Boats lined up along the beach on Sanibel Island on a Saturday

[Rich Z]

Getting more and more crowded here, especially on the weekends. But they scatter when the late afternoon thunderstorms start moving in.

 

[crackerhead]

WOW it looks so weird to be able to see the lighthouse so clearly from the beach! That was always surrounded by a deep tangle of plants. And the beach surrounding it seems to be less.

 

[Rich Z]

Yeah, there used to be some really neat boardwalks through the wooded area around the lighthouse and buildings. There is still one small walk that exists, but the buildings are all gone and the wooded area greatly reduced. Lots of areas of Sanibel have changed significantly from the hurricanes. Still lots of establishments gone and perhaps not coming back. Lots of canals just got tree debris dumped into them and smell stagnant. Some places have FOR SALE signs out in their yards. And some places are just empty lots with FOR SALE signs on them also. I am not positive, but I think there are a number of places that used to be single family homes are now multi use condos now. Honestly never spend much time in this section of Sanibel before. I used to stay closer to the Bowman Beach area in the past. Oh, the area near the pass between Sanibel and Captiva got nearly wiped clean. Most places that were there just got wiped off of the map. At the National Shell Museum here they have a marker on the wall showing the high water line during one of the hurricanes. I'll see if I can find the pic on my phone and post it here later.

 

[crackerhead]

Thanks for the update.
Amusingly the only time I have every caught a corn snake in the wild was while staying at the Sanibel Inn. I was hunting for fossils in the crushed limestone paths in the butterfly garden and spotted a yearling at the base of one of the Palmetto palms. It was a stunningly beautiful example! I was so excited and I wanted to show my family. I ran to the pool/bar area where my husband and 5 year old were hanging out. I was yelling and waving a snake in the air. Needless to say the rest of the guests were not as happy about it as I was. lol

 

[Rich Z]

Found the pic of the high water mark from hurricane Ian in 2022. I will say that shelling here has been a lot better than I expected it would be.