Date: Friday 21^st November 2014

Whilst I had sailed south with Ferruccio & Tony, Eileen had been staying with her brother John, and his wife Pat, who live on Sanibel Island on the west coast of Florida.  So on Wednesday 19^th I hired a car and drove across Florida to collect her.  The state is crossed by a long and straight freeway starting just outside Fort Lauderdale and joining the west coast road system  about 30 miles south of Fort Myers. From memory once joining ‘Alligator Alley’ there is only one exit in its 100 mile length, and no bends or hills along its entire length.  For the first 30 miles or so all you can see on both sides of the road is a featureless plain of saw grass growing in marsh land and stretching from horizon to horizon.  Thereafter the landscape softens as palms, cedars and other native trees crowd into view.

I spent a relaxing couple of nights in Sanibel before returning to Fort Lauderdale on Friday 21^st.

Sanibel Island beach views:

The beach is famously made up of countless numbers of sea shells, most ground to powder but in many places still relatively undamaged.

John & Pat’s house