Month: July 2021

Photo from Spotlight News Magazine

One of the great things about Southwest Florida is just how many options there are to enjoy nature while getting your daily dose of Vitamin D!

Take Bonita Nature Place, for instance.  This green gem is located just minutes from downtown Bonita Springs, a leisurely drive that’s just under an hour from Ocean’s Reach.

Home to burrows for 24 Gopher Tortoises (currently classified as a Threatened Species),  » Read more

Thanks once again to Dave Horton for his great Hortoons!  » Read more

Embarking on The Great Loop on their aptly-named boat

No hyperbole here!  This really could be “The Adventure of a Lifetime” …  at least according to a recent article from National Geographic about an epic U.S. event that “few know about — and even fewer undertake each year.”

The Great Loop is a year-long, nearly 6,000-mile journey via continuous waterways through 15 states and two Canadian provinces.   » Read more

Photo from CalClassic Forum

“It was supposed to be the world’s largest airport, a glamorous intercontinental hub for supersonic airliners with six runways and high-speed rail links to surrounding cities. But today, it’s little more than an airstrip in the middle of nowhere.”

So begins a fascinating CNN story on the Everglades Jetport, as it was called back in 1968,  » Read more

Guess who surprised us in the most delightful way last week?  Conchy, our wonderful part-time housekeeper, announced that she is now a U.S citizen!

She is such a special part of our Ocean’s Reach family and we couldn’t be happier for her!

Following hugs from all of us, Conchy shared photos of her red letter day, including the amazing cake (pictured above) that her daughter surprised her with —  » Read more

“Adopt the pace of nature.

Her secret is patience.”

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Should you have any photos you’d like to share, please email them to [email protected].

Today’s Guest Photographer:  Karen Wood  » Read more

Mead Johnson, third-generation owner of Bailey’s General Store

A Sanibel Island favorite, the bakery at Bailey’s General Store has been voted by Gulfshore Life Magazine readers as the Lee County “Best of the Gulfshore” 2021. The store was also a finalist in the coffee shop and wine store categories.

The bakery items at Bailey’s are made from scratch daily with the heavenly scent of fresh bread and other treats greeting shoppers as they enter the store.  » Read more

For all our trivia buffs out there … Did you know that three log cabins served as Florida’s first Capitol?

Florida was settled by the Spanish, the French and the British over the course of three centuries before becoming part of the United States 1819.  Once it became a U.S. territory, legislators transferred government from St. Augustine to Pensacola for alternating sessions.

Travel was hazardous and took upward of 20 days between the cities,  » Read more

Photo by Debra McGuire

Finishing up our list of fascinating dolphin facts this week, courtesy of USA Today:

15. Our fetuses look very similar.

While unborn babies of humans and dolphins are in the uterus, they both have a tail, though for humans that is only briefly. Scientists believe these so-called protrusions are a legacy of genetic material from ancestors.  » Read more

Photo from travelpulse.com

Courtesy of USA Today, we’re continuing the list of surprising similarities between humans and dolphins.  Did you know:

12. We are self-aware.

Researchers discovered that dolphins become self-aware at an earlier age than humans and chimpanzees. Investigators studied two young dolphins at the National Aquarium in Baltimore and watched how the mammals interacted with their images in a mirror.  » Read more