Florida Outdoor Getaways 2008 - (Page 7) “There is refuge in a sea-shell – Or a star; But in between, Nowhere.” The late Anne Morrow Lindbergh, wife of the famed aviator Charles Lindbergh, penned these words at a time when escape to Florida’s southwest coast inspired her most famous work, Gift from the Sea. The book compared her life to the various shells she found on the Gulf Coast while on vacation. Turner Beach, courtesy of The Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel Convention and Visitors Bureau. Chapter 2: Channeled Whelk “Channeled whelk,… you have set my mind on a journey.” Chapter 1: The Beach “The beach is not the place to work; to read, write or think.” A true lover of beaches, Anne planted herself in a “seashell of a house” along Captiva Beach. ‘Tween Waters Inn occupies the same stretch of beach and has even named two of its historic cottages for the Lindberghs. The Anne Morrow Lindbergh Cottage wears a sea-tinted coat of paint and faces the beach Anne loved to comb. The Charles Lindbergh Cottage sits beside it. On Captiva Beach, Anne collected shells and contemplated how they related to her life. Charles, who on occasion recorded their Captiva moments, exalted the “miles of beach without other human life.” Still today, island visitors absorb that sense of isolation walking the five miles of Captiva’s white sands. At the main Captiva Beach public access and at Mucky Duck restaurant, they gather nightly for the sacred ritual of sunset. To immerse yourself in the world of the seashell, you need not journey far from Captiva Beach. Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum, on sister island Sanibel, pays homage to the beauty, artistry and social importance of the seashell. Sanibel Island specifically is known as a top shell-collecting destination, thanks to the unusual boomerang east-west turn at its south end, which allows it to nab seashells en route from the Caribbean Sea. Casual collectors and serious conchologists have come to these shores for decades in search of cockles, coquinas, whelks, scallops, conchs and the coveted junonia. The shell museum helps shellers identify their finds and learn, as did Anne, their connection with the human species. On the land side of the island, the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge shows its quiet side; the Lindberghs explored mangrove swamps up and down Florida’s Gulf Coast. Outdoor Getaways 7
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