anna_k

My husband and I are former world travelers. We love Europe, Asia, Hawaii, St. John USVI, and southern Thailand. Now that we have a 10 month old, and after a horrific flight with her to Hawaii a few months ago, we are looking to vacation in Florida the first week of March. I've been looking around this forum trying to narrow it down and I think Sanibel Island might be right for us. The Pointe Santo condo's look very nice. I guess I'm looking for a little reassurance or suggestions on places to stay. Has anyone been to Sanibel since the hurricane? We'd like to keep the lodging under $3000/week and we'd like to be on the beach. Would I be better off in Naples or on Marco Island? We're looking for a relaxed week on the beach, nightlife is unimportant.

Thanks!

cmcfong

A friend of mine in the area says that due to hurricane damage, Naples is the best choice.

miguelgcuadra

How about Key Biscayne , Fl , great place, nice beach....there are two great hotels, ritz and sonesta beach.
very up scale, very quiet, lots of restaurants, no stores but very close to miami, south beach, coconut grove, and coral gables.

Tandoori_Girl

You will not find a beach as nice in Naples as in Sanibel, but the recent storms have made things a bit chaotic in Sanibel. I think everyone is hesitant to recommend SAnibel because of that, so between the two your most reliable place would be Naples. Alas, I'm not so sure there are lots of condo choices along Naples beachfront. patrick???

birder

You know, I have to say that if it were me, I'd go to Sanibel. We've had reports on this board that Sanibel seems to be recovering. The tree canopy is gone, but alot of resorts and restaurants are up and running. There's another board, www.sanibelonline.com with a very active message board - you should check there as well. Sanibel is so relaxing and has so many interesting things to do. The beach extends forever it seems and the pace is so relaxed.

My favorite place to stay on Sanibel is Forty-Fifteen. It's basically unknown - and I think people like to keep it that way, because the rates are so low. If too many people find out, demand will go up and the owners will raise the rates! Forty-Fifteen is on West Gulf Drive in a residential area, and it's extremely quite. Mitchell's Sand Castles is right next to it. Forty-Fifteen is right on the Gulf and they are little cottages with full kitchens/bedrooms. It was less than $1000/week when we went two years ago. It's not luxury and there's no housekeeping, but free laundry, a gorgeous (deserted) pool, tennis courts, and did I mention quiet? I believe the website is www.fortyfifteen.com I loved it because the beach at the resort was so quiet, not many people there.

I have heard many good things about Pointe Santo, so I am not trying to discourage you, but wanted to point out an excellent, reasonably priced option.

anna_k

Thanks for the tips, we'd like to stay in a condo rather than a hotel since our daughter will be along. I also like that Sanibel doesn't have any high rises and we wouldn't have to drive to get to the beach. I'll check out the sanibelonline website and Forty-Fifteen.

birder

I'm sorry, I gave the wrong website. It's sanibel-online.com (the other one takes you to a travel agency). Look on the left for "message board" and then go down and click on the link for the voyager forum. Or I guess you can click straight through to it at http://www.voy.com/2078/ They have many recent posts about Sanibel.

mclhart

My family just returned from Sanibel on Dec. 24th and we had a great time. We also stayed in Pointe Santo as we have many times before. We rented a large 2 bedroom Penthouse from VRBO.com which has NEVER steered us wrong. However, there always has to be a first. The penthouses have rooftop balconies, but none of them were open due to hurricane damage, we were not told this by the owners. We would not have stayed on the 4th floor without the rooftop balcony as a perk, too many stairs...slow elevator. Anyway, it was still beautiful. Stay in building A or E if you can, beach front is not necessary, they all have views. We were in D and still had a great view. We love sunsets and the West side buildings did block the sunset but not the rest of the gulf. You'll love Pointe Santo, still lush and beautifully manicured. As for the rest of Sanibel, it looks great! It's also still lush, not quite a canopy of trees, and damage is visible, but still very green and beautiful. Captiva deserves a visit because the hurricane damage is very apparant but very interesting to see. The islands have done a SUPERB job of cleaning up. South Seas Plantation, the largest on Captiva is closed for several more months and it really hurts the restaurants and shops. There's a few resorts also closed on Sanibel (sundial, Casa y Bel). In fact, Christmas is usually PACKED, and the island was empty for our week which we loved! Have fun and don't miss "Stumpy", the 3 legged resident alligator at Pointe Santo.

IslandBum

I live on Sanibel and let me tell everyone...we are open for business! The closed signs are non-exsistent as the only things that remain closed are a handfull of Timeshare resorts.

Captiva was hit much harder than Sanibel, but there too....it is private residences that remain to be fixed up and South Seas Plantation.

Also, as further reference for you I suggest you go to www.bestofsanibelcaptiva.com

The folks there have had the BEST and MOST ACCURATE information anywhere. Their message forum contains daily updates on everything that's open, including beaches, stores, restuarants and places to stay.

Many of us locals post there and try to give you the 'real picture'.
I urge everyone to go to the site and spend some time.

Go to http://www.BestofSanibelCaptiva.com then click on the message forum icon in the upper left corner.

birder

I did not realize that the www.BestofSanibelCaptiva.com site had a message board! When I was planning for my first trip to Sanibel, I thought that it had by far the best review of accommodations, since you could look by the map. In fact, that is how we found Forty Fifteen.

IslandBum

They started it right after Hurricane Charley hit as a way to get information to locals and visitors then moved to what was reopening and when and now to loads of fun stuff like current events, specials and just trying to get the word out that we're still here!!

I don't know how they did it, but there were posts round the clock for weeks. Definatly worth grabing a cuppa' and spending some time.

michmike

any number of sanibel condo offerings at www.vrbo.com we've been going for 6 yrs now and love it.. esp like san dollar and sanibel arms west.. but hard to go wrong with most if you do a little research.. have heard many good things about pointe santo headed back to sanibel in may