Florida Beaches Road Trip: The islands of Sanibel and Captiva

After leaving Boca Grande and Gasparilla Island State Park, I headed towards one of the only planned stops on my Florida beaches road trip; Sanibel Island. I had been hearing for years about the fantastic beachcombing that was to be had on this Gulf Coast Island, and being a self proclaimed amateur conchologist, I was hoping to find some beautiful shells to add to my collection. Not having any reservations, I decided to tour both islands first and then choose my home base for the next few days. As you might expect, I found the islands and the beaches to be absolutely spectacular.   I am of course not the first beach writer to have my breath taken away by the quiet tree lined neighborhoods, plentiful bike paths, beaches littered with shells, clear water and natural beauty of this area; these islands typically rate high on the list of many travel publications like Conde’ Naste Traveler and National Geographic Traveler

 

 I drove to the end of Captiva – or at least as far as I could go (the north end of the island is private) visiting Captiva Beach and Blind Pass Beach.   You will need to pay for parking (about $2 per hour) at most of the beaches, but thankfully they take credit cards so you don’t need to find exact change. Helpful tip: the beach parking permits weren’t parking lot specific, so your same beach “parking passes” are good at any beach, if you are a chronic beach hopper like me. Sadly, I didn’t realize that until the last day! The beaches of Captiva were very quiet, as the area had lots of single (very opulent) family homes with condos sprinkled here and there.   Captiva beach was much wider than Blind Pass, but both were relatively narrow beaches with more shells than sand. When I say more shells, I mean piles and piles of shells, two to three feet deep in some areas. It looked like most of the lodging options were either by the week or home rentals, so I continued on to Sanibel.

 

I found what I was looking for on West Gulf Drive with plenty of motels, hotels, condos, cottages and resorts all along the Gulf. I chose a fantastic location close to the restaurants and “downtown” area of Periwinkle Way, on the bike path and of course right on the beach. You can read my review of the Shalimar Cottages and Motel here.   After negotiating an off season, mid week rate, the Sanibel beach examining began with Bowman’s Beach, “THE” public beach on Sanibel.

 

Bowman’s Beach: Considered to be the best spot for shelling on Sanibel because of the way the current from the Gulf delivers shells reliably to this spot. Beautiful wide, white sand beaches, the clearest water on Sanibel and indeed great shelling. The walk from the parking lot was quite a hike, and leads you about a quarter of a mile through an estuary and lovely wooded area. Although there were plenty of people there, the area is quite remote with miles of coastline, so you can easily find your own little piece of sand.

 

Tarpon Bay Road Beach:   Easy access to this beach, especially compared with the trek out to Bowman’s. Great wide sand beaches, shallow waves and close to the parking area! This seemed to be one of the most popular beaches for spreading out the towel and catching some rays.

 

Gulfside City Park:  Great Park for picnicking with lots of shade, picnic tables, and a nature walk that leads you to an old island cemetery.

 

Lighthouse Beach: The lighthouse (hence the name) was the highlight of this beach for me, as were the nesting ospreys. Swimming is not recommended at this beach due to the strong currents in this area, and there really weren’t very many shells compared to the other beaches. Since it lies at the easternmost tip of Sanibel, there were great views of both the gulf and the bay, and there were boardwalks winding through a wildlife refuge from the parking areas to the beach. Great spot for taking pictures of the bay and the lighthouse or fishing from the pier.

 

Causeway Beaches: These beaches are located on both sides of the causeway road leading to the island and are great for kite surfing, swimming or beach picnicking, as you can drive your vehicles right up to the water. Another great feature of the Causeway Beaches? Free parking!

 

As it turned out, after all that beach examining, my favorite beach of all ended up being right outside of my motel window, between Bowman’s beach and the Tarpon Bay Road Beach. Check back here for my next installment, all about Sanibel shelling. I’ll give you a sneak preview though, the sand, stingrays and shells were otherworldly, absolutely unbelievable!