There are lots of great reasons to live in Southwest Florida. Biking the Islands is high on my personal list of reasons to live here. We are blessed with great bike paths all over Bonita, Estero, and Naples, but there is something special about biking on Sanibel and Captiva.
Several times each year, we plan a special bike trip. Last Sunday, Jan and I decided to pass on our usual open house schedule and play hooky. Our usual bike pals, Val and John, were not available so we invited Barb and Mike. It was fun sharing our experiences and traditions with them.
It requires careful planning and lots of bungee cords to secure 4 bikes on the rack behind my VW. Then, it’s a 40 minute drive to the Visitors Center on Sanibel and unwinding the bungee cords to free the bikes. Once on our bikes, however, it was well worth the effort.
The 4 of us negotiated the bike paths from the Southeast tip of Sanibel to the Northwest tip of Captiva, a distance of 16 miles that took us past quaint island homes, resorts, beaches, and nature preserves.
After a rest stop at Starbucks near the Captiva tip, we headed back to Sanibel. Doc Ford’s Rum Bar got in our way on the return trip, and we had no choice but to indulge in a sandwich and beer. Then, the final leg back to the VW. If Val and John had been along, we probably would have also stopped at the DQ.
We encountered lots of bikers on the paths during our 32 mile trip. We laughed about a “traffic jam” of 3 groups of bikers merging at an intersection from 3 different directions. There was unanimous agreement that it was a wonderful way to experience a day in Paradise. We don’t believe we missed any home sales because of our playing hooky for a day.
Tags: bike paths florida, biking florida, biking sanibel and captiva
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