters to children, this is not one of them. The beach was very nice and not busy. The water was murky because of Hurricane Ike BUT due to Ike the shells were kicking up and amazing. I never thought I would take so much pleasure in going “shelling”. Every day I walked the beach and picked up shells, it was so relaxing but also exciting to find scallop shells that were orange, pink, purple, yellow plus the many other types including my favorite the periwinkles! The sunrises were superb and sunsets in Captiva breathtaking.

As for food, each day the Songs of Sea puts out a spread for breakfast; fresh fruit, cereal, yogurt, hard boiled eggs, variety of bagels, muffins, breads and a waffle machine. For lunch my friend and I made sandwiches in our room (we stopped at a supermarket in Fort Myers before we crossed the bridge) and for dinner we ate out; Lazy Flamingo in Sanibel, Bubble Room in Captiva and Key Lime Bistro in Captiva. The Lazy Flamingo was decent food, we both got grilled grouper sandwiches with a side salad. The only thing that irritated me about the Lazy Flamingo is that the silverware, plates and cups were all plastic which is terrible for the environment. The Bubble Room in Captiva was good, I got baked grouper and my friend got fried grouper nuggets. The “Bubble Bread” was delicious and the décor and staff were great. The Bubble Room is a perfect place to bring children but is fine for all ages. The Key Lime Bistro was decent (read my review under that restaurant).

In the four days I was there, I enjoyed every minute of my stay from the beautiful place we stayed at to the wonderful beaches of Sanibel and Captiva to visiting the shell museum to watching the sunsets. Sanibel and Captiva are both truly wonderful places and I would recommend anyone who is looking for a nice relaxing place to go there. I will be back and will post some photos for you all to view soon!

Fabulous Stay in Sanibel!! Just returned.

I%26#39;m glad you had a nice, relaxing vacation. Isn%26#39;t it fun to discover that you can have fun just walking the beach and watching for shells to pick up? I read your other post warning people not to keep the live shells and thought, duh, but I guess, duh, some people HAVE to be told. Seems like you respect your environment, too. I also hate to see plastic tableware. We saw a lot of that in Hawaii and I even inquired at one restaurant that we particularly liked. Their excuse was that they weren%26#39;t allowed to have a dishwasher on their beachfront location. Even so, their are ';manual'; dishwashers, hmmm.

Sanibel and Captiva is a wonderful, laid back island destination. Not so much of a rat race like much of the rest of Florida. Looking forward to seeing your photos.

Fabulous Stay in Sanibel!! Just returned.

Thank you! A wonderful descriptive trip report! Shelling, sunsets and good food! My idea of a great trip. Can%26#39;t wait to see your photos!

Congratulations! You are now an official shellraiser!

Thanks for the great trip report. You got quite a deal for 450$. My airfare alone costs that much!

What a great report and from the sound of it a great trip. What a deal...it seemts I cannot not even leave Maine on a plane these days for that price...

We run into the plastic silverware issue here in Maine sometimes as well for the reason listed- no dishwasher. I hate it here too but when I asked once about hand washing they said something about cost of time involved and amount of water used? And shelling is just plain addictive!

Love your report! Thank you so much! I am getting excited about our next trip in November... whoo hoo.

Sounds like you had a fantastic trip! Great deal on your air and accommodations. You can never go wrong staying at Song of the Sea; they are always so accommodating. Thanks for posting your trip report and looking forward to your reviews.

vb