Sanibel Island in December

We are a senior citizen couple seeking a week%26#39;s vacation on Sanibel in December, 2007. We hope to find a small cottage that would be close to the beach (as we don%26#39;t do walking any distances)and probably not children oriented.

Is there any way to find rentals without going through rental agencies? If so, would they be privately owned and posted anywhere that you would know of?

A condo might work okay for us if there are no steps involved and, once again, close to the water.

I also understand that golf carts can be rented to take short visits to town for shopping and sight seeing. Does anyone have suggestions on the carts or any other suggestion?

Sanibel Island in December

Probably the best ways to find private owner direct rentals is to go to VRBO.com or Google search for Sanibel vacations and select those that are not rental agencies.

I don%26#39;t know why you are reluctant to consider rental agencies, but to each his own.

As we have seen in other recent postings, the prices aren%26#39;t always that different - many private owners use rental agencies to handle their rentals - and you can still use the rental agency web sites to ';shop'; and then see if you can find the property as a separate web listing.

That will give you an opportunity also to check rate differences.

Incidentally, rates should not be too high in early December but holiday times elevate everything because demand increases but supply does not.

Sanibel Island in December

Thanks, Sanibelog and I will try VRBO.com I guess I am looking for a shortcut trying to locate a place that someone on the list could recommend and/or have stayed at.

I have gone through the rental agencies and get overwhelmed with so many offerings.

We want to find a quiet quaint place that would have kitchen facilities, close to the beach and not necessarily family oriented. I hope I get lucky and someone on the list might see this entry and give me a suggestion.

Try the White Caps Cottages. 9 Small cottages on the beach and located off of West Gulf Drive. Nice, quiet property.

Take a look at Gulf Breeze Cottages, Shalimar, and Blue Dolphin. Modest but good and all are on the beach.

The golf carts are up on Captiva and quite expensive. They can be used during daylight hours only. http://www.yolo-jims.com/

If you can walk about 5-6 minutes, you can stay quite cheaply at Tropical Bayside Cottages. It%26#39;s walking distance to everything and they sit on the bay with outstanding views. I%26#39;ll be bayside myself in October. No stairs.

Also, check out Ocean%26#39;s Reach condos. They have nice 1 bedroom units on the beach on Sanibel.

Please note, restaurants and shops are driving distance from the cottages and condos on Sanibel.

There is also a small and very modest beachfront cottage thru AmRC only, as far as I know, Beach Daisy. See www.captiva-island.com. They also have most, but not all of the Tropical cottages.

One last suggestion, Jensen%26#39;s Twin Palms cottages also in Captiva village. They are slightly closer to the beach than Tropical, but not much. The island is VERY narrow. These are spotless and the owners really nice. www.jensen-captiva.com

Good luck!

Tourmaline: Thanks so much for the input and I will be on line checking out each and every cottage/condo that you have given me. Will let you know the results. Again, thanks.

Check out Seashells and Duggars. Across the street from the beach but very economical.

If you are a little adventurous, I believe you can rent Segways at Billy%26#39;s-they teach you how to use them and they are easy to learn to use as I understand.

Has anyone out there rented them from Billy%26#39;s and if so how were they to use?

The segways can be rented only in groups as a tour for safety reasons (city ruling).

Thanks for the clarification Rainstorm. I am disappointed- I was hoping to rent one next vacation to see how the were to ride..

Keep checking in about Segways. The City Council, the group that stymied individual rentals, has changed in it membership.

The subject may be reviewed and revised at any time.

Those who have traveled by Segway have found them no more dangerous than a bicycle and a lot less dangerous than the roller bladers who sometimes ride the bike paths.