If you're hoping to drive to Sanibel for a beach day on Monday or maybe even Tuesday, that may be a little tricky.
That's because most of Sanibel's city beach parking lots are closed, with the exception of Bowman's Beach, which opened back up Monday.
Lighthouse Beach's parking lot is in the worst condition. It's flooded with water and filled with sand that is almost as high as the bike rack in the lot. Sanibel Mayor Richard Johnson said cleaning up Lighthouse Beach may take longer than other beach parking lots because of the volume of sand.
Despite there being no access to many parking lots for Sanibel beaches, it hasn't stopped a lot of people from heading to Lighthouse Beach.
Ginger Myron and her son Ezra said yesterday they were stuck in the house because of Tropical Storm Barry that made landfall in Southwest Florida Sunday.
"So today, we're really enjoying finally being out," Myron said.
Ginger and Ezra said they came to the beach to pick up seashells together.
"I've just been walking along trying to get mom to catch up because mom likes to walk along and get more of these, and I like to walk along looking for better shells," Ezra said. "It has been super windy."
Ginger said because they weren't able to use the regular parking lot, they found another spot close to the beach. She said because there isn't a lot of activity Monday, it was easy to find another spot.
But as the beach gets busier, finding a spot may not be that easy.
That's why Johnson said crews are working on addressing the beach parking lots Monday and Tuesday, potentially with the county's help.
"They will provide assistance if we need it, but we may be able to address that with equipment that we have right here on the island," Johnson said. "If not, we'll reach out to our partners, and they will assist us with getting that clear."
The mayor said the city of Sanibel doesn't make extraordinary efforts to make sure that low-lying areas don't get sand because each storm is unique.
"It's part of that natural dynamic," Johnson said. "The sand moves around the island on a normal basis. Even when we have bright sunny days, we have we have sand movement."