Andy and the entire crew at Ocean’s Reach wish you a wonderful holiday season!
The colors of the season are everywhere on the mainland.
Throughout Southwest Florida, one can see the splendor of the holidays unfolding with twinkling lights, brightly colored ornaments, festive decorations and vibrant light displays.
On Sanibel Island, there is one color in particular that is bringing us joy this holiday season.
Green.
Glorious green. Little buds of green are sprouting up all over the island. Native plants and trees are doing their best to spring back to life.
New growth. The gift we were most hoping for from Mother Nature. Her reassurance that our beautiful sanctuary island is indeed resilient and is coming back.
Hurricane Ian ravaged the island with a tsunami of saltwater from its 12-foot storm surge. After months of brown and grey covering every bit of vegetation on Sanibel, these little sprouts of green are more uplifting than you can possibly imagine.
New growth is apparent on almost every corner. And with it, a strong island community determined to grow, too, from the destruction.
We still have a very long way to go, and things will look very different on Sanibel this Christmas, but we`ve made tremendous progress and continue to look toward a bright future.
On the island, a handful of restaurants and businesses have re-opened and more are scheduled to join them within the next month. Workmen are all over Sanibel helping homeowners rebuild. Electricity has been restored to more than half of the island, and water, internet and sewer services are returning, as well. Due to its sheer volume — 1.2 million cubic yards at last count! — debris pickup continues to be a challenge (note that a typical garbage truck holds 28 cubic yards of waste), but progress is being made every day.
At Ocean`s Reach, our “new normal” includes daily meetings with owners, board members, engineers, contractors, adjustors, and other new partners who, together, are determined to build back our beautiful beachfront resort better than ever. Like many on the island, we’re now tackling insurance claims and waiting to hear when we will be able to physically start our new rebuilding efforts.
Many of you have asked when we will be opening up reservations for 2024. While we are very anxious to do so, we will not be able to proceed with new reservation activity until plans are more definitive. As we`ve mentioned previously, we will be sure to publish that information on our blog and through an assortment of other communication programs as soon as we possibly can.
Lastly, during this time of year, we like to reflect back on the many special people we’ve had the privilege to host through the years. Friendships with our Ocean’s Reach guests are some of the most treasured gifts we have, and we cannot wait to see you again.
Until that day, we wish you a colorful holiday season full of peace, love, joy and hope!
