Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Captiva Island, Florida Releases Schedule for 2011 "Captiva Holiday Village" Month-Long Festivities

CAPTIVA ISLAND, FL – After a rousing Thanksgiving kickoff, three fun-filled weekends remain of Captiva Island’s four-week-long Captiva Holiday Village event, running through Saturday, December 17. The coming weekend includes a twinkling Luminary Night and a host of other intriguing events.

Each remaining event weekend on this popular southwest Florida barrier island will be a themed, fun-filled extravaganza of sight and sound, set against the backdrop of the Gulf of Mexico and nightly sunsets. Visitors to Captiva Island during Captiva Holiday Village weekends will enjoy everything from street dancers and fireworks to live concerts, decorated golf cart parade, and a lighted boat parade - all of which will take place in Captiva’s Village Center where its one-of-a-kind colorful restaurants and shops will be festively lighted and decorated.

A feature of this year’s Captiva Holiday Village is community Chautauqua, offering educational and entertaining workshops, boat cruises, and natural history talks. In addition to Holiday Village festivities, the island offers easy access to an abundance of water sports: kayaking, guided fishing, parasailing, wildlife cruises to the outer islands and world-renowned shelling.

“You’ll never forget a holiday weekend spent on beautiful Captiva,” says Paul McCarthy, President of Captiva Cruises. “You can enjoy as many of the special events as you’d like, and spend the rest of your time relaxing on the beach, gallery-hopping, or getting out on the water.”

Captiva Island, which lies in the Gulf of Mexico adjacent to Fort Myers, is renowned for its beautiful sunsets, pristine beaches, relaxed atmosphere, terrific weather, and the variety of outdoor activities which can be enjoyed there. “Holiday stress just melts away with a Captiva sunset,” says ‘Tween Waters Inn Resort’s General Manager Jeff Shuff.

Captiva inns, resorts, cottages and vacation homes will be offering lodging specials in conjunction with this year’s second annual Captiva Holiday Village event.

The remaining 2011 event schedule is as follows:

Weekend 2 Luminary Islands Weekend
Friday, Dec. 2
Captiva Chautauqua
Captiva Mullet March
Sanibel Luminary

Saturday, Dec 3
Captiva Chautauqua
Decorated Golf Cart Parade
Sanibel Community Chorus on Andy Rosse Lane
Captiva Luminary

Weekend 3 Country Christmas
Friday, Dec 9
Captiva Chautauqua
Sunset Arias ‘Tween Waters Inn
Country Christmas Concert with CMA Hall of Fame artist Charlie McCoy

Saturday, Dec 10
Captiva Chautauqua
Holiday Marketplace at South Seas Island Resort
Lighted Boat Parade
Country Christmas Concert with Charlie McCoy

Sunday, Dec 11
Caroling at Chapel by the Sea

Weekend 4 Captiva Carnival
Friday, Dec 16
Captiva Chautauqua
Cuban Dance and Jazz Concert

Saturday, Dec 17
Captiva Chautauqua
Bahamas Junkanoo Revue Street Parade
Fire Dancing on the Beach
Cuban Dance and Jazz Concert

About Captiva Island
Captiva Island is a barrier island in the tranquil Gulf of Mexico on Florida’s southwest coast. North of Sanibel Island and West of Fort Myers, world-renowned Captiva is also just three hours from Tampa and Fort Lauderdale by car. A narrow seashell-laden island famous for its dramatic sunrises and sunsets, celebrity visitors, and creative residents, Captiva is home to private waterfront estates, two large resorts, and several charming small inns. The heart of the island is its vibrant ‘downtown,’ coined “the village,” in which visitors and locals stroll among colorful galleries, shops and restaurants, with live music and water views. As the gateway to the out-islands within Pine Island Sound, Captiva is also a watersports destination, and offers boaters multiple marinas with overnight dockage. It has been featured in countless magazines and newspapers around the world.

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Monday, November 28, 2011

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Friday, November 25, 2011

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Saturday, November 19, 2011

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Friday, November 18, 2011

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Monday, November 14, 2011

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Saturday, November 12, 2011

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Friday, November 11, 2011

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Tuesday, November 8, 2011

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Thursday, November 3, 2011

The BEST Shelling in Florida

The BEST Shelling in Florida
Shell Seekers Find Treasures Along the Lee Island Coast
By Dawn Henthorn, About.com Guide

Although you can find shells on just about any beach, southwest Florida's Lee Island Coast on the Gulf of Mexico boasts some of the best shelling in the United States. The more than 100 barrier islands, which make up the Lee Island Coast cling lightly to the Southwest Florida coastline, yielding approximately 400 species of multi-colored seashells, from the commonplace scallop and clam to the exotic – tulips, olives, fragile paper fig shells and the rarest of the all, the brown speckled junonia.

Shelling is a favorite pastime of tourists and residents alike who search the shoreline for Neptune's treasures. Some even don miner's hats with lights so they can arise before sunrise and find the best specimens that have washed ashore.

You will want to plan your shelling around the low phase of the tide, which allows more beach area on which to shell. Try to go to the less populated beaches about an hour before low tide and work until an hour after the low tide.

Many seashell creatures are hidden just beneath the surface of the sand where the surf breaks, so it is important to know where to look. A good spot is the shell line, just where the highest waves stop as they come upon the beach. This is where groups of shells come up and are reshuffled by each wave. It saves digging to find the great shells.

The other good spot is at that slight drop in the surf line, just where gentle waves break before rolling on the beach. While this area is only accessible when weather permits, it usually hold the most and finest specimens.

According to Mike Fuery, a fishing and shelling charter captain on Captiva Island, and author of Captain Fury's Shelling Guide, "Sanibel Island's shape encourages shelling. While many islands face northwest, Sanibel runs in a more east-west direction. Its boomerang, or shrimp shape, slows down the shells and brings them onto the beach in one piece."

Fuery believes that the peak shelling season on the Lee Island Coast is May through September, although he also says the typical winter cold fronts produce great shelling on the southwest side of the barrier islands.

In an effort to protect this natural attraction, Lee County has taken measures to protect and preserve the shell resources. Live shelling (that is picking up shells that still have live creatures inside) has been banned. The collection of dead shells (ones where the animals or mollusks are already dead or gone from the shell) is unlimited and encouraged.

Shelling requires patience. What makes a shell valuable is not how much it costs in a gift shop, but how difficult is is to find. No collection worth looking at was ever found on one outing. That is what keeps most people coming back time after time for more.
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Come experience the best shelling beaches in the world on Sanibel Island and reserve your stay with Reservation Central. http://www.rescen.com | 1-800-290-6920 ... speak with a local!