Florida's Hidden Gem
After looking at all the many options on the Gulf coast the one that really stood out was the Sundial Resort on Sanibel Island. Having never been before we did a little bit of research and thought it looked nice, but in all honesty, it had been overlooked in the whole package as Disney was the reason for the trip.
Not anymore. In fairness it was more luck than design but what an absolutely stunning find for us. The drive was uneventful, roughly three hours from Orlando to Fort Myers. But when the coastline opened up on the approach to the bridge connecting Sanibel to the mainland everyone in the car sat up. The kids put their iPads down, and stared out of the window with wide eyes and big smiles. It looked beautiful from the bridge and when we drove past the seemingly never-ending rows of stunning mansions and beach houses it just got better and better.
The Sundial Resort is in a prime location on the beach and spreads out along the coastline. The rooms were lovely little apartments with a kitchen and lounge with a big bedroom. It looked a bit like a motel with car parking bays outside the building. But once you walked out past the sand dunes the view and the beach were amazing. The hotel was great. It offered complimentary water sports, like kayaking and paddle boarding. They had their own sun loungers on the beach and plenty around the pool. The kids club was more of an activity club, where they took advantage of the location on the beach! The pool side bar was reasonably priced and with a daily happy, from 5-7pm if I recall, it was even better value.
Sanibel is famed for its Sea Shells and you can easily see why the second you step onto the beach, it was covered. Sundial provide you with a useful shell collecting bag, which the kids had filled in minutes. People were there from all over the world primarily to collect sea shells, we did feel slightly embarrassed that we’d previously had no knowledge of this phenomenon. But several of those shells are now taking pride of place on the hallway table.
The Island itself is just a delight. They encourage everyone to walk or cycle. Drivers must give way to cyclists at every junction as cyclists have priority. The hotels all provide cycle hire, which was free of charge at the Sundial. There are no chain restaurants, hotels or shops. Everything is independent, family run and wonderfully original. It has a relaxed Caribbean feel to it and the houses that are all well set back from the roadside are just breathtaking.
The ‘drive through’ nature reserve was a real hidden gem. For just $5 entrance we entered the gates not really knowing what to expect. The blue skies and soaring temperatures created a beautiful backdrop for one of the best two hours of the holiday. We moved along the road to different outposts, viewing platforms and stopping points and saw everything from snakes to crabs, an Osprey swooping down to catch fish from the lagoon and one of the biggest spiders I’ve ever seen. The amount of bird life was spectacular with Herons, Cranes and Golden Eagles all in clear view. The kids were excitedly running in between each platform desperate to see what was going to happen next. Sadly, the elusive alligators escaped us, but maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing.
We found the food on offer still to be the classic American style but with a big influence of seafood. Island Cow was a quirky and thoroughly enjoyable meal, in a very relaxed and brightly coloured old style American Wooden house, with Veranda and outside rocking chairs!
But the best restaurant of the trip was saved for our visit to the next Island along, Captiva. Captiva Island is a tiny dot in the Ocean, but what a dot. The houses on Sanibel were stunning but Captiva upped the game. Parking and beach access was certainly harder here and it was easier to either cycle or park on Sanibel and walk over the small bridge.
We were just aimlessly driving down the only road on the Island looking for somewhere for lunch. We passed a brightly coloured building that I thought was a gift shop. My wife insisted it was a restaurant. After a small argument and a drive back down the road to see it again she was, of course, right. The Bubble Room was the most spectacularly decorated restaurant I’ve ever seen and was the culinary highlight of the trip. An eclectic mix of memorabilia, local art and craziness with the biggest cakes and portions you’ll ever see. The servers were informative, very happy and clearly proud of their restaurant. The food was plentiful and tasty but the cakes at the end where something to behold. They come to your table wielding a huge try with ‘slices’ of each cake on offer. All freshly made in the morning and served with your choice of accompaniment. The slices would be considered a whole cake in most establishments and you could easily share a slice between a family of four!
A wonderful last meal to end the trip on as sadly after lunch we had to head back to Miami for our flight home. Just under 3 hours’ drive through the Everglades National Park found us driving into the City and heading back home.
Sanibel Island was regarded as the highlight and biggest surprise by all of us. My wife commenting – “you’re supposed to be the expert and you only booked us here for two nights!”