We are planning a visit to Fl. for late February 2005. Has anyone been to any of these resorts lately since the hurricane?
Sanibel Beach Clubs, Shell Island Beach Resort, Surfrider Beach Club or Tortuga Beach Resort?

If the Sanibel Island places don't work out does anyone have any info about these Ft. Myers places?
Bel-Aire Beach Club
Carribean Beach Club
Marina Village at Snug Harbor
Royal Beach Club
Seawatch on the Beach Resort

Thanks so much in advance!

ttt

I just heard from a friend who lives near Sanibel and Captiva that hurricane damage is significant and that it would be better to go to Naples than the islands. Sorry, no information on Ft.Myers.

From what I can determine, there are extensive renovations going on but many places are up and running on Sanibel. Some places say mid-December for their openings. I'll bet it will be later than that, you know how construction is. If you can find a place that's open for business, one thing you can rest assured of -- it won't be as crowded as it usually is. The beach itself is really lovely. And I'll bet that all the commercial places will be fasttracked so you'll have plenty of amenities and restaurants. Naples is nice but Sanibel really is more laid back and low-key -- and the best beaches.

Thanks for the 2 responses. I did manage to find a website that had updated info. re: hurricane rebuilding at several of the resorts I was considering in Sanibel. Unfortunately their opening dates were for late Feb. IF THINGS PROGRESSED as scheduled. So I'd hate to book someplace that has a few rooms open and the rest under noisy construction.
So is there anyone with info. re: my original list in Ft. Myers. Are those places nice or just glorified motels?

I had lunch today in Naples with LilMsFoodie, our resident expert on the conditions on Sanibel. She informs me that South Seas re-opening is now set (and not in stone) for next October! Things are not good there as well as most of Captiva in particular. There will be little residue damage on Ft. Myers Beach by February, however.

Have been to both Sanibel and Captiva as day trips from Fort Myers Beach, where we stayed for a week. Both islands are gorgeous, but I am not sure about the hurricane damange. Our trip was three years ago. As far as Fort Myers Beach, it is a very nice location, but we were told by residents that because there is only one road out and in, that the backups in season can be horrendous. Although we did not have those problems. as one approached the commercial area near the bridge, we often had a bumper-to-bumper ride in early December. Unless you don't mind that kind of thing, I would look elsewhere. We also enjoyed the Sarasota area on another trip.
You are going "in season", so I guess you have to expect crowds everywhere. The Keys off of Sarasota: Siesta, Longboat, Anna Maria island were favorite locations.
Good luck and enjoy, wherever you go.

Thanks to all who answered. We are now considering either Ft. Myers or Naples.

Ft. Myers and Naples are both nice places to visit. They are (IMHO) very different from each other though. Ft Myers is more laid back; whereas Naples has more high-end places (still very relaxing but a different clientele). Both have beautiful beaches and plenty of recreational things to do. Sanibel is (WAS) gorgeous; shelling is so fun there, and you can rent bikes and canoes, etc. This is an easy drive from Ft Myers, but traffic is a problem, as one other poster mentioned. Only one way on and off the island; and no traffic lights, only waving patrolmen control the flow off the island. Snug Harbour is nice; I have only eaten there but it seems to have a lot to offer and I think there is a dinner cruise that departs from there as well. (You can probably find that elsewhere too.) Not sure about the rest of your list. Also, Ft. Myers is more centrally located than Ft Myers Beach, and Ft Myers has better places to eat, but they are mostly in the city and not on the beach. Ft Myers Beach is also VERY, VERY casual.

Not sure what you are looking for, nor what has made you choose SW Florida, but have you considered the panhandle beaches? For example, Seagrove is very quaint and offers lots of the things that the SW areas do, but with bigger, whiter beaches. Garrett Realty offers many affordable places to stay there.

Sanibel is still lovely, just different. Long term residents say it looks like it did 30 years ago before the Australian Pines took over the vegetation on the island. Some of the resorts are opening. Not all units had damage and we are not talking total destruction, like some areas of Punta Gorda. The wind blew out many window and took out parts of roofs and water got into the spaces. This means drywall patching, refurnishing ( a good thing really as many of the hotels were in need of refurbishment). Restaurants are for the most part open.

On Captiva, especially South Seas, things are taking longer. Some of the northernmost units had significant wind and water damage. Some areas May of 2005 others may drag on until late fall or the opening of 2006 season. I got an announcement that Tween Waters had reopened. It is a favorite of mine and also Tandoori Girl. I may take my little puppy out there for a weekend to support this wonderful, funky and laidback resort. Their restaurants are reopened except they will not reopen the Canoe Club.

If you do decide to stay on Fort Myers Beach, I hope you will take a day trip to Sanibel/Captiva. It is still worth visiting. I still call it the antidote to Disney and the antithesis of Naples. No "Bling" in Sanibel, Naples is all about "bling".

LilMsFoodie.

Hi LilMsfoodie....I'm glad you're back and hope you're doing well.

Tell me, is the canopy of trees over Periwinkle still there? (Please say yes)! Also, did Sanibel Harbour Resort suffer much damage?

Hi Buffalo Girl....I went to high school in Hamburg. I always get Schnapper's Hots when I visit Sanibel for work. Greatest hotdogs with that hot relish. A Buffalo original.

I regret that the canopy of Australian Pines is gone along Periwinkle Way. For years the Conservation Foundation on Sanibel had warned of the danger these trees posed and recommended they be removed. They have very shallow root structures and they toppled like dominoes when Charlie hit making the roads impassable and causing a great deal of the damage on the islands. If they had been removed years ago the damage would have been minor on Sanibel. Nothing would had saved Captiva from the brut force of the direct hit from Charlie. The winds were strong enough to cut a new channel through North Captiva Island (a separate island from Captiva and South Seas Plantation).

I believe everyone that lives in the area now understands the true power of hurricanes and everyone I know is updating their homes to be able to withstand strong storms. This means saying goodbye to certain types of trees.

The islands are being replanted and things grow amazingly here. The bougainvilleas are in bloom and things are starting to look promising for my favorite islands.

LilMsFoodie

Hi LMF! I recall from another post that you lived near Buffalo for a while. I've never heard of Schnapper's hots, though. I'll have to look into that!

I'm sorry to hear about the trees. I absolutely love that section of Periwinkle. The minute I drive over the causeway and enter Sanibel I feel all the weight lifted off my back.

I visited N. Captiva a few years ago. What a beautiful little island. Amazing that it's split in half.

Thanks for the update!

Today's St. Petersburg Times has articles and some photos in its travel and business sections. They sum it up in a way that's hard to imagine.

http://www.sptimes.com/2004/12/05/Tr...ond_wind.shtml

TG, the photo tells the tale. It is much better than a month ago when the stumps were still smoldering from being burned.

Buffalo Girl: here's a link to Schnappers mention in the Fort Myers News Mess.

http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs....409010382/1013

Ted's in Buffalo is great also. LMF

bamakelly,
We picked SW Fl because we have several friends who live in the area and want to spend time with them.

We were in Naples this July for 2 weeks and drove throught Sanibel and Captiva prior to the hurricanes so we kind of know those two areas. What we are not familiar with is Ft. Myers and the places I had mentioned in my original post.

LMF...Looking at those pictures and reading the TG's article, I just can't shake the fact that it was supposed to be us that got Charley, not them. I can't imagine what would have happened here. As ready as we thought we were, we just weren't ready for that force.

This is the first storm I had virtually no hope of escaping. Between living in New Orleans and here, we've had our share of threats, but there was always the near certainty it would turn before landfall and we'd be spared, and I always, but always, expected that to happen. This time there wasn't any such hope. Virtually every forecast was dead certain that it was headed directly into Tampa Bay, right up until about 3 hours before the abrupt turn.

The devastation they have, we would have had. Our hotel is on the water, as is our house and all our lifelong accumulated possessions. We'd moved downstairs furniture up, as much as possible, piled other things onto the bed, off the ground in our lower level, moved furniture away from skylights, taken cherished knick knacks and put them away. Not sure if it would have done much good, considering our location and the strength of that storm! Geez Louise we were so incredibly lucky, lucky, lucky!

Yesterday I heard that next year is expected to be equally bad. Hopefully not for FL again!

Hopefully Sanibel and Captiva will come back stronger than ever. It sounds as if South Seas will, for certain. Do you know anything about Casa Ybel? Glad to hear T'ween Waters is up and running again--that's an institution, and though we don't stay there, we always enjoy a lunch at the Canoe Club. Terrific ambiance more than compensates for anything lacking in the food dept!!

Hope you are doing OK, and that your work is keeping you busy...a blessing in disguise!

Holy cow, Tandoori Girl....those photos of Sanibel and Captiva are heartbreaking!


LMS: I just read the link you suggested. RE: the guy who owns the hot dog stand in Sanibel that sells Schnappers.....I used to be very good friends with his brother!!!!!!

My husband bartends part-time and recently told me that he ran into Joe Whats-his-name, and that his brother runs a hot dog stand on Sanibel. I didn't think much about it until I read the link you provided, and......

Small world, huh??? I really have to look into the Shnapper's hot dogs. I have never heard of them. And oh, Ted's hot dogs are the best (Sahlen's).

I'm going on a quest to find Schnapper's....I'll let you know how it turns out!!!

what a co-inky dink Buffalo Girl. I think that the Schnapper's Buffalo area stand may be history. I thought for a long time that it was on Lake Erie, just south of the Bethlehem Steel office site but that was another samurai hot dog stand (what my late husband called the cooking technique)

Olive, it is hard for me to remember any of August-September. l believe the shock of the hurricanes and my husband's death have erased that part of my memory bank.

Hurricane season may not be as horrible next year. I'm holding on to this forecast...
Forecaster Sees Fewer Atlantic Hurricanes in 2005
Fri Dec 3,12:46 PM ET Science - Reuters

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp.../20041203/sc_n...

MIAMI (Reuters) - Next year's Atlantic hurricane season will again be more active than usual but is unlikely to be a repeat of this year's disaster, a noted storm forecaster said on Friday.
On the heels of the most-destructive season in more than a decade, Colorado State University professor William Gray said the 2005 season will produce 11 tropical storms and hurricanes, slightly more than the average but four less than last year.
Next year's storms are also unlikely to be as intense or to hit land as frequently as this season, which officially ended on Tuesday.
Of the 15 tropical storms in the 2004 Atlantic season, nine developed into hurricanes. Six of those were major hurricanes, with sustained winds of more than 110 mph.
Four of the hurricanes hit Florida in a six-week span, causing damage that may exceed the $25-billion-plus toll of Hurricane Andrew in 1992.
Forecasters say it was a rare combination of powerful hurricanes and unusual steering currents that caused Florida's pain this year.
"We do not anticipate this same optimal combination of hurricane formation and steering conditions to be present in 2005," Philip Klotzbach, a member of the Colorado State forecasting team, said in a written statement. "Next year's landfall numbers are likely to be significantly less than what occurred in 2004."

Gray said there was a 69 percent chance -- the long-term average is 52 percent -- of at least one major hurricane hitting the U.S. coast next year.
For storm-battered Florida and the U.S. east coast, the chance of being hit by a major hurricane is 49 percent, compared to the long-term average of 31 percent.
Florida is still recovering from beatings administered by hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne, which all struck during August and September. It was the first time a single state had been hit by four hurricanes since 1886.

LMF

teacherD, you will have a lovely time in SW Florida in either place, I am sure. There is plenty to do in both Naples and Ft Myers. I am not sure about the rest of the places you listed, but from the artciles LMF and others have posted mybe you have a better idea now. Sanibel is so, so pretty; no matter where you stay I would suggest a daytrip there. Just be aware of the traffic problem and allow extra time. Have fun on your trip!