Xmas On Island Time

North Captiva Island, 12/27/16

Last year we decided to get together this winter with the family and celebrate my birthday (60) and my brother-in-law’s birthday (70). We wanted to rendezvous someplace nice, so we tossed the task of searching for a place over to my sister-in-law. Her track record of finding sweet locations to stay is pretty damn good so we had high hopes. As usual, those hopes were met.

We spent the Christmas holiday on North Captiva Island, just off the southwest coast of Florida. Who knew that a four-hour drive (and a half-hour ferry ride) can take us from our daily life to authentic island time? No cars, golf carts only. We never removed the keys from the carts. For that matter, we never took the key out of the front door of our house. We were directly on the gulf, so close that we were told that often the gulf is actually under the house. Our activities consisted mainly of strolling the beach, reading, boating, fishing, taking photos, enjoying sunsets, catching up with the family, eating and drinking. It was hard.

Being located on an island necessitated leaving our truck on the mainland. It also required us to buy enough food to feed 10 to 12 people for eight days, including drinking water. (While the island has all of the normal amenities like electricity, internet, etc., the tap water is highly sulfuric. It stinks. Badly.) This was a logistical issue but the ferries are used to it and getting the food and all our stuff to the house went smoothly.

While we already live in sunny Florida and were able to drive over to the ferry, our family came in from colder climes (Ogden, Utah, Bozeman, Montana, and New York City). They had a perfect week for it. Weather was warmer than normal with zero rain. We couldn’t have asked for better. Now we’re all back to our normal temps, sub-freezing for the westerners and only 72 for us. (I couldn’t resist.)

I wonder where we’ll meet up next time?