Are you missing the Sanibel Farmers Market

Even thought the Farmers market is closed down for off season you can still get great locally grown foods.  Yes you have to travel across the beautiful causeway but fresh produce is worth the trip.

 The Alliance for the Arts
10091 McGregor Blvd.  Fort Myers, FL 33919

GreenMarket

Saturdays: 8AM - NOON

An exclusive selection of locally grown, caught and cultivated foods and other products available to sample and purchase. Enjoy live entertainment by local musicians and fun activities for kids, gardening classes and live cooking by local chefs.

The Best Bread !  French Bread Oven !

Rainy Season (aka Summer) Is Finally Here

Much needed rain in the afternoons has started here on Sanibel.  This is good news for southwest Florida which has had a deficit in rainfall this summer.  In June Naples was below average by 10.34" of rain, now with the rain picking up we hope to return to normal rain levels.

Yes Summer can be hot for Sanibel and Captiva but the afternoon rains cool the islands with the onshore breezes.  We are often several degrees cooler than inland communities during the summer.  Another great part of afternoon storms is going to the beach and watching the waves get bigger as the storms roll in.

Sanibel, FL (33957) Weather

T-Storms	Scattered T-Storms	Scattered T-Storms	Scattered T-Storms	Scattered T-Storms
87°F	85°	87°	90°	92°
High	High	High	High	High
73°	73°	73°	74°	75°
Low	Low	Low	Low	Low
Chance of Rain: 80%	Chance of Rain: 60%	Chance of Rain: 50%	Chance of Rain: 60%	Chance of Rain: 40%

Wind: ESE at 11 mph	SSE at 6 mph	WSW at 10 mph	W at 7 mph	E at 7 mph
Humidity: 66%	73%	71%	69%	69%
UV Index: 8 - Very High	8 - Very High	9 - Very High	10 - Very High	10+ - Extreme
Sunrise: 6:38 am	6:38 am	6:38 am	6:39 am	6:39 am
Sunset: 8:25 pm	8:25 pm	8:25 pm	8:25 pm	8:25 pm
Moonrise: 4:07 am	4:57 am	5:52 am	6:51 am	7:53 am
Moonset: 6:11 pm	7:06 pm	7:58 pm	8:47 pm	9:33 pm
Moonphase: Waning Crescent	Waning Crescent	Waning Crescent	New	Waxing Crescent

Details

Details

Details

Details

Next 5 Days

Click for more weather info

Sea TurtleUpdate as of June 24th, 2011

Sea Turtle Research and Monitoring

	Sea Turtle Nesting Stats As of June 24, 2011
		Nests	False Crawls	Hatches
	Sanibel East End	19	36	0
	Sanibel West End	145* **	210	1
	Captiva	50	30	1
	TOTAL	214	276	2

Most nests on the islands are Loggerhead. However, this year we have one Kemps Ridley** and two Greens * included in the totals above.

Please do not disturb nesting sea turtles. There have been reports of several nesting attempts disturbed by onlookers. If a turtle fails after several nesting attempts, she will eject her eggs into the Gulf, so failed attempts -- false crawls -- are serious.
Click here for more info.

Johns Top Ten Buys in Fort Myers

Here are some of the criteria I looked for when determining the top ten.

1. Ground floor
2. Attached 1 or 2 car garage
3. Might be able to be purchased for under $150,000
4. Minimum of 2 bedrooms, 2 Bathrooms
5. Development has amenities
6. Will represent a good value.

Address	Bedrooms	Bathrooms	Price
1307 Medinah Dr  #41	2	2	$166,500
14830 Calusa Palms Dr #102	2	2	$124,900
14169 Hilton Head Dr	2	2	$167,000
1350 Bunker Way	3	3	$139,900
9242 Coral Isle Way	3	2	$162,500
17036 Colony Lakes Blvd	2	2	$164,900
8360 Village Edge Circle #2	3	3	$164,900
13811 Lake Mahogany Blvd #3911	2	2	$137,900
7840 Lake Sawgrass #4013	3	3	$145,000
202 Stratford Place	2	2	$114,900

If you would like to see any of these properties please give me a call, John 239560-4960

A Great Condo and a Rare Find on Sanibel !

Don't miss this updated modern condo with amazing Wildlife/River views and partial Gulf views.  Large, spacious and open this condo features modern updates, two bedrooms with their own bathrooms, a large walk in master closet with the washer and dryer in the large closet.  This unit also has a large storage space and garage. 

http://perfectbeachcondo.com/Default.aspx

Snowy Plover Project- Update

As of June 10, there have been a total of 15 Snowy Plover nests on Sanibel. Five nests are currently incubating and five nests have fledged, with a total of 11 chicks. Four nests were predated (one of them also was washed out); one nest was not viable.

This year, SCCF is also monitoring Wilson's Plovers: there have been two nests: one hatched with 3 chicks and one nest fledged three chicks.
During the 2010 nesting season we had seven fledglings survive from a total of 15 nests. Of the 15 nests laid, 9 hatched, 4 were abandoned, 3 were predated, and 1 was recorded as washed out but still hatched. This gave us a hatch rate of 60% for the 2010 season. The 9 nests that hatched yielded 23 chicks, of the 23 chicks, 7 fledged giving us a fledge rate of 30.4% for the 2010 season. Compared to earlier years the actual numbers of fledged chicks is just below average, however the percentage of birds fledged is on par with percentages in previous years.
It is extremely important that people do not disturb nesting birds nor let dogs run on the beach. As an example of how vulnerable the snowy chicks are, there have been 15 hatched nests this season, but there are only seven fledglings. Nest 11 hatched three chicks on the evening of June 15; by Friday morning, only one chick remained. The last week in May, Nest #10 was abandoned with two eggs. The three chicks from Nest #1 were lost the weekend of April 24-25, possibly from the severe thunderstorm on Monday morning. Another nest was washed over and lost one egg that same weekend. On April 30, we found that Next #2 was lost, possibly due to predation.

Did You Know? Facts about Sanibel

Island Age ~5,000 years Island Area 11,600 acres

City Incorporated November 5, 1974

Square miles 17.5 sq. mi. Beach frontage: 15.50 mi. Total

Island shoreline 24.5 mi. 11.75 mi. Gulf of Mexico

Mangrove frontage 9.0 mi. 3.75 mi. San Carlos Bay

Land: Conservation lands (Includes SCCF lands and all public parks) 7,200 acres

City Managed Preserve Land 600 acres

J. N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge 5,400 acres includes Buck Key

Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation 1,200 acres

Recreation Uses 575 acres

Vacant undeveloped land 400 acres

Average elevation: 4 ft. above sea level Maximum elevation: 13 ft. above sea level

Annual precipitation: 42.3 inches Average temperature: 74°

Total roads 80.68 miles

Paved 61.37 miles Public 61.83 miles

Unpaved 19.31 miles Private 18.85 miles

Shared Use paths 22.85 miles

Causeway length: 3 miles Round trip toll: $6.00

Resident Population: 1975 - 2,875 1995 - 5,753 2001 - 6,072

2010 Census Count 6,469

1985 - 4,237 1999 - 5,975 2005 - 6,272 (Estimate) by Bureau of Economic

1990 - 5,468 2000 - 6,064 2008 - 6,347 and Bus iness Re search

Median age 2000: 60.5 years Seasonal Peak Population 2005: 18,000

Registered voters 2009: 5,477 plus day visitors 13,000

Registered voters 2010 5,673 TOTAL 31,000

Registered voters 2011 5,460

Sanibel Causeway traffic:

1965 100,000 vehicles 2000 3,433,769 vehicles 2006 2,875,493 vehicles

1975 795,348 vehicles 2001 3,460,347 vehicles 2007 2,918,579 vehicles

1985 2,290,961 vehicles 2002 3,430,316 vehicles 2008 2,924,582 vehicles

1990 3,020,181 vehicles 2003 3,257,747 vehicles 2009 2,926,862 vehicles

1995 3,199,822 vehicles 2004 3,112,301 vehicles 2010 2,886,605 vehicles

2005 2,648,909 vehicles

Dwelling Units as of March 2009
Total 8,299 Hotels, motels & cottages 739

Single family 3,981 Timeshares 384

Multi family 3,115 Mobile homes 80

Captiva Cruises

Captiva Cruises new Science at Sea cruise will be a hands on adventure.  Kids and adults will be able to be a marine biologist for the hour and a half.  A trawling net will be used to observe and identify some of the unique inhabitants within the back bay waters.  Captiva Cruises Summer of Family Fun also includes the Shoreline Discovery cruise, where you can explore a secluded beach, beach and shelling excursions to Cayo Costa State Park, lunch on Cabbage Key and Useppa Island, Dolphin and Wildlife Adventure and the Night Sky Astronomy cruise.

Kids can take part in the Junior Naturalist program where upon completion of two the designated Junior Naturalist program they will receive a Junior Naturalist certificate.

http://www.captivacruises.com/

Weekly Economic Summary

Last week in review (May 30 – June 3, 2011)

The big news of last week was the official Jobs Report, which came in well below expectations. In fact, in the private sector alone, the report indicated that only 83,000 jobs were created in May, and that number was almost 100,000 less than expected.



Although the hourly earnings component of the report came in a little better than expected, the overall report was discouraging. Now the markets will have to wait and see if this report was just a bump in the road to recovery or if the economy has slowed down once again.



Manufacturing slowing?



New data on the manufacturing sector of the economy also indicated a possible slowdown, as the Chicago PMI and the ISM Index, which both measure manufacturing, came in below expectations.



Rumors of a bailout lower the U.S. Dollar



Reports came out last week that Germany is putting together a plan to bail out Greece. The plan would allow Greece more time to determine a strategy to put their debt in order for the long term. As a result of the bailout discussion, the Euro was strengthened and the U.S. Dollar dipped lower. Remember, a softer U.S. Dollar helps U.S. stocks, as U.S. companies benefit from stronger exports with a weakening dollar. But a lower dollar isn’t good for bonds, so this news stalled the rise of bonds early last week.



Home prices still very affordable



We also received new data last week on home prices across the country. According to the 20-city Case-Shiller Home Price Index, prices were down 0.8% in March. Overall, bank-owned sales continue to weigh on housing, and are expected to do so for a couple more quarters.



As you can see in the chart below, mortgage bonds and home loan rates have benefited from weak economic data the last couple of weeks.

Chart: Fannie Mae 4.0% Mortgage Bond (Friday, June 3, 2011)

Fishing on Sanibel

FISHING LICENSE INFO

Fishing: Most residents and visitors must purchase licenses for fishing in salt or fresh water. You can purchase a license at The Bait Box on Periwinkle Way; at Bailey' Center at the corner of Tarpon Bay Road and Periwinkle Way; at Tarpon Bay Recreation; at Jensen's Marina; at Adventures in Paradise, at Norm Zeigler's Fly Shop; and at all the marinas. Rules and regulations on size and bag limits plus open and closed seasons change. Most bait stores distribute free lists published by the Florida Marine Fisheries Commission. You do not need a license if you are: under 16; over age 65 and a Florida resident; effective August 1st, 2009 all Florida residents fishing from land or a pier now require a licence; or fishing from a boat covered by a Vessel Saltwater Fishing License. The Tax Collector's office and bait shops list criteria for residency.

There are some great upcoming fishing tournaments!

The 13th Annual Summer Slam
September 23-25, 2011

Pink Shell Beach Resort & Spa
Fort Myers Beach, Florida

Click Here for 2011 Tournament Information

The Caloosa Grand Championship
November 4-6, 2011

Invitations to all qualifiers will be mailed in late September, 2011.

South Seas Island Resort
Captiva Island, FL

Herb Strauss Musical Theater Camp

Now accepting enrollments

Camp runs in two-week sessions, starting June 20

Monday through Friday, 9 AM to 3 PM

Camp will be closed Monday, July 4

The Herb Strauss Musical Theater Camp will offer students age ten and older a concentrated summer training experience in the art of Musical Theater Performance as well as a glimpse into the technical aspects of mounting a Broadway Musical. Each two-week session is $350, volunteer opportunities are available. Deadline to register for each session will be one week in advance; for June 20th session, register by June 13, for July 5th session, register by June 28, for July 18th session, register by July 11.

Sponsor L.A.T. Foundation and
Sanibel-Captiva Kiwanis Foundation

Click here for Registration Form (PDF) and more information.

Click here for Registration Letter and Discipline Form (PDF).

Sea Turtle Nesting Stats as of June 10th, 2011

Please do not disturb nesting sea turtles. There have been reports of several nesting attempts disturbed by onlookers. If a turtle fails after several nesting attempts, she will eject her eggs into the Gulf, so failed attempts -- false crawls -- are serious.
Click here for more info.

Sea Turtle Nesting Stats As of June 10, 2011
	Nests	False Crawls	Hatches
Sanibel East End	12	23	0
Sanibel West End	88	129	0
Captiva	44	15	0
TOTAL	144	167	0

Sanibel Recreation Center Nominated for Southwest Florida’s Best Building Award!

The nominations are in, and the results are diverse and intriguing.

For the past few months I have asked you, the community, to nominate your favorite buildings in Southwest Florida. Old or new, big or small, commercial or residential, it was your opportunity to voice an opinion about the buildings that have made an impact on you.

The result is an eclectic assortment.

It's my observation that the majority are well-designed buildings. They are not average or mediocre but structures that stand out, stand for something and are often considered appropriate for here.
And notably the architects who designed them are highly regarded for their design talent, sometimes regionally, sometimes nationally and a couple, even internationally.

My conclusion? Good design makes an impact.

I'm pleased with the nominations and I think Southwest Florida has plenty of examples of good architecture. Now let's find out which you feel is the best.

To vote, visit news-press.com/bestbuildings. You can vote for one residential building and one commercial/public building once an hour through the end of June.
We will announce the results later this summer.

We'll keep running reminders about the voting throughout June and will give you a heads-up when we're getting ready to run the results.

Dolphins on Sanibel

This video was taken on Sanibel outside of Mariner Point.

Interesting facts about Bottlenose dolphins

One of the many great things about living on Sanibel Island is spotting dolphins on a regular basis.  The dolphins you will see the most around Sanibel are Bottlenose Dolphins.  Here are some interesting facts about Bottlenose.

Bottlenose dolphin's weight is 230 kg. As for its length, the Bottlenose dolphin measures approximately 3.9 m long. What is the bottlenose habitat? They live in all seas but seem to prefer warmer waters such as sub-tropical and tropical seas and regions.

In the Gulf of Mexico, along the USA coast, the population is estimated to be at least of 67,000 individuals.
When resting, a Bottlenose dolphin is taking two to three breaths per minute. When exercising, a Bottlenose dolphin can double up its normal respiration rate.  The average time between exhaling and inhaling times is thirty minutes for a Bottlenose dolphin and the process itself lasts about 0.3 second. The deeper he dives, the higher the pressure and the more often he will have to go back to complete his respiration process at the surface

The average diving depth for Bottlenose dolphins is 300 m.

A baby dolphin is called a calf. Around 8 to 10 years old, a female may start to be able to give birth every 2-3 years. Each time, one calf is born. The birth seasons vary depending on the region where the Bottlenose dolphin habitat is situated at the time.
The calf is born in the water with the assistance of another dolphin that can be male or female and is called and "auntie" which is also the only dolphin that will be allowed near the calf.

Dolphins are partly unconscious unlike us because they are asleep with one eye open. You see, being a conscious breather, the dolphin would suffocate and drown if he was unconscious. Also, sleeping with an eye open allows being aware of the presence of predators. During its sleep, his eyes and parts of the brain alternate during the whole time

Are We There Yet ?

Last Summer I penned an article with my observations on where the Real Estate market was in Fort Myers and on Sanibel & Captiva Islands.  I thought it would be interesting to see where we are almost a year later.  Lets take a look at the market from several viewpoints:

PRICING:  It does look like both the South Fort Myers and Island pricing for condos and homes has stabilized.  In fact, a recent article in the Fort Myers News Press stated that prices have actually risen about 17% April, 2010 to April, 2011.  Even though there are fewer Short Sales and Foreclosures on the market this year, our area is leading the nation in the recovery of the housing market.

INVENTORY:  One sure way to help stabilize and potentially increase pricing is to have less product, (fewer properties) for sale.  Our inventory is lower than it has been in several years.  This is due partially to the time of year as summer is our "Off Season", but even as our high season was ending the same held true.  Another factor to consider is that it is still cheaper to buy an existing home than build.

FUTURE OUTLOOK:  Based on both stabilized pricing and current inventory the future here in Southwest Florida looks optimistic.  In fact, a recent survey concluded that this area should lead the country in the Real Estate recovery.

There is pent up demand for second or retirement home that will need to be met for those looking for a wonderful climate, no state income tax and great property values.  If you haven't been here for a few years you should come and take another look.  This off season is the perfect time for people considering a home or condo purchase here in paradise.

Author: John Petel, Realtor John R Wood Island Real Estate

Sea Turtle Program

Sea turtles are among the world’s oldest creatures. These ancient reptiles have long fascinated people around the world. On Sanibel and Captiva, where the beaches provide a subtropical nesting area for threatened loggerhead and endangered green turtles, more than 100 island residents volunteer each summer as part of the Conservation Foundation’s Sea Turtle Research and Monitoring Program. The program operates under a permit from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Each day during nesting season, May to October, the 18 miles of Gulf beaches from the Sanibel Lighthouse to the tip of Captiva are checked beginning at dawn.In some areas, volunteers walk designated zones of beach. On other stretches, the patrol is done by beach vehicle. Nests are identified and marked for monitoring and protection. Later in the season new hatches are evaluated and recorded. The statewide collection of data helps promote programs that improve the chances for sea turtles to survive.

Among other components of SCCF’s sea turtle program are projects ensuring that beach habitat is suitable for nesting and the co-ordination of data collection on local sea turtle strandings.

Goal Achieved !

On May 12, 2011 we announced that we have reached our goal!The $5.3 million Honoring the Past - Protecting the Future campaign raised funds to:

• Purchase the 28.3-acre homestead from Francis Bailey;
• Open the Shipley Trail for hikers, bikers and birders and begin the restoration of wildlife habitat on the property;
• Begin initial restoration of the historic home, creating a Center for Conservation History to tell the story of the Bailey family as well as the story of the islands’ conservation history.
• Create a Conservation Gateway to direct visitors on to other historical and environmental organizations and sites on Sanibel and Captiva;
• Continue the Foundation’s conservation of coastal habitats and aquatic resources on Sanibel and Captiva and in the surrounding watershed.

 

Sea Turtles as of May 27th

Please do not disturb nesting sea turtles. There have been reports of several nesting attempts disturbed by onlookers. If a turtle fails after several nesting attempts, she will eject her eggs into the Gulf, so failed attempts -- false crawls -- are serious.
Click here for more info.

Sea Turtle Nesting Stats As of May 27, 2011
	Nests	False Crawls	Hatches
Sanibel East End	5	11	0
Sanibel West End	35	46	0
Captiva	21	3	0
TOTAL	61	60	0

Beaches are a boost for the economy

Along with the sun and fun, beaches can be a strong economic player locally and nationally.

We all know that beaches are a great place for fun and memories.  They are also a great contributor to the US economy.  Here are some beach facts.

More than twice as many people visit America's coast as visit state and national parks combined.

About 85 percent of all tourism-related revenue is generated in coastal states, where beaches are the leading tourist attraction.

Each year, goverment takes in $320 for every dollar it spends on beach nourishment.

One economist's estimate puts the overall contribution of beaches to the American economy at more than $320 billion annually.

Its a great time to buy on Sanibel and Captiva which boasts about 15 miles of white sandy beaches.