In 1991 Billy and Akaisha Kaderli retired at the age of 38. Now, into their 4th decade of this financially independent lifestyle, they invite you to take advantage of their wisdom and experience.

The Bubble Room Restaurant

Captiva Island, Florida

Billy and Akaisha Kaderli

Billy and I like to eat.

This is such a joy to us that we try to eat every day, and we get our share of dinner invitations from people who also like to eat.

This particular invitation, and the restaurant where we went, was one of the most unique dining experiences we have had in a Very. Long. Time.

Welcome to The Bubble Room!

Our route from Naples to Captiva Island (Photo courtesy of Google Maps)

We were visiting family in Naples, Florida and our new friend, Linda invited us to dinner. "We'll go to Fort Meyers. No problem, I'll drive!" Linda gleefully smiled.

"Fort Meyers," I whispered to Billy. "How far is that? Just for dinner?"

"Let's go!" Billy urged.

Crossing over the Gulf of Mexico to Sanibel Island

I had been doing all the driving with our rental car and this was a real treat to have someone else be our chauffeur for the night. The ride was so peaceful, it about lulled me to sleep.

The sun begins tilting to the horizon

The sky was blue, the sun reflected in the calm waters and poofy clouds drifted above us. We had been driving for over an hour, and Billy and I were beginning to wonder where we were going. Having already passed through Fort Meyers, Linda was mysterious as to the name of the place she was taking us, but assured us we would enjoy the ride through Sanibel Island.

The Bubble Room? What the --!?

Having lived in Fort Meyers and quite familiar with Sanibel, Linda chatted about the different stores, the homes, and the history of the place while we drove through what looked like a slice of life from the 1950's.

"If you want to go shopping for food or anything significant, you must travel back to Fort Meyers. A large grocery chain wanted to build their store here for the convenience of the residents, but they voted it down. They like it tiny and undisturbed. This is the real Florida!"

Finally, we arrived and parked in this midget sized gravel parking lot that held maybe a dozen cars. Off to my right was this - um - tiny pink and green striped clapboard building and another with painted bubbles on it.

Entrance to The Bubble Room - could this place have anything good to eat?

I don't know how well we kept our surprise to ourselves, but I think Linda was trying to read our faces. We were entering a Disneyland cartoon fantasy complete with flamingo colored trellises, a rainbow bridge and vintage cars painted on the front.

Mondo-sized desserts

Stepping through the tiny doorway we were "forced" to walk past these huge desserts. Triple layered cakes, puddings, and more bulged under icing, fresh fruits, caramel sauce and whipping cream.

Romantic table for two

We had some time before our table was ready so Linda encouraged us to take a look around. We all spread out in different directions. There were hallways, pocket-sized rooms, and rooms with seemingly no entrance.

It's Christmas Day every day at The Bubble Room!

Apparently, the Christmas theme is a mainstay and seemed a bit odd at first. That is, until our own private elf servers came up to us at our table to introduce themselves, complete with tights, animal ears, and funny hats or makeup. What a fun place to work!

Stairways, teeny halls, banisters and all the walls were filled with vintage everything!

Everywhere I looked there was something to catch the eye. Puppets, a real toy train that circled throughout the restaurant at ceiling level, old vintage photos of movie stars, doll houses, mirrors, Christmas lights.

The Bogey and Bacall Wall

This was our first visit, but I imagine since this was "Old Florida" at its historical best, one could settle in and get the full flavor over time.

Old time puppets

Marionettes were strung from false ceilings, mirrors were placed anywhere there might be a spare place.

Two (vintage?) love birds!

We had to do it. We sat in the Bubble Room Boat in the Tunnel of Love and Linda snapped our photo!

Well, this was madness and we were getting into it.

A couple sitting at the honeymoon table

Ceilings were shellacked with glistening photos, stuffed fish hung from the walls, chandeliers were placed above tables, and there were doors that led...?? But Elves came and went from them.

Bubblelicious Linda

Elves came, wished us Merry Christmas and took our food orders. The toy train circled the ceiling in our dining room. A hot basket of some of the very best Bubble Breads we have ever tasted arrived on our table.

Duck Ellington

Portions were huge. One of the Bubble Room slogans is that you will never leave hungry. Even though I did what I could to make a dent into my duck dinner, I had left overs for the next two days!

Entrees had names like Moon over Miami, The Louis Armstrong, Smoke gets in your eyes, Dubble Bubble Ham Burger, Dem bones… Dem Bones and Beignety Goodman.

Since we all knew we were taking food home, we went ahead and ordered dessert -- already packaged to go. A completely common event.

Souvenir Gift Shoppe

We rolled off our dinner seats and back out into the gravel parking lot. To work our dinners off a bit, we took a look inside the gift shoppe which displayed unique and unusual gifts, memories of your time at the Bubble Room! Psst! They even have their cook book for sale! A must-have.

Tiiiineeee Bubbles...

Yup. It's worth going and having this memorable dining experience. It is unusual, unique, entertaining and the food is Bubble-Dee-licious!

The Bubble Room, Open for lunch and dinner, 15001 Captiva Drive, Captiva Island, Florida 33924 Tele: 1.239.472.5558 Website: www.bubbleroomrestaurant.com

About the Authors

Billy and Akaisha Kaderli are recognized retirement experts and internationally published authors on topics of finance, medical tourism and world travel. With the wealth of information they share on their award winning website RetireEarlyLifestyle.com, they have been helping people achieve their own retirement dreams since 1991. They wrote the popular books, The Adventurer’s Guide to Early Retirement and Your Retirement Dream IS Possible available on their website bookstore or on Amazon.com.

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