2015 a Banner Year for Sanibel

Our visitors to Sanibel are demonstrating that the real estate motto, "location, location, location" applies to vacations as well as home purchases.

One measure of the island's appeal is the surge of car traffic onto Sanibel in 2015, a significant increase since 2014.

According to recent traffic data from LeeWay, which operates the toll facility at the Sanibel Causeway. It shows that 255,097 vehicles passed through the tolls this past October. That's ten thousand more than the 245,090 vehicles to the island in October 2014.

Much of this is local traffic, people coming from nearby locations.

With a $6 toll charge for cars, and parking rates at $4 an hour at the island's Gulf beaches, Sanibel is a little pricier to visit than Fort Myers Beach on Estero Island, just to the south of Sanibel. The bridges connecting Estero Island to the mainland are free to cross, and parking there is significantly lower.

So why pay more?

Because you get less on Sanibel.

Less people on the beach.  Less problems in parking. Less challenges in finding a place to eat without the winter crowds.

But you also get more on Sanibel, too.

Those who are enchanted by nature, will find it abundant on the Island.  One does not have to look for it, it will come to you.  Beaches are magnets for dozens of different birds from pelicans to plovers, each with their own charm.

And during winter months particularly, those who are enchanted by culture can get their fill.  Big Arts and other venues offer easy to get to, easy to park entertainment ranging from lectures to concerts.

And those who just want to feel that they have escaped the ordinary and entered the extraordinary tropical island life, things could not be simpler. 

In fact, life on Sanibel is simple by design....no traffic lights, essentially two main roads making it impossible to get lost, and a feeling of  being able to breathe easy.

Nothing in life is perfect, we know, but a day, a week , a month or more on sweet Sanibel is just about as good as it gets.