Features

October has swept onto Sanibel Island, bringing with it the first cold front of the year and the promise of another tropical Halloween.

Here on the islands, it can be tough to get in the autumnal mood.  Our weather loses some of its humidity, but temperatures stay in the mid-eighties.  The leaves on our trees don't change color and fall.  Tourists and returning snowbirds crowd the stores in flip flops and shorts...no sweaters and long pants here. 

We've got an autumn of a different kind, one that requires a little effort on our behalf.  Our autumn isn't delivered to us, we need to get out and find it.  Late night scary movies.  Trips to the grocery stores to see the festive produce displays.  Pumpkins and gourds strategically placed around the house.  Or, how about watching the autumn sun go down over the Gulf of Mexico while reading ghost stories among family and friends?

Read more: Doug Alderson Weaves a Sanibel Tale

Selachophobia is the clinical word for it.  The terror induced in the presence of an animal that's existed on this planet for over four-hundred million years.  A cold, sterilized word describing one of the human race's deepest rooted fears...the fear of sharks. 

To most people the image of a large shark awakens an ancient and primal fear, one which evolutionary psychologists theorize is hard-wired into our brains, a gift from our primordial relatives and all their offspring.  During the infancy of our species the fear of sharks worked as an adaptive measure to help keep human beings alive, allowing them to pass on their genes to the next generation.  Those coastal dwellers without a healthy fear of sharks were more apt to die off as victims of shark attacks.  Thus, the fear of sharks was reinforced within the haze of passing centuries, and still exists within many of us today.

Read more: Sharks on Sanibel Island Beaches

Ocean's Reach Condominiums is a vacation resort tucked away on secluded stretch of gulf front coastline on Sanibel Island.  For over three decades, visitors to Ocean's Reach have been admiring the Gulf of Mexico from their oceanfront balconies, wading in a swimming pool with a view unrivaled on Sanibel Island, and walking the fabled "nineteen steps" it takes to reach the shell-strewn beach.  And now, thanks to the eco-conscious and diligent staff of Ocean's Reach Resort, they can do it all with a clear environmental conscience.  Ocean's Reach is the first property to attain Green Lodging designation on Sanibel and Captiva Islands.

Read more: Ocean's Reach Resort Ushers in Green Lodging on Sanibel Island

“Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,
A tale of a fateful trip,
That started from this tropic port
Aboard this tiny ship.”
The Ballad of Gilligan’s Island
George Wyle and Sherwood Schwartz

It was only supposed to be a three hour tour.  The game plan was simple: take a short and scenic cruise on Pine Island sound, grab a cheeseburger in paradise and catch the return boat back home.  A three hour tour, five at most, just a small dose of the local waterways, that’s all we wanted.

Across the Sanibel causeway we drove, heading for McCarthy’s Marina on Captiva Island.  Not a cloud in the sky.  Light traffic and lush, tropical foliage surrounded us.  Glimpses of glistening water and quiet beaches tucked themselves between trees and down side streets and driveways.

Read more: Cabbage Key: A Million Miles Away...ten miles from home