Planning a trip to Sanibel in mid-October, but friends just returned from there extremely disappointed. They said the beaches were covered with seaweed...some more than others. They were told by someone who lived there that this happens from late summer through the fall. Is this true? If so, are there any other good beaches to go to during mid-October that you would recommend? They don't have to be on the Gulf coast. Thanks in advance.

I was in Sanibel in April and there was stinky seaweed all over the beach. And the sand was really hard. I live in Fort Lauderdale and the beach just didn't compare to the ones here.

You might want to consider a stay in Lauderdale-By-The-Sea adjacent to Ft. Lauderdale to the north. I drove by there last week and they have many very nice looking places right on the beach. I've read posts that "A Little Inn By the Sea" is pretty good. Some others I saw were: Captain's Quarters, Tropic Seas, Tides Inn, White Cap, Souter's Resort, Pier Point Resort, Costa del Sol, El Mar and Windjammer. All of these are located on El Mar Drive.

Sanibel beaches are natural and not groomed. You either like this concept or you do not. They also are extremely harsh with lots of shells.

There are many lovely beaches without the sea weed. Marco Island, Lovers Key (Fort Myers Beach), Naples. Sanibel fronts the currents from the Caloosahatchee river that enters the Gulf at Sanibel. Sanibel faces south (unusual for a barrier island) and thus the water has brackish color and seaweed. LMF

When I stayed at the South Seas Plantation in Captiva the water was perfect. The when we went to Sanibel there was "brown stuff" floating near shore. The moral of this story is: book a hotel in Captiva.

...but then, every time we've been the water has been great, no seaweed. During one visit, while Casa Ybel's beach was perfect, Bowman's Beach had prickly pear cactus washed up, not growing, but washed up in the surf of all things! Talk about hazardous shelling!

I live in Fort Myers and I have stayed at Sanibel Cottages several times (next to Casa Ybel) and the beach has always been lovely, not white sugar sand like other gulf beaches but lots of sand dollars and star fish to dig up with you toes, look at and put back in the water. This year has been kind of different as the red tide has been more persistent.

My favorite beach story happened at the San-Cap beach. A group of young adults arrived for a day at the beach. The water was crystal clear, there were lots of collection-worthy seashells and the skies were full of heron, egret and pelicans. It was glorious. One of the girls went near the water and screamed: "there are fish in there, I'm not going in water where fish swim.....eooooh! Also, what is this seaweed doing on the beach..YUCK." You could see her boyfriend rethink their relationship on the spot as he had brought her to one of his favorite places.

We are on our way to Sanibel/Captiva in 2 weeks. Anyone been there recently (or live there) that can recommend some good places to eat? We will have a car. Trying to find something away from the "chain" restaurants, I get enough of those at home! Anywhere for good fresh food, any kind. Homemade soup and good bread, ethnic food, fine dining, or anything in between.

You'll get a lot of people who loudly disagree, but we LOVED the Bubble Room on Captiva.

No chain restaurants at all on Sanibel or Captiva unless you count the one Dairy Queen. There are actually community laws prohibiting signage and chains of any kind. For years MacDonalds spent heavily to get a restaurant on Sanibel but eventually gave up.

I'm not a Bubble Room fan but many love it so I'll not comment. Restaurants change out here frequently and are bought and sold like a hot stock on Nasdaq. It's hard to predict where any restaurant will be on the food scale. I loved RC Otters on Andy Rosse Lane but it has been sold yet again so who knows. The location is cute and there is always a guitarist. The Key Lime Bistro is also very popular as is the Mucky Duck which has disappointed me in the past two years or so, coasting on its enormous reputation.

My newest fave is the Island Cow. It is just north of Periwinkle Place, the best shopping area of Sanibel. Huge menu, everything is very good and very fresh and the entertainment is hokey and fun. Picture a chinese lady, a grandma and a 3 year old all participating in a cow calling contest. This is not chic at all. That makes it Very Sanibel.

My last year's fave: Katie Gardenia's has been sold but the lovely decor remains. I'd at least go for a drink and hors d'oeurves.

Thistle Lodge has re invented itself for about the 20th time in the 9 years I've lived here. Haven't been but there are good reports. It's located in a beach front resort. LMF