Beach in Pelican Bay the Day After Hurricane Gustav

The day after Hurricane Gustav passed by in the Gulf of Mexico, my subdivision in Pelican Bay, L'Ambiance, experienced three HUGE power surges in rapid succession.  Both my husband and I were working on our computers at the time and even though we have surge protectors and I have a battery back up, the power supply on my computer was fried.  The good news is that I religiously back up my computer.  The bad news is I am waiting for my ordered power supply to arrive.  I feel as if I am on a forced vacation.

Since we were without power, my husband and I decided to go down to the Sandpiper beach in Pelican Bay to enjoy the waves.  It turns out we were only without power for a little over an hour.  Imagine our surprise when we discovered that the high tide had come in and there was practically NO beach.  The water was up to the stairs!  Talk about water front dining!    These photos will give you an idea of how the beach looked.

While the waves might not look like much in these photos, you had to be there to hear them crash into the shore.

My darling husband who swims in the Gulf almost every day was torn trying to decide if he should go into the water.  As you can see from these photos there was NO ONE swimming at the time we were at the beach.

In the end, Don did not have to decide, our friend Demos, a retired Merchant Marine ship's captain, advised against swimming.  I seconded Demos' advice.

Two days after Gustav, the beach was getting back to normal.

There were large swells in the Gulf two days after Gustav, which many Pelican Bay residents, including my husband and I enjoyed.

For those of you who have been reading my blog, I want you to know that I recently updated the program to search for a home in Naples, if you click on the link SEARCH FOR A PELICAN BAY HOME on the left hand side of this page, you will be taken to a window where you can enter specific search criteria to look for your Naples home.  You can even save your searches and/or ask to have new listings e-mailed to you.  I hope you find this link useful.  I welcome any feedback you have on this new program.

With Hanna, Ike and Josephine out in the Gulf, I will try to keep you updated with what effect these storms may have on Pelican Bay.

The Day After Tropical Storm Fay in Pelican Bay

The day Tropical Storm Fay paid a visit to Naples, I was up until 1:00 AM watching the Weather Channel.  In the 43 years I lived in Chicagoland I can not remember EVER watching the Weather Channel.  Since I have lived in Pelican Bay, I have watched the Weather Channel almost non-stop through Georges, Charlie, Wilma and now Fay.  I do not like the words, "Jim Cantore will be reporting live from Naples."

Once I determined that Fay was not as organzied a storm as Charlie had been, I went to bed.  Fay's path reminded me too much of Charlie's path in 2004.  Needless to say that when Fay rolled in at 5:00 AM I was sound asleep.  The day of the storm I took this video in L'Ambiance in Pelican Bay.  Make sure you have your sound on so you can hear sound of the wind.The weather was windy and rainy.  There were some palm fronds down and a few downed branches in Pelican Bay but that was it!

The day after Fay, my husband, Don, and I went down to the beach at Pelican Bay to see how it fared after the storm.  The trams were up and running and the Sandpiper Restaurant was open for business.  The storm had pounded the beach the day of the storm but it still looked good to me.

The waves were really rockin'.........too much for me to enjoy but Don and our friend Demos braved the surf, while I enjoyed a few minutes of peace reading Tom Brokaw's book BOOM.

There was someone in the Gulf windsurfing. I would glance up from my book every once in a while to enjoy the bright colors of the sail against the sky.

Today's been cloudy and rainy most of the day.  Considering the lack of rain we have had this summer, rain is good.  These gray days remind me too much of Chicago.  The year I moved here from Chicagoland, we had a solid month of gray days with NO sun.  I once had a friend tell me that she suffered from "Chicago Syndrome".  When she lived in Chicago she would get out to enjoy a beautiful day because she didn't know if the day would stay beautiful or if she would have another beautiful day for some time!  She said that when she first moved to Pelican Bay in Naples, she had to pace her outside activites because almost every day was a beautiful day in Naples.

Pelican Bay is a great place to live. I do not think that Fay landing in Cape Romano, which is near Naples but NOT Naples, will cause property values to fall in Naples or Pelican Bay.  This summer has been the busiest summer in real estate for me that I can ever remember here in Naples.  Between entertaining company and work, I'm read for a vacation at the beach in Pelican Bay!

Pelican Bay Increases Transfer Fee

On Monday, May 19th, the Board of the Pelican Bay Foundation increased the transfer fee on purchases in Pelican Bay from $3,500.00 to $5,000.00.  The increase will take place on any real estate sales contracts written prior to June 30, 2008.

Considering all the properties that are for sale currently in Pelican Bay, I am not too happy with this decision.  I personally wish that the Board had not invested over two million dollars in buying a building to house our service personnel.  I think we would have been better served helping our service personnel find rentals in Naples.  The rental market has an abundance of rentals due to all those investors who bought units thinking they were going to flip the units.  Rental prices have decreased because of the competition.

There is also "talk" that the Board is thinking about eliminating the exemption of the transfer fee for owners in Pelican Bay purchasing within Pelican Bay.  Should you have an opinion on this, you might want to share it with our Board.  You can log onto www.PelicanBay.org and e-mail your opinion.

Turtle season began May 1st.  You will notice that there are no lights shining down on the beach from the restaurants in Pelican Bay as of that date.  Be advised that should you see an area of the beach roped off in what looks like yellow crime scene tape, do not touch that spot!  That's a turtle's nest!

The 1st Quarter of 2008 Florida Sales report has been released along with the April 2008 Naples Area Board of Realtors figures.  To view these statistics, click on Real Estate Reports.

The Gulf water temperature was reported at 86 degrees in the paper this morning.  If you are in town, I hope you are enjoying the beach!

Today's open house at 400 Lambiance Cir #202 was pretty steady.  99% of the people coming through were working with a Realtor or have been looking at real estate in Pelican Bay for years.  I did meet a nice couple from Chicago land.  They had never seen Pelican Bay before and I enjoyed showing them the amenities that Pelican Bay has to offer.

Speaking of amenities.......yesterday my husband and I headed down to the Sandpiper Restaurant at the beach in Pelican Bay for a late lunch.  We just made it to the restaurant before they stopped serving.  It was a crystal clear day.

As we were eating our lunch, we spotted FOUR manatees out in the Gulf.  I wish I had a better camera with me than my cell phone. That would have made a great photo!

After lunch, the Gulf water was actually warm enough for us thin skinned Floridians to go in for a swim.  The photo below was taken with my cell phone but you can see how clear the water was yesterday.

As I sat in my open house today, my first question to all the people who came through was, "Are you familiar with Pelican Bay?"  Unless someone is familiar with all Pelican Bay has to offer, they may have a hard time justifying the prices of real estate.

Naples has many beautiful places to live.  If you are a "beach" person, you many want to consider the community of Pelican Bay.

If you are a Pelican Bay resident and have Comcast high speed Internet and/or Digital Plus services are eligible for a rebate.  There are only 7 days left to obtain your rebate.  Check out rebate information to find out how to obtain this rebate, sign in to www.PelicanBay.org, tune in channel 96 or call the Foundation at 239-596-6180.

The Naples area has FINALLY been receiving some rain.  After all the years I lived in Chicago, I never thought I'd be happy about a rainy day.  Even with this rain, we're still behind rain totals for last year.

Last night we had a lovely dinner at the Sandpiper with relatives of ours in from Colorado.  I have to say the Sandpiper was pretty busy for a Monday night in April.  Even though we did not see a spectacular sunset, the food was delicious and the company great.

It's now official!  The new Pelican Bay Foundation board members are Mike Coyne, Doug Esson and Robert Pendergrass.

According to an e-mail that was sent out to Foundation members by Gerhard Seliatnigg, there was a delay in the election results due to a discrepancy between the number of shares voted on three separate reports.  It was determined that the discrepancy was a presentation error not a tabulation error.  54% of the Foundation board members voted in this election.

I wish the best to our three new board members.

The Pelican Bay Foundation has recently sent out a survey to randomly selected property owners.  This survey asks questions on how owners use the amenities in Pelican Bay, how often they use these amenities, and which amenities they feel are most important to them.  It is a detailed survey that will take you a bit of time to fill out.  When you recieve this survery, please try to take the time to express your opinion.  It is important the Foundation understands how the amenities are being used and which amenities are important to our home owners.

Our Gulf water temperatures are finally starting to warm up.  Once the water finally hits 82 degrees, you will find me enjoying the water.  Living here full time has spoiled me.  I actually love the Gulf in the summer time!  There is nothing like taking a dip in the warm Gulf waters after a long day of showing houses.  Forget the saying "Calgon take me away"!  I like the saying "De-stress at the beach in Pelican Bay"!

Pelican Bay will be having it's annual meeting on April 7th, 2008 at 10:00 AM in the Community Center in Pelican Bay at 8960 Hammock Oak.  All Pelican Bay owners are encouraged to attend this meeting.

Recently an e-mail was sent from the Pelican Bay Foundation announcing the results of the vote for the new leadership of the Foundation.  This e-mail was sent in error.  According to the Foundation the new board members will be announced at the meeting on April 7th.  Apparently there was an error in the vote count.

Have you signed up to receive e-mail from the Foundation?  If you are not in residence year round, you may want to do so.  You can register your e-mail address by signing into www.PelcianBay.org  If you are confused as to how to register, owners can call the Foundation at 239-596-6180 the Foundation will walk you through the process.

Some of our Pelican Bay residents may be aware that our Collier County Commissioners are trying to build a pier at the Vanderbilt Beach access.  People have asked me my opinion is of the Vanderbilt Pier project.  I have to say that I am not in favor of building this Pier.  My main reason for being against it is that we already have parking problems in that area.  Where do the commissioners think people are going to park?  I would encourage you to e-mail everyone on the Board of Collier County Commissioners your opposition to this project.

Sunsets are occurring around 7:45 PM now.  There is not much that beats a sunset at the Sandpiper or Sandbar restaurants.