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A I L
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A KIDS’ GUIDE TO
A
S
P A
R
A
D I S E
P A
R
SANIBEL & CAPTIVA ISLANDS AND
THE
FORT MYERS COAST Karen T. Bartlett
CAPTIVA CRU ISE
S
Copyright © 2021 Mostly Kids’ Guides Reproduction of this book or any part thereof, including text, illustrations or photographs in any form whatsoever, is prohibited without written permission from the publisher. Digital edition hosted by Neapolitan Family Magazine
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Lead Designer: Jayla Buie Art & Production: Christine Rooney, Brad Sanders Illustrations: Margie Olsen and Terri Rickman Also available in paperback edition Contact mostlykidsguides@gmail.com www.mostlykidsguides.com (239) 595-9026
@kidsguides Digital Edition ISBN 978-0-9909731-3-3
Mostly Kids Guides
ly most
A ^KIDS’ GUIDE TO
SANIBEL & CAPTIVA ISLANDS AND
THE
FORT MYERS COAST
DIGITAL EDITION
Karen T. Bartlett
Dedicated to all the great kids on these pages and those we’ve met along the way. Thanks for being awesome!
Inspired by the never-ending story of adventure and discovery with the loves of my life, Christopher Y. Bartlett and Sarah Rose Bartlett
Mostly Kids Guides
Who has the head of a horse, the tail of a donkey and the pouch of a kangaroo? (p. 23) Where can we drive super-fast Go Karts?(p. 56)
Ewww! Who eats vulture vomit? (p. 6)
Take me out to the ball game! (p. 63)
Doggie church? For real? (p. 67)
Can we go to a festival? (p. 69)
Let’s go on a pirate ship! (p. 51)
Let’s make secret disappearing pirate notes! (p. 7)
Are there any kids’ plays? (p. 26, 62) Can I be a Junior Ranger? (p. 8, 20)
What’s a Bubble Scout and why is that chicken on his head? (p. 30)
Let’s go on the Terror Tube! (p. 68)
“I love this book!”
CONTENTS Stuff you Need to Know Some of it is Quite Weird page 4 Ancient Indians & Dastardly Pirates page 9 Check Out The Map page 10 Sanibel Island The Scoop, the Stoop and the Poop
page 12 Captiva Island Bubble Scouts, Crab Races & More!
page 30
What’s up on the Mainland? page 55 Festivals! Fairs! Happenings! page 69 Visitor Information page 72 Websites & Phone Numbers page 73 What’s Down the Road? page 78 Do you like to color? page 79
Mysteries of the Barrier Islands page 38 Fort Myers Beach Outrage-alicious!
page 43
MOSTLY KIDS’ The most awesome family
GUIDES guidebooks on the planet!
You can be a Junior Ranger! Sign up free at any state or national park (including preserves and refuges) for cool ranger programs, activities & fun stuff!
e recycl e here in l fishing
Going Fishing?
QUIZ an environmentalist is a. someone who reads minds b. someone who loves nature & wildlife c. a very long word
an
r: b and swe c
8
ot to
Imagine This! All the straws used in America in one day could fill 127 school buses. Please don’t take plastic straws to the beach!
Kids under 16, Florida grownups over 65, and people fishing with licensed guides don’t need a fishing license. All Florida residents can fish from the beach for free. Everybody else: get a license! “Be an environmentalist! Please recycle any no-good fishing line you find on the beach so we don’t get tangled up or choke on it.”
Pe te S
All 4th graders get a free pass into all national parks, lands and waters (like “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge) for the whole year!
ng
FREE PASS ALERT!
Ancient Indians & Dastardly Pirates Way before the Seminole Indians, the Spanish Conquistadors and the pirates who looted treasure ships, lived the ancient Calusa Indians, the fiercest warriors in the history of Florida. The Conquistadors told their queen that they were giants and cannibals.
: idea Calusa n u F f t he i rate p a le s o
n t r ue t k e e ve Hea r m (mayb ided k aya o u k ingd re!) on a g d Key. n u t r e a s u r t o Mou to
Were they really cannibals? Who knows? But they loved seafood! For thousands of years, they feasted on clams, oysters and whelks. They used the shells to carve fishhooks, spears and ceremonial masks. Sometimes the leftover shells made mounds so high that whole islands were formed.
er, Jolly Rog by designed ck Calico Ja
“Conquistador” means “conqueror,” but Ponce de Leon made a HUGE MISTAKE when he tried to conquer the Calusas. He was killed by a Calusa arrow.
Buried Treasure Yes ! G
Fearsome pirates like Pir irl ates! Calico Jack Rackham and his pirate wife, Anne Bonny attacked many Spanish galleons filled with gold sailing past these islands. Some say there’s still buried treasure at their old hideouts on every Not a real pirate, island in this book. Black Caesar but she IS from once looted 14 tons of England, just like Calico Jack! silver. His hideout is named Black Island. Could that be where he hid the booty? And what about all the treasure ships sunk in hurricanes? Their gold has never been found either... YET! 9
, p o o c p o S o e t h p S Sanibel Island T o o P the e h t nd
a
Everybodys doing the Sanibel Stoop!
About six bazillion seashells wash up on Sanibel every year – more than any other island. Why? For one thing, Sanibel sits sideways, making it one big, curvy scoop net! The tide tosses shells up, but takes only some of them back. Some are rolling around in the water, some are covered in dry sand, and some are live creatures hiding in the wet sand from birds that would like to eat them for lunch. How do you find them?
Do the Sanibel Stoop! Just walk along the beach, folded in half like a taco, and look sharp! That’s it – you’re doing the Sanibel Stoop. It’s even in the Guinness Book of World Records! 12
Q: Are there differences between alligators and crocodiles? A: Yes, some very “sharp” ones (like teeth – get it?). Get the inside scoop about gators and crocs and a whole lot more at “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge.
“Excuse me. Sanibel isn’t totally about seashells. There are exciting adventures, beautiful birds (just saying), and things to see, including - if you can believe it - fancy boxes of bird poop. It’s quite embarrassing.”
poop
scoop net
Who loves this kind of
scoop?
Sanibel and Captiva have the most dee-licious homemade ice cream. Try a Love Boat scoop, a Royal Scoop scoop, a scoop of Queenie’s Famous Ice Cream, or a scoop with a curl at good old Dairy Queen. At Pinocchio’s, every scoop is topped with an animal cracker.
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City of Palms…
and Art and Music
Thomas Edison loved palm trees so much that he gave the City of Fort Myers a gazillion of them. That’s why it’s called City of Palms. Watch artists paint during Art Walk, the first Friday of each month. On the third Friday, it’s Music Walk, with singers and musicians. It’s free! And what else is free? Kids and teens activities and storytimes at the Fort Myers Regional Library!
Do you like plays? At the Arcade Theatre, you might sit in the very same spot where Thomas Edison watched the “talking movies” that he invented. At the Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre you get food with the play, and the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Center has big family shows.
Are You an Actor? Check out all the fun kids’ camps and plays at the Alliance for the Arts, The Florida Repertory Theatre, and Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center’s Theatre Kids.
Freaky Fun Sculptures! How many bronze sculptures can you spot hanging out in the Downtown River District? They’re by the famous artist, Edgardo Carmona. 62
Holiday House! Mr. and Mrs. Edison went to holiday parties at their friends’ houses, the Burroughs and Langford-Kingston Homes. They probably didn’t meet Santa, but you can! And the cookies are
delicious!
Illustrations (8) – Shutterstock
atre/Eric Coble Florida Repertory The
You can find out more cool stuff about soldiers, cowboys, and even hear some good old ghost stories on a True Tours walk around the River District.
Mighty Mussels
(3)
…and BASEBALL! Root, root, root for the home team all summer, when the Mighty Mussels step up to the plate! The team plays at Hammond Stadium, the spring training home of the Minnesota Twins. Hey kids 14 and under! When you join the Mussel Sprouts, you get a Mussel gift and passes to all Sunday home games. After the games, you get to run the bases! “We Mussel Sprouts even get a birthday card from Mussel Man!”
Q. Who else has spring training in the City of Palms? Here’s a clue!
A. Right! The Boston Red Sox! They play at Jet Blue Stadium. The mascot, Wally the Green Monster, has a little sister mascot, Tessie, born in Fort Myers!
Stars and Asteroids and Meteors! and snakes? and eyeballs?
At Calusa Nature Center and Planetarium, you can visit galaxies far, far away through giant telescopes, and learn mysteries of the universe under the 44-foot dome. We love the musical laser shows! Freaky Factoid: Your eye is like a small telescope that can see about 5,000 stars at a time! With a VERY LARGE telescope, maybe 48 bajillion. See the live animal presentation, visit rescued wild creatures in the Nature Center and walk the nature trail to the alligator pond! One admission covers both. 63
Visitor Information Causeway Beaches Tiny islands along the Sanibel Causeway. Free parking!
Sanibel Island Blind Pass Beach | 6497 Sanibel-Captiva Rd. Bowman’s Beach | 1700 Bowman’s Beach Rd.
Lee County Visitor & Convention Bureau fortmyers-sanibel.com | (239) 338-3500
Southwest Florida International Airport Welcome booths in all terminals!
Lee County Parks & Recreation
Lighthouse Beach & Pier | 112 Periwinkle Way
leeparks.org | (239) 533-7275
Gulfside Beach & City Park | 2001 Algiers Lane
Sanibel & Captiva Islands
Tarpon Beach | 111 Tarpon Bay Rd.
Sanibel-Captiva Chamber Visitor Center 1159 Causeway Rd. sanibel-captiva.org | (239) 472-1080
Captiva Island Turner Beach at Blind Pass Bridge | 17200 Captiva Dr. Andy Rosse Lane Beach | 11570 Andy Rosse Lane
Gasparilla/Boca Grande, Cayo Costa, Lovers Key & Mound Key
Captiva Beach, extreme north end | 14790 Captiva Dr.
Florida State Parks floridastateparks.org | (941) 964-0375
Fort Myers Beach
Barrier Island Parks Society
The Pier and Beach at Lynn Hall Park
barrierislandparkssociety.org | (941) 964-0060
Bowditch Point Regional Park | 50 Estero Blvd. top of the island
Pine Island & Matlacha
Bunche Beach | 18201 John Morris Rd. between Sanibel & Fort Myers Beach Crescent Beach Family Park 1100 Estero Blvd.
72
Practically Everything about Everything
Pine Island Chamber Visitor Center pineislandchamber.org | (239) 283-0888 3640 SW Pine Island Road, Matlacha
Fort Myers Beach
Newton Park | 4650 Estero Blvd. Plus! Beach access signs are everywhere on the island!
Information booth at Times Square | (239) 454-7500
Lovers Key State Park
Fort Myers River District
8700 Estero Blvd. just south of Fort Myers Beach
myriverdistrict.com
Greater Fort Myers Beach Chamber Visitor Center 1661 Estero Blvd. fortmyersbeach.org | (239) 454-7500
Creatures (2) – Shutterstock
Beaches
WEBSITES & PHONE NUMBERS A
B
C
Adventure Water Sports adventure-watersports.com (239) 849-6342 Adventures in Paradise adventureinparadiseinc.com (239) 472-8443 Alico Family Golf alicofamilygolf.com (239) 334-4653 All Island Watersports theislandwatersports.com (239) 765-1284 Alliance for the Arts (See Lee County Alliance for the Arts) Arcade Theatre floridarep.org (239) 332-4488 Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum shellmuseum.org (239) 395-2233 Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall bbmannpah.com (239) 481-4849 Beach Bowl fmbeachbowl.com (239) 689-3552 Beach Theater, Fort Myers Beach fmbtheater.com (239) 765-9000 BIG ARTS bigarts.org (239) 395-0900 Billy’s Bikes and Rentals billysrentals.com (239) 472-5248 Boca Grande Lighthouse & Museum barrierislandparkssociety.org (941) 964-0060 Boston Red Sox redsox.com/springtraining (888) 733-7696 Broadway Palm Children’s Theater broadwaypalm.com (239) 278-4422 Bubble Room bubbleroomrestaurant.com (239) 472-5558 Burroughs Home & Gardens burroughshome.com (239) 337-9505 Burrowing Owls, Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife capecoralburrowingowls.com (239) 850-7324 Butterfly Estates thebutterflyestates.com (239) 690-2359 Cabbage Key cabbagekey.com (239) 283-2278 Calusa Blueway Outfitters calusabluewayoutfitters.com (239) 481-4600 Calusa Nature Center & Planetarium calusanature.org (239) 275-3435 Captain Brian on the Water captainbrianonthewater.com (239) 989-6522 Captain Bubby’s Island Tours captainbubbys.com (239) 245-7383 Captain Jack Boat Tours captainjackboattours.com (239) 222-9886 Captiva Cruises captivacruises.com (239) 472-5300 Castle Golf castle-golf.com (239) 489-1999 Cayo Costa Camping – reserveamerica.com (800) 326-3521 CGT Kayaks cgtkayaks.com (239) 221-8218 Coconut Festival Cape Coral Parks and Rec cocofest.com (239) 573-3128 CROW- Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife crowclinic.org (239) 472-3644
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