Are Cars Allowed on North Captiva Island?

Are Cars Allowed on North Captiva Island?

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In 1921, the great hurricane hit Captiva Island and divided the Island into two by a deep pass from Pine Island Sound into the Gulf of Mexico.

The islands remained sundered,  however, things have become quieter now.

Are Cars Allowed <a href=

on North Captiva Island

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How do I visit North Captiva Island?

I asked my friends how I would make this journey 12 years ago.

In addition, are cars allowed on North Captiva Island?

The southern island retained the original name “Captiva”, it is today a beautiful and expensive choice of destination for holidaymakers and can be accessed by car.

You can get to the Island through a causeway from the mainland near

Fort Myers

.

I have returned to the Island with my family for many years.

We used to stay at

Sanibel Island while we enjoyed the features of Captiva Island, which is very close

.

North

Captiva remains a mystery

yet to be understood.

The Island with its unknown big beach cannot be accessed by car.

We took a decision this year to jet off to the quiet, and less populated island.

It is not that we are rejecting civilization, but we want to take leave of the traffic and commercial stress of

Sanibel and Captiva Islands

.

North Captiva

North Captiva is approximately 4 miles in length and half-mile in width.

Its features and the features of Captiva Island are completely different.

Although the Island is not anything close to a wilderness, the total number of houses on it is less than 400.

A good part of the southern part is Florida state park.

Most of these houses are used for vacation rentals.

Two homeowners provide the club services on the Island’.

The club services include community swimming pools, docks, and kayak rental gear.

These services are for homeowners and their rental guests.

Two boats run scheduled

service from Pine Island to North Captiva

.

One of the boats is owned by one of the clubs.

There is a bridge that connects Pine Island to the mainland.

Most times, it is the property owners that help their guests to book the boat services.

North Captiva has few commercial activities.

It has few restaurants and a very small convenience store.

This means you should plan to take everything you will need with you as you are going.

Transportation

When we visited North Captiva Island for the first time, we were worried about how we would take the young and old in our group to the Island with all our luggage and groceries.

We were not supposed to worry, however.

Although we were new to the Island, all the people we met on the boat and the grocery had gone to the Island with their luggage before, which made it an easy process for us.

The boat service providers offer passengers’ suitcases and groceries allowance.

The journey does not require much luggage.

Your shorts, T-shirts, and swimsuits are good enough for clothing.

You will get a washer and dryer at the rental homes.

Food and Drink

We were directed to a mainland grocery store by our host.

A lot of island-bound visitors buy things from this grocery store.

The store gave us dry ice to preserve our perishables goods as we embarked on the short boat trip.

You can book groceries in advance from some stores.

All you will do is pick up pre-packaged bundles.

It will save you the stress of stopping to shop.

The boat that took us to the Island belongs to the North Captiva Island Club.

It loaded our luggage and groceries and took us to our vacation rental home.

Our journey was made easy by this terrific service.

The day we came back, they came and loaded our luggage back onto the boat and brought us back to the mainland.

We got to the docks after about a 25-minute ride across Pine Island Sound.

The dock is adjacent to the island club’s pool, the poolside restaurant, the general store, and equipment-rental service.

Accommodation

Our rental house was elevated on posts to protect it from storm surges, the same way other houses on the barrier island were protected.

The house has a crow’s nest room on top of two stories of living accommodations.

You can only see this in North Captiva Island.

It was a fight between my 12-year-old twins on who would sleep in the crow’s nest.

The crow’s nest looks like a little private clubhouse with a terrific view of the ocean, other crow’s nests, and rooftop decks that are taller than palm trees on surrounding properties.

The swimming pool in our rental house had a heater.

We enjoyed it so much.

There was nothing to do, so I had to enjoy my idle time sitting on the beautiful deck.

My family is a nature-loving one.

We love beachcombing and bird-watching too.

For that reason, we spent so much time exploring the beach.

Things to Do

When we went to

Sanibel Island,  my family picked the best shells

early in the morning.

At North Captiva Island, we had the whole beach all to ourselves, so we had no reason to go out early in the morning to pick shells.

Almost half of North Captiva Island is a part of Cayo Costa State Park.

That part remains undeveloped.

That area is good for hiking, beach walking, and nature watching.

A lot of ospreys, and shorebirds are in this park.

We had enough time to pick the best shells.

We picked the Caribbean vase shell.

It was the first time we saw the shell, which is hard to see in that part of Florida.

Sanibel Island has good shops and restaurants.

We miss them so much.

We were able to locate a spot to eat.

It was Barnacle’s restaurant.

This restaurant has been an old popular restaurant in North Captiva Island.

A lot of people come here to have their lunch.

We got there early to secure a place at a picnic table under the restaurant’s big thatched-roof waterfront hut.

We visited Barnacle’s second-floor ice cream shop severely.

We started a debate among ourselves; between the locally made Queenie’s Ice Cream at Barnacle’s in North Captiva

Island and the Sanibel

Island Pinocchio’s ice cream, which is better?

The variety of birds we saw on North Captiva Island is more than what we saw on Sanibel Island.

It was the first time my children saw manatees.

We saw the gentle sea cows as it was sluggishly floating in the canal.

At North Captiva Island, I felt a lot like a manatee.

At a time, I became tired of spending my quiet and dreamy days idly under the warm Florida sun.

FAQs

Does anyone live on North Captiva Island?

Some people havelived on the Island for 50 years.

You will see a lot of residential homes, some restaurants, a convenience store, a small resort, and a marina.

The general means of transportation on North Captiva Island is by golf cart.

How do you get groceries on North Captiva Island?

Do you need someone to shop for you and get the groceries to your doorstep?

Shipt can go shopping for you and get it delivered at the Island Club Welcome Center.

Are cars allowed on North Captiva Island?

You cannot use a car in North Captiva, but golf carts.

ABOUT ME

Born & raised amidst the gators and orange groves of Florida, I’ve waded through the Everglades and braved the dizzying heights of Orlando’s roller coasters.

About Us Jeff from TravelMagma

But FL is just the beginning of my adventures.

I’ve journeyed far and wide. Yet, it was the serene beauty of Japan that truly captured my heart.

I even wrote my own little
Caribbean Guide.

But…

My 2nd book “Things I Wish I Knew Before Going to Japan” became a bestseller, a guide filled with wisdom:

TravelMagma is where I tell the tales of the road, capture the essence of each destination, and inspire you to make your own footprints around the globe.

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Jeff