To get to the Gulf Pines Beach on Sanibel Island, you walk down a beautiful tree lined path. Before the beach is visible, you can hear the sound of the waves pounding the shores. Distant but near, like the roar of a seashell pressed to your ear. As you come around a bend and up a small slope, you catch your first glimpse of the Gulf of Mexico and the beating of the waves become louder in your ears. A few more steps and you will be out on the wide expanse of a nearly empty beach feeling the warm sand run between your toes.
Picture taken December 2002, Sanibel Island, FL