Sanibel/Captiva Island snorkling, diving, fishing spots?

[stu_in_fl]

Matt and Walter summed it up.....

So, even for snorkling, it wouldn't be a good place? No corals with cute little fishies to look at?

nope, not really - low viz and no nice reefs like you find elsewhere in FL. Many people who do the Sanibel /Captiva beaches collect shells (there's lots of them there) - so snorkelling looking for shells may be fine.....
..otherwise you can probably find some deep sea fishing charters down Ft Myers beach...

How far of a drive do we have to go from Fort Myers to get to a beach with decent snorkling possibilities? When you talk about the "Keys", you mean down the state of Florida, completly at the end of the state? That's probably about 2 hours drive from Captiva,And if we drive across the state, we can get to Fort Lauderdale/Miami in about the same time too I guess?

yes, probably more like 3hrs to Key Largo and just over 2 to Ft Lauderdale.
- both those areas have nice reefs to snorkel on...and the water tends to be warmer over there in the winter months compared to the Gulf side - currently the water temps are probably around 72-75 compared to 64-68 in th gulf (and yes those frew degrees make a BIG difference).....so snorkelling at this time of year, you do really need a wetsuit.

 

[Walter]

You certainly can snorkel off the beach, but there's nothing for you to see and if there were, you wouldn't be able to see it as viz is usually measured in inches. Matt nailed it - long boat rides, unpredictable weather, low viz. Wait until you are comfortable with the mechanics of diving before adding in those extras.

 

[ffestpirate]

I actually meant right off shore, as in shelling with tanks. The vis is decent. You just can't get to North Captiva or Cayo Costa without a boat. I wasn't talking 20 miles off shore.

 

[Ber Rabbit]

I'll let the locals talk about the diving. Make sure you go to Sanibel Island to see the beach if you've never been there. Great place to collect shells, and if you're not interested in collecting them it's just cool to see a beach that is shell rather than sand. I've only been once but thought it was the coolest thing I had ever seen.
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[MissTwisties]

Ok. I would love to bring back some cool shells. My daughters would love to see that (they're not joining on this trip). I'm just disapointed that we'll have to do so much driving to get somewhere decent...hubby rented a room at the Country Inn in Fort Myers, just at the entry of Sanibel Island I believe. But I'm sure if we leave very early in the morning to drive to the Keys or to Fort Lauderdale, we can also see more of Florida along the way. It wouldn't be such a big deal if we were to spend 2 weeks, but we're arriving on a Thursday and leaving on the next Tuesday. We're only going to that wedding on Friday night, so we have the rest of the vacation to ourselves.

 

[Ber Rabbit]

Here's a pretty good website about the area. I don't know how old your daughters are but last time I went to a beach (not Sanibel) I brought back shells for a friends daughter and also found a poster that she could hang on her wall and use to identify the shells. She LOVED it!
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[MissTwisties]

My little girls are 6 and 10 years old.

 

[ffestpirate]

My little girls are 6 and 10 years old.

There is a neat little shell museum on sannibel that they would probably like.

 

[MissTwisties]

As I said, they are not joining on this trip. We are going to a wedding, and I'm not even sure there's gonna be other kids there...most adults are in their 30-40's, so I think it's gonna party pretty hard...LOL NExt time we go, we'll bring the kids, and we're going to Disney! This time is for us, we have been married for 7 years, never had a honeymoon...so this will do...LOL

 

[MissTwisties]

Well, looks like we're gonna change our vacation package to spend only the first 2 days on Captiva/Sanibel Islands, and then we're gonna head down south for the Florida Keys! We bought a book at teh dive shop about the Keys, we're gonna read it and there is probably lots of info in there about local dive shops, fishs in the water, accomodations, etc. I can't wait!