Island-hopping
If sailing is not your idea of a vacation, take some off-island side trips. One morning we met Capt. Mike Fuery for a journey aboard his boat. We motored past North Captiva Island beyond the resort, where we could see a new pass cut to the bay by Hurricane Charley. Our destination was a slip of privately owned paradise called Cabbage Key.

There, two generations of the Wells family run the compound featuring the Cabbage Key Inn. The inn's restaurant serves up some of the most famous food on the West Florida Coast. Locals say the burgers here inspired Jimmy Buffett's "Cheeseburger in Paradise." Come for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, as well as to drink in the Dollar Bill Bar, wallpapered with autographed dollars. Be sure to add your John Hancock to the likes of John F. Kennedy, Jr., and Jimmy Carter.

We left after lunch to head to the mecca for shellers: the southern tip of Cayo Costa State Park. The shells are so deep on this undeveloped island's beach, you'll want to wear shoes for comfort. Captain Mike backed his boat into knee-deep water where he helped us spy shells. We learned to look on the sand at the high tide line, as well as in the water where a shallow ledge just offshore catches washed-up shells.

I searched for the junonia--the coveted spotted specimen found on these islands--to no avail. But in an hour I pocketed 16 lettered olives, a half-dozen angel wings, shark eyes, cockles, and true tulips.

An hour passed before I knew it. I was mesmerized by the sound of waves softly rolling shells together--what I think of as surf chimes. On this wind-tossed beach I found a treasure better than any pirates ever discovered. I found the perfect vacation.