Royal Shell funds PURRE

Royal Shell to donate $50,000 to PURRE.

Sanibel, FL (4-15-2008) - Royal Shell Vacations (www.RoyalShell.com) and Royal Shell Preferred Properties (www.RoyalShellSales.com), sister companies in the vacation rental management and real estate businesses on Sanibel and Captiva, have announced that they will donate $50,000.00 to People United to Restore our Rivers and Estuaries (PURRE) this year.

Donald R. DeLuca, Vice President and General Counsel of RLR Investments LLC, and broker for Royal Shell Preferred Properties, commented that the combined companies have looked for ways to support the Sanibel-Captiva community and promote a better quality of life in Southwest Florida. “Everyone who lives, works on or visits Sanibel and Captiva islands has a stake in the water quality of the islands’ environment. We are proud to contribute to a program that actively works to keep our waters clean.”

The funds will be donated in two payments of $25,000 and $25,000. The initial payment already has been made. The second payment will be made in May 2008.

(At the right, Donald R. DeLuca, Vice President and General Counsel, RLR Investments LLC, (left) hands first of two $25,000 checks to PURRE Chairman, Michael Valiquette.)

PURRE was formed by a group of local people who realized that the estuary system of Southwest Florida was threatened with destruction beyond repair if policies are not changed to benefit the environment.

According to PURRE’s Web site (http://www.purre.org) “Years of mismanagement of our waterways, accumulation of nutrients from fertilizers dumped down the Caloosahatchee River from Lake Okeechobee along with our own water shed, and the rapid growth of development are just some of the areas that have contributed to the deterioration of the marine eco-system of South Florida.”

The goal of PURRE is to restore and protect the marine ecosystem of South Florida and in doing so, protect the economy as well.

Sanibel Island’s Casa Ybel Resort Appoints New Resort Manager

Sanibel, FL (February 25, 2008) – Sanibel Island’s Casa Ybel Resort has named Amy Speckman as Resort Manager and Director of Operations.

Speckman’s previous positions have included managerial responsibilities at Boca Raton Resort and Club, and at Sanibel Harbour Resort and Spa. Speckman graduated from the University of Florida with a BA in Business Administration.

Her previous achievements include teaching at the Educational Institute in Boca Raton and winning Manager of the Year twice at Sanibel Harbour Resort and Spa.

She succeeds Froilan Ramirez, Jr., who was recently promoted to Casa Ybel’s General Manager.

About Casa Ybel:

Casa Ybel’s history began with the Reverend George Barnes whose boat ran aground off Sanibel Island in 1889. Grateful to have been stranded on such a lush place, he and his family claimed 480 acres on the Gulf of Mexico and built a home on Sanibel as well as Sanibel’s first church. He also built a cottage for his two daughters, which, eventually evolved into a fashionable 30-room inn and one of Sanibel’s earliest resorts known as “The Sisters”. In 1890, when his daughter Georgia married, he built her a grand Victorian home on the waterfront and christened it “Thistle Lodge”. It evolved into a favorite place where celebrities and statesman like Henry Ford and Thomas Edison escaped the outside world.

In the 1920’s, the Sister’s Inn was renamed the Casa Ybel Hotel and it became a full service resort on Sanibel.

Today, Casa Ybel remains the perfect beachfront location at which to fulfill dreams of a tropical island retreat and the Thistle Lodge has transitioned into an award-winning restaurant offering spectacular food in the grandness of the turn of the century.