Cape Coral/Ft Meyers Beach

[jtk]

headed there in a few weeks. any can't miss places or activities? any suggestions on things to do? have a couple things in mind but also have two graduates to entertain. one college and one high school. had out planned mexico all inclusive vacation cancelled. thanks

 

[irish_buffalo]

Ft. Myers Beach is a tourist trap. Not bad, but not great either. There is one bridge from mainland to Ft. Myers Beach and it is usually a traffic jam getting to there. Seems they have had road construction on Ft. Myers Beach for 20 years.

Head to Sanibel & Captiva Islands. I think it is a $6.00 fee to cross the bridge. Bowman Beach is best beach IMO. Sanibel is full of bike trails if that is your thing. Good seafood on the Island(s). They also have a place called Schnapps which is old school hamburger and hot-dog joint as well as ice cream.

Head to Naples for a day trip. Hang out at Lowdermilk Park Beach. They have an old school beach snack shack. Check out downtown Naples. Lots of money and cool cars.

If history is your think head to Edison and Ford's (and Firestone's) winter homes. You pay and get to walk around and see their places. Pretty neat to see that these old school titans of industry all had winter places together. Edison's lab intact.

They have an express ferry that leaves Ft. Myers Beach for Key West. It is about a 4 hour trip so you pretty much have to stay the night in KW.

Good fishing, not hard to find a charter.

Other good eats...

Crackerbox (off McGregor in Ft. Myers)
Doc Fords (Ft. Myers Beach or Sanibel)
Ford's Garage (Cape Coral)
Charlies Boathouse (Ft. Myers Beach - awesome menu and salad bar)

 

[eastisbest]

There any baseball? Minimum gambling age in Fl is 18 I believe. They take their putt-putt pretty serious down there.

We rented a hobie at Sanibel. That was worth it. Looking at shells and old people (well, now I are one) only went so far. Depends upon the storm situation. Definitely rather be on the water.

I was more on the East Coast but I'd imagine you could do the same over that side. Non-Floridians forget how wild Fl really is. Personally, I'd rather leave the beach and head to the swamps or Okeechobee or Immokelee. Ton of history in the area. Of course fishing. Go meet some rednecks. See how the Indians lived. Hit a casino. Get a non-touristy airboat ride. Even better at night if you can find someone to take you. Then you'll see some real wildlife. If you can find a short scuba course and trip, that's a cool family thing.

I like this site for finding things
crazy tourist

But beaches and bars aren't bad either.

 

[Auggie]

+1 to head over to Sanibel & Captiva, if just walking a beach is your thing they have excellent shelling. I like the Mucky Duck on Captiva, very chill bar w/ great views of the sunsets.

 

[BlackHawk]

+1 to head over to Sanibel & Captiva, if just walking a beach is your thing they have excellent shelling. I like the Mucky Duck on Captiva, very chill bar w/ great views of the sunsets.

Good call. Mucky Duck and sunsets on Captiva Island! Whenever I visited Sanibel Island, we made sure we made at least one trip to Captiva for exactly those two things: dinner and drinks at the Mucky Duck, followed by an awesome view of the sunset.

 

[irish_buffalo]

There any baseball? Minimum gambling age in Fl is 18 I believe.

We rented a hobie at Sanibel. That was worth it. Looking at shells and old people (well, now I are one) only went so far. Depends upon the storm situation. Definitely rather be on the water.

I was more on the East Coast but I'd imagine you could do the same over that side. Non-Floridians forget how wild Fl really is. Personally, I'd rather leave the beach and head to the swamps or Okeechobee or Immokelee. Ton of history in the area. Of course fishing. Go meet some rednecks. See how the Indians lived. Hit a casino. Get a non-touristy airboat ride. Even better at night if you can find someone to take you. Then you'll see some real wildlife. If you can find a short scuba course and trip, that's a cool family thing.

But beaches and bars aren't bad either.

Sanibel is full of wildlife refuges that you can walk/bike through. The island even boasts Bobcats.

One thing I like about Sanibel is they have done an excellent job keeping out the high rises and chain restaurants. I believe there is one Dairy Queen on the Island that was grandfathered in but otherwise you are eating at local non-chain restaurants.

Good call on baseball but it is all shut-down at the moment (I think). The Twins and Red Sox share a place in Fort Myers and the Rays are in Port Charlotte.

Florida got snooty and closed down all of their famous dog tracks. I get why but those places were a ton of fun.

You bring up another good point in boat rides. There is a big catamaran that takes you to N. Captiva, which was separated from Captive during a hurricane years ago. Nice little trip. You get to see a bunch of wildlife such as Dolphins and Manatee and then they dump you on the Island for several hours to explore.

 

[eastisbest]

We didn't take that trip but it sounds memorable. Manatee are fun, except when they're trying to nibble on your ski ropes (which is another idea). Not supposed to touch them but hard to resist giving a belly rub and watching their little flippers go nuts.

They still do Jai aLai down there?

 

[Auggie]

They do still have Jai Alai in Southeast FL, like all pari-mutual wagering sports it got a second wind by adding slots and poker. Was never a fan of dog tracks, they kind of depressed me, but Jai-Alai is fun to go to once or twice to get a feel for a really different sport.

 

[rossford_resident]

Sarasota has a few Amish restaurants, believe it or not...

Weird to see Amish dressed ( I believe they are actually Mennonites) guys cutting grass all over the place with sulkies attached to their walk-behind commercial mowers.

Sanibel is nice. Check out Bokeelia or St. James City on Pine Island if you want to see how the locals live.

 

[jtk]

thanks. lots of good ideas.

jtk
()

 

[111411]

We've stayed in Sanibel several times. It's absolutely beautiful there. If you go out to eat on the island, try the Island Cow. There are also a couple of really good ice cream places, but I can't recall the names.