We haven’t visited Sanibel Island due to Hurricane Ian that devastating the island in September 2022. Deep scars remain a year and a half later, but there are signs of recovery. However, the island faced another challenge and that was dealing with the arrive of the relentless busy Lizzy making landfall in March 2024.
This was Lizzy’s second plane trip (first to Gulf Shores). However, she is now older and wants to explore everything. With the now year-old airport, she got to play in the playground and walk around saying hi to anyone and everyone she saw. She was not easy to manage once on the plane because she really doesn’t like to be contained. Luckily, we did a direct flight.
With the island still in recovery from the hurricane we couldn’t stay where we normally would have because it is still dealing with the destruction, so we stayed at the campground. Lizzy deeply loved camping in a tent for the week and of course being outside most of the time. By the end of the week, she was well known by the other campers.
Our first night sleeping in the tent was very restless. Lizzy likes to do the worm as she sleeps. So, at some point during the night, she fell off the mattress into the void between the mattress and canvas of the tent. Which made me shake Michael awake with a panicked “I’ve lost the baby!” Michael in his sleepy stupor reached into the void grabbing ahold of one of her legs and arms pulled her up back onto the mattress. Lizzy was asleep through this whole process.
Our first full day we got our rental bikes from Billy’s Bike Rental. They dropped them off at the campground for us. Lizzy was very much not happy at first about the idea of wearing a helmet. She did become a pro by the end of the trip at riding behind Michael and even fell asleep a few different times. She also liked it when he went fast.
After Saturday evening church, Michael and I took Lizzy to the beach to say hi to the ocean. She was a bit unsure about the sand and didn’t like it on her feet. She thought the birds that were on beach funny and watched them for a while.
We visited the farmer’s market for the first time on Sanibel the next morning. It is a busy place though according to my parents it’s normally even more packed than it was. I got a coconut, banana, and pineapple smoothie which Lizzy drank about a fourth of it. She made friends with a few people as she walked around looking at the various vendors, her favorite was one that gave her a slice of pineapple. Once we arrived back at the campground. We tried to convince her to sleep in her grandparent’s popup. Despite much protesting, she eventually did fall asleep.
After she had a refreshing nap, Michael and I were still exhausted from trying to get her to nap, we all went to the beach. She squealed in delight once she saw the ocean and beach. I got her some water shoes from Nanny’s of Sanibel, a children's boutique, and a bucket with shovel from another store. Lizzy loved watching her grandparents go into the water and would giggle every time they took a soak. She also enjoyed playing in the sand with Michael.
To entertain a busy toddler, we visited the library. They have a very nice children’s area full of toys and an interactive floor computer game. Lizzy really enjoyed stomping on the crabs to make them disappear in the sand.
We also took Lizzy to visit “Ding” Darling Wildlife Refuge. On our way there via bike, Michael heard her say “Uh-oh” and he turned around to discover that she had lost a sock. I had to go back and find it. With socks back on both feet and her shoes on she got to wander the visitor center. She loved one screen in particular because it was like an aquarium. She was unimpressed with most of the 4-mile trip in the refuge. After a snack break, she decided that she needed to walk. We then got to the overlook where we got to see a lot of birds, an alligator, and, Lizzy’s favorite, wildlife photographers. The photographers had really big cameras and she thought that was the coolest thing every and babbled as much to each and every photographer she saw along the boardwalk and overlook.
Since she did good on the trip, we let her pick out something from the gift shop. First thing she saw (after the donation money thing), was a sea turtle Michael told her there are a lot of options so she should look at everything before deciding. So, she walked past it and then admired the manatee which we thought was a good choice, but reminded her to keep looking. She then saw a coyote. While we told her again to keep looking, she grabbed it, gave it a big hug, and walked on. We knew then that was her choice. She held onto the coyote (we named him Ding), a good part of the bike ride back.
The next day we took her to the playground. It’s a really nice playground with shade. Lizzy first played with me and then would walk over to Michael on a nearby bench to ask him to play. So, we each got a rest and a chance to run around after her. My favorite thing about the playground besides the shade was that it was fenced in and gated so didn’t have to worry about her exploring other areas.
We also visited Bailey’s Tract Trail. We did not see the same alligator in the same spot but took a picture in that spot. We did see a few birds which Lizzy was very much unimpressed with. Lizzy got to see a few different birds while on the trip. She liked seeing the swan that was at the campground and also some birds that would visit the campsite. She would point at them when they walked by.
While we biked around the island, there were spots that just caused us tears seeing the destruction cause by the hurricane. Bailey’s Grocery store and the strip of buildings attached to it is all gone and it’s just an empty parking lot with overgrown trees and brush. The Inn we normally stayed at is for sale and you could see roof damage. I got to visit the lighthouse which is shrouded with a cover as it undergoes repairs. During the hurricane, the lighthouse lost one of its legs but also the lighthouse keeper’s houses were completely destroyed. The fishing pier close to the lighthouse is still damage and the once shaded beach isn’t shaded anymore.
There are parts of Sanibel that I’m sad that Lizzy probably won’t ever get to experience like the parrots at Jerry’s Grocery Store or the campground. Though with that being said I’m so happy to have gotten the chance to have her get to experience Sanibel with us and her grandparents. Lizzy had an absolute blast being there while Michael, my parents, and I were exhausted from the relentless busy Lizzy wanting to do everything.
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