2013

March 2013

Kent & Val Jaffrey (London, England)

Lovely months long stay in this excellent house, so well equipped and comfortable. We have had regular visits from the manatees –right on the dock and a burrowing owl nesting nearby.

Fishing not great this year as water is unseasonably cold (this year all our US). If you like Italian food try “Little Sicily” on Cape Coral pky; small family restaurant. (Bring your own wine) and Wednesday at Bonefish Grill Pine Island Road for “Bang bang shrimp”.

Thanks also to the Secret Places team for their excellent service.

April 2013

Knight, Hordsworth & Muir Party (Stratford, United Kingdom)

Enjoyed a wonderful two weeks here at Island House. It was our second visit to Cape Coral. We loved it so much last year that we choose to bring both set of parents with us this time! The house was spacious enough for each of the adult couples to have privacy and space to relax – I’d imagine it would also perfectly suit a family with young children.

The ‘boys’ of our party are big fans of fishing so they spent many hours on the deck with a lane in the line in the water… Caught catfish, snapper and even a massive sheeps head from the back. They also enjoyed fishing from the main pier by the town beach/yacht club – clearly the place to be for local Cape Coral-ites. Fantastic camaraderie & brag amongst the fishermen.

We ate out on a number of occasions and can recommend Rumrunners, the Joint (located at Cape Harbor), Lobster Lady (on Cape Coral pky), Rib City (next to Sweetbay Supermarket on Cape Coral pky – (delicious ribs!) On the mainland it’s worth visiting the Island Cow in Sanibel for a tasty lunch, and the Lazy Flamingo (live music on Thursday nights) on McGregor for some laid back eats.

Most of the trip was spent relaxing and fishing however we did have a couple of day at Tarpon Bay Beach (Sanibel) and at Barefoot Beach (Bonita Springs). We also rented a boat with Cape Coral Boat Rentals (great service!) and popped on to the idyllic Cayo Costa – a must do if you have a spare day.

Overall, a brilliant trip. Will definitely recommend Island House (& rest of Secret Places’ proprieties, a fantastic company to work with.) Thank you for allowing us access to your beautiful home!

Few comments: lots of red paper wasp nests in furniture on the deck could do with being removed…Also hand whisk in the kitchen cupboard doesn’t work and beach umbrella in garage seen better and doesn’t stay up. All minor but worth mentioning.

Truly wonderful holidays in a beautiful location – Thank you for letting us stay – Perfect!

July 2013

Caroline, Claudie, Élisabeth & René (Famille Déry & Montreuil) (Québec, Canada)

WOW! Par où je commence! Par les dauphins...les crocos... le beau temps? Les plages? Le magasinage? :)

Et bien, on a eu droit à tout! Ah! j'oubliais.. les manetees! Oui, oui, ils nageaient juste ici dans le canal!!

Bon, y a aussi René et les filles qui ont nagé avec 2 de ces grosses vaches de mer à Captiva! Y aussi un dauphin qui a passé presque l'avant-midi à nager avec nous, encore une fois à cette merveilleuse plage de Captiva! Faudrait pas oublier la belle grosse tortue que j'ai vu ici au bout du quai!

Et, pour rester dans le sujet “Safari”, on a eu la chance de voir deux beaux petits bébés “chouettes” dans une zone protégée à deux terrains d'ici! A peine quelques jours...deux belles tites boules de poils.

Les crocos? :)

Bien oui, nous y sommes allés! Capitaine Thompson était génial et on a trippé sur le tour de bateau parce que pour les crocos, c'était pas la saison!

Voilà le seul qui avait: