It started up in the 1970s. That’s when we quit going and switched to the SC coast. Then it got all built up, so then switched to the last little scrap of Old Florida left (no, not telling!). Last time I was on Sanibel was about 20 years ago and it was all built up then. We stayed on North Captiva and it looks about the same as it did then. I loved the old Sanibel of the 1960s.
Covid saw gobs of folks move to Florida. Waterfront properties quadrupled in price in the space of a year in some places. Crazy. I was hoping they’d stop the WFH stuff and prices would go back down, but not happening. :(
We went to Sanibel last year in March, and it was quite crowded. Had always wanted to go after reading Randy Wayne White’s Doc Ford books. I’m sure it was a neat place before it became famous. But there’s just not very much of coastal Florida that isn’t paved under any more. All the way from Tarpon Springs to Naples on the west coast, and the entire east coast, except for a few preserves.