On A Beach Winter
To the editor:
For the first time since we bit the bullet and bought a condo on Fort Myers Beach, we felt comfortable spending nearly four months there. It did take a while getting accustomed to a smaller space with neighbors just a wall away and a slow, shared elevator. But waking up to the sunshine with a view of Estero Bay produces smiles even before coffee. My lanai is my happy place where I write, paint or simply wait for dolphins to say hi. Leaving my happy place is where the stress is apt to begin.
Living on the south end of an island with only a two lane road going north for six miles presents unique issues. There are numerous crosswalks with flashing lights to allow a safe walk to the beach and back, so we drivers must be ever vigilant, even of those idiots who refuse to use them. The longer we stay, the kinder and more patient as drivers we become – by necessity. We pay it forward every time we let someone in and out of traffic jams and shake our heads at those who don’t. Our patience ends, however when traffic is backed for miles during season. We immediately make U-turns and go to Plan B.
There are times when we need to go “off island” to find the best fried oysters or Osso buco or to get a tire fixed. When the two lanes turn into six, however, the race begins. Forty means 50; 50, 70 and the yellow lights allow a crazy amount of vehicles through. The mistake is thinking the yellows are the same when we return north.
A little further east away from the water, we pass dozens of massive stone entrances to developments with Italian names and ubiquitous guard houses. The view of the properties from the road are hidden by clusters of pristine vegetation or rock gardens with water falls.
We’re not allowed in without previous permission and a photo ID, but I can visualize the cold beauty of the identical structures and landscaping. And I giggle remembering an installer in my little condo commenting about all the quick-to-stain marble countertops in these homes where no one cooks.
We gasp at the daily crowds at Costco and Publix and hurry back to Bonita Beach Road. We pass vertical pastel mansions with small lots that cost millions, and then relax when we reach the first of three bridges over and between the gulf and the bay. We pass Dog beach and Lovers Key Park and look for fishing boats near New Pass. We see the wide beach from Big Carlos Bridge on the south end of our island and smile. We’re back to pelicans and egrets and ibises and turtles and dolphins and a manatee now and then. Island life is good.
Yvonne Ransel
Fort Myers Beach