Bowman's holiday

Back on the road after a labor day holiday back home. What? See, I'm on the road all the time on my job, and vacations for me mean going back home. Most people, on the other hand, find things to do on vacation well away from home. Meaning that you pack your bags, catch a flight or two and land up on some exotic island with half-a-dozen beautiful beaches and you poke around looking for shells and stuff. Me, I do this on my job. For me, visiting a beautiful beach on a lonely island is a Busman's holiday.

In this case, its a Bowman's holiday, because we're on Bowman's Beach on Sanibel Island, Florida. What makes this beach special is that Sanibel is lined up east-west, instead of north-south like most other islands. This is what gives the Sanibel beaches their abundant treasure trove of shells. Secondly, the beach is completely undeveloped and devoid of hotels. Thirdly, its a moderate to long walk from the parking area across the bridge to make it to the beach. Lastly, there's only one outdoor shower. What all this means is a large stretch of pristine white sandy beach, untainted by modernity and pesky tourist groups and entire families going up and down from their resorts to the beach.

In a nutshell, if you want to spend the afternoon poking around on the beach for shells without having to navigate a landmine of sun-worshippers, this is a perfect location. And best of all, the beach has barbeque grills and you can drink on the beach (although I was told its seasonal and some months of the year, alcohol is not allowed). So you can bookend the afternoon shelling with a beach party. What more could you possibly ask for? Oh, and the parking is pretty decent at $2 per hour.