We stay at Caper Beach Condominiums on Estero Blvd. every year the first week in October. Does anyone know if they received damage. Two of the couples we are traveling with already purchased their airline tickets, but we haven't. Now we don't know whether to purchase them, until we find out if they received any damage. Tried to e-mail them, but have not received a response.

I can't remember where exactly Caper Beach is, but my parents own a 1st floor walkout at Sandarac (6660 Estero Blvd) and have absolutely no damage. No moisture, nothing. They are extremely lucky! I would assume other buildings in the area (set so far back from the beach) should have suffered the same minimal damage.

I don't think there was much damage there but whatever there was would surely be repaired by October. I was just on the beach at Lido Key north of there and the beach itself was fine.

I wouldn't worry about it myself because of the time frame -- but you might try to find a chat room on the Ft. Myers News Press web site to get some feedback.

Just looked in the phone book. The phone number for Caper Beach Condo Association is: 239-463-9921
The Phone number for the Caper Beach Club Office is: 239-463-1423

I'd call one or both and get a more definitive answer if you can't reach the owners of your apartment.

The Caper Beach Club will be reopening for guests on Oct. 1st. There was significant beach damage. They lost over 600 plants. All of the railroad ties along the grass/ beach line were tossed like blades of grass. One tiki hut was lost and the other badly damaged. There was roof damage as well as the air conditioning units on the roof. The office and meeting room were badly damaged, mostly with water and sand. The entire pool was filled with sand. All poolside furniture was rusted, and will have to be thrown out. The parking lot and flower beds were covered with sand. A car floated from the garage to a flower bed. Some units had minor water damage. Several had screen and or storm shutter damage. The Tennis court fence was damaged. The sign was decimated. The utility shed was damaged. The North plank (from parking lot to beach was destroyed. The great news is that most of this has all been fixed. The vegetation has been replaced, the railroad ties put back in place, all sand cleaned up. The meeting room and office (I think) have already been recarpeted. The tiki huts are back, etc. My parents condo got it the very worst of all (PH6). Their storm shutters blew through the screen doors, spreading glass throughout the living room, and the wind knocked out the guestroom sliding glass doors onto the deck. The damage was minimal. There is a bit of water damage which is being taken care of presently. Our only concern is that Frances will blow the thin plastic off of the unrepaired sliding glass door.
We can only hope. God Bless Florida in the wake of Ivan!