lisi
24-11-2004, 18:17
Time I got down to this before Andrew really has a go at me in earnest! I won't do a day by day but just my thoughts on what turned out to be an excellent holiday. To start was a bit traumatic - suffice to say the villa I had booked was unfinished - not that I knew it was still being built even - it was offered to me but I didn't know that it had not been verified on this site! However we were found another one at the last minute but it unsettled me greatly. We flew to Tampa - just love that airport and the ease at getting through immigration even though my replacement hips sent all the bells ringing yet again. Drove down to Rotonda West and arrived to pick up the key around 7 pm. Getting dusky and my heart sank as we drove on rough roads and unfinished buildings to our villa. All seemed well and we had a quick trip to Publix for the necessary to go with the duty free! Later to our horror we found a huge spider on the lanai - son wouldn't settle until he had nipped out to get a strong spray - which mother had to duly administer and finish off the beast! I was really tired and worried about our surroundings but next morning things seemed much better. Lovely big villa untouched largely by the hurricane, more than could be said for some around us - lawn sloped down to the river with huge bullrushes which I wished had been cut down a bit so I could see the passing gators! We saw beautiful birds in the surrounding trees and with no immediate neighbours all was peaceful. So the first day or two we got used to our surroundings and revelled in the warmth and the pool. I used to love sitting by the pool in the morning with a cuppa watching the sun come up over the trees and spread a lovely red glow everywhere.
Why people say there is nothing to do or see on the Gulf Coast I don't know. The wildlife was teeming. The raccoons frolicked on the bottom of the lawn - green backed turtles, herons, sand hill cranes abounded not to mention the wildlife indoors when I spotted another huge spider on the bathroom floor and the odd cockroach. We just loved the beaches. Stump Pass with its lovely shells and no people! Photographed a huge gopher turtle and saw big horseshoe crabs. Loved watching the fishermen with the pelicans hovering around them. The water was warm and inviting. There were lovely restaurants - we were awaiting our guests arrival and not being sure when they were visiting we hesitated to book a boat trip but I would have loved a trip out to sea. Fishermens Village at Punta Gorda must be so lovely when not ravaged by the hurricane but slowly getting on its feet and the houses seemed a sea of blue tarpaulined roofs. We loved old Venice with its decorated pigs on the sidewalks and quaint shops.
One of my highlights was a trip to Fort Myers. We lunched on the beach once we found somewhere to park! Not easy even in the off season. The beach was idyllic. Then we went on to Sanibel & Captiva Islands. Long been my dream to visit here and funnily enough I had built up a picture of Sanibel which bore no resemblance to the island itself. It was much more commercialised than I had expected - but then my dream to visit goes back many years and I never thought then that I would ever have the luck to be there. Captiva was lovely but again the hurricane had taken its toll. I swam and collected shells and could have spent forever. Must go back one day.
We ate at Mad Sams on 3 occasions - the dolphins showed up on our last night and I know have the photo on my desktop! The manatee didn't show himself though. Johnny Leverocks too was nice but very busy and it always amazes me how early people eat. By 9 pm the place was dead. We wanted to go to Rum Bay but time raced by. Naturally we had Breakfast at Tiffanys which was very busy - not anything special I thought. We spent a lot of the time driving around - I loved the sand at Siesta Key - it is cold to walk on and so fine and white, but that's the beach for the young and beautiful. Venice beach was another place we saw the dolphins.
Why people say there is nothing to do or see on the Gulf Coast I don't know. The wildlife was teeming. The raccoons frolicked on the bottom of the lawn - green backed turtles, herons, sand hill cranes abounded not to mention the wildlife indoors when I spotted another huge spider on the bathroom floor and the odd cockroach. We just loved the beaches. Stump Pass with its lovely shells and no people! Photographed a huge gopher turtle and saw big horseshoe crabs. Loved watching the fishermen with the pelicans hovering around them. The water was warm and inviting. There were lovely restaurants - we were awaiting our guests arrival and not being sure when they were visiting we hesitated to book a boat trip but I would have loved a trip out to sea. Fishermens Village at Punta Gorda must be so lovely when not ravaged by the hurricane but slowly getting on its feet and the houses seemed a sea of blue tarpaulined roofs. We loved old Venice with its decorated pigs on the sidewalks and quaint shops.
One of my highlights was a trip to Fort Myers. We lunched on the beach once we found somewhere to park! Not easy even in the off season. The beach was idyllic. Then we went on to Sanibel & Captiva Islands. Long been my dream to visit here and funnily enough I had built up a picture of Sanibel which bore no resemblance to the island itself. It was much more commercialised than I had expected - but then my dream to visit goes back many years and I never thought then that I would ever have the luck to be there. Captiva was lovely but again the hurricane had taken its toll. I swam and collected shells and could have spent forever. Must go back one day.
We ate at Mad Sams on 3 occasions - the dolphins showed up on our last night and I know have the photo on my desktop! The manatee didn't show himself though. Johnny Leverocks too was nice but very busy and it always amazes me how early people eat. By 9 pm the place was dead. We wanted to go to Rum Bay but time raced by. Naturally we had Breakfast at Tiffanys which was very busy - not anything special I thought. We spent a lot of the time driving around - I loved the sand at Siesta Key - it is cold to walk on and so fine and white, but that's the beach for the young and beautiful. Venice beach was another place we saw the dolphins.