Our 'place' in Sanibel

Strange as it may seem, a good friend asked to see the best side of our accommodations, so vicarious reality could take over. Unlike our last place in Bonita Springs, our place in Sanibel really does not have a bad side. The island building rules state that the front door has to be 10.5 feet above sea level. After you go up these stairs, you arrive at the front deck and the main entrance to this three bedroom, three bathroom house.

If you drive into the lane-way in the above picture, you end up under the house, beside the screened in porch [lanai, or Florida room] that encloses the lap-pool, but I digress.

This is the view from our bedroom window. Notice the lack of screens: all upstairs windows and sliding doors open onto the screened in Florida room: no need of further screens.

Our bed and the door leading to the en-suite.

The view from the bed, for when you awake... The window on the left, and the disappearing patio door to the lanai / florida room, whatever.

The view looking back at our patio door from the lanai.

Looking down to the lap pool from the same spot. This pool is about 12 ft wide and 50 ft long. It's also very comfortable and Joan has been in twice so far.

This is the front deck, taken from the front door. This is where the BBQ is and where fantastic steaks have been grilled... There are no-seeums here, so we eat inside.

This is the pool from poolside.

I'm having great difficulty getting text above the previous photo [long story: great red herring, but that's another story] so I'll put it here [with luck].

The previous picture was made from the other end of the pool, looking up at the tourists on the second floor. Chris and Peter, Joan and I are sharing these comfy quarters for February: lucky us!

Note our cars in the background [those dark shapes], sweet!

Gosh darn, I almost forgot to mention the elevator: the upper end is just behind Peter on the upper level, while the lower level entry is that white area at the pool, the entry being behind the post.

And now, a question: what is this all about? I might add that the digits shown are likely wrong and should read 87

This is what I first saw when I first looked out of our bedroom window, see yesterday's blog, or look long and hard, for answer...

Our guest repeated her sunbathing today, so this could be her favourite spot to sunbathe.

By the way, Peter read that they released the only alligator on the island, a female, a few days ago in a pond that is loosely connected to ours. So this is likely the only alligator here!

As I watched, a bird was fishing nearby. Then it got closer, and closer.

Could I be witness to an encounter between occupants of different rungs on the food-chain? Could this to be supper?

Apparently not today. The bird flew over to my side of the water, the alligator closed his eyes...

One day I'll make an enlargement of the bird above; I've never seen that composition of a bird taking off.

Sometimes photographers just don't have the skills or reflexes to capture the essence of a scene...

Oh, and we have a kitchen, laundry room, two more bedrooms and bathrooms, and a large living dinning area too. Maybe more pictures will follow, possibly not.

We went shelling today, at low tide just like 'they' say, and I found nothing unbroken that was worth keeping. Bummer. But do not despair, there are great shells here; it's just a matter of getting to them before they break...

Nice beach, a few miles long, protected by miles of super homes with stunning landscaping, but that's another story.

The beach access is about 10 minutes away by foot. Parking is available by annual permit only, and without the permit, you just can not park at all, period! So footwork is 'de rigeur'.

Oh well, it is a really very nice beach...