North Captiva Island…

… is amazing!!!!!!  We arrived in Tampa this afternoon, made the 2-hour drive through Fort Meyers to the Pine Island Marina and from there, we boarded a small boat called the Island Girl which brought us over to North Captiva Island.  The island is only accessible by boat as there are no bridges or roads leading to it from the mainland and therefore, there are also no cars on the island. The only way to get around the sandy trails that lead you from the docks to your house is by bike or go-cart. When we first arrived to our house I instantly fell in love with the wrap-around porches which extend around the perimeter of the house on the main floors (2nd and 3rd floors). The bottom floor is for storage and a small deck area where you can park your go-carts to charge them overnight. The 2nd floor has all the bedroooms, the 3rd floor is the main level with an open floorplan including a kitchen, dining area, living room, and bamboo bar. As I walked up through the stairwell to the main floor (the stairs actually lead right into the middle of the living room area) I see my favorite thing in the world when it comes to home architecture. Other than a wrap-around porch, I have ALWAYS wanted a spiral staircase in my house and as I’m walking up the steps I saw the most beautiful set of spiral steps wrapping up to a loft with the cutest little reading area. My favorite place in our OBX beach house is the reading nook in the Crow’s Nest and I imagine this reading loft will also be my favorite. So snyway, the loft has glass doors that lead out to a deck that looks over the Gulf of Mexico and we had arrived just as the sun was setting. Beautiful! So Ilook over to my left to check out the scenery snd I see a spiral staircase leading up from the 3rd floor to the loft deck. But wait, it gets better… I looked over to the right and there’s ANOTHER spiral staircase that leads up to the sundeck! This house is ridiculous!!! I’m so excited to spend the week in such a beautiful location and with my favorite paople in the world.