Sanibel and Captiva are beautiful and famous connected barrier islands off the coast of Southwest Florida. The islands are about 125 miles south of Tampa. They are connected to the mainland of Lee County by a three mile bridge and causeway. The islands are surrounded by the Gulf of Mexico on one side and a large bay on the other side.

Both of our islands are known around the world as wonderful vacation sites and great places to live. They are part of old Florida where nature comes first and development is limited.

Sanibel is an island that ranks high in almost all travel magazines as a wonderful location for a family vacation. We are known to be one of the best places in the world to find sea shells. Our beaches are covered with soft white sand and over 200 varieties of shells. Shellers from all over the world visit Sanibel to walk our beaches and find shells of interest. Usually the waters of the Gulf are warm and calm and on most days one can see shellers also walking in knee deep clear water digging into the sand with their feet to find shells buried in the shallow depths. There are thirteen miles of beaches on Sanibel and you can walk uninterrupted from one end to the other.

In addition to the shells, Sanibel has a great reputation for it’s nature preserves and wildlife. Over 70% of the island is a mandated nature preserve. No development is permitted on these lands and wildlife flourishes, especially bird life. The largest of these preserves, the Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge, has a global recognition and is visited by thousands of people every year.

Sanibel incorporated itself in 1974 to protect the island from over development which many other parts of Florida were experiencing. Many parts of Lee County became over developed and the residents of Sanibel did not want the same to happen to their beloved island. As a result of this incorporation, Sanibel has one of the strictest land use plans in the country. The plan itself has won numerous national awards and is often copied by other municipalities.

Nature was kind to Sanibel. The island is beautiful with many different kinds of ecological variations. When the residents incorporated back in the 70’s, they declared that nature would rule. The entire island has been declared as an ecological zone, which provides many restrictions and limits growth and future changes. Sanibel is the kind of island where bicycles have the right away, buildings can only be four stories tall and wildlife rules and regulations are strong. There are 25 miles of bike paths on the island and biking is a major family activity. There are numerous bike rental companies.

Sanibel is about thirteen miles long and three miles wide at its mid point. There are between 6000-7000 full time residents on the island. During the winter months this expands to around 25,000 when part-time residents visit their homes and condos. The island has both large and small neighborhoods and developments. There are a large variety of both single family homes and condos for sale.

Tourists come to Sanibel for so many reasons. There is fishing, boating, kayaking, sailing, shelling, walking, biking, sunning, beaching, shopping, eating, birding and just plain relaxing. The minute you cross the causeway you realize you are in a world different than most others. It’s a place of peace and beauty where you can forget the usual trials and tribulations of life. Serenity abounds and it won’t take you long to find your own island lifestyle. That’s why so many people who visit come back year after year. We invite you to join us. When you fall in love with the island and think about purchasing a vacation or permanent home or condo, we will be here to help. The Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation Is dedicated to the preservation of natural resources and wildlife habitat on and around Sanibel and Captiva. It is one of our most popular and important non profit organizations. What follows are some experts from an SCCF publication called “The Story of the Islands”

Over the centuries, winds and waves move the sea sands in a constant process of erosion and deposition. In the shallow waters off Florida’s coasts these forces build shoals and sandbars…and emerging islands. Barrier islands defend the mainland from the destruction caused by powerful storms and hurricanes. By definition these islands are fed by rivers and harbor an estuary. They are the first line of defense from damaging storm surges and waves.

The offshore sand bar that became the backbone of Sanibel and Captiva began emerging from the sea as little as 5,000 years ago. The islands were formed by sand ridges pushed out of the sea, a steady deposit of sand from the longshore current that sweeps down the islands and the quiet, steady entrapment of sediment by the tangled roots of the bayside mangroves.

Captiva is just over one square mile in total and Sanibel is not quite twenty square miles. This thin chain of emerald islands is made primarily of crushed shell, limestone and sand mixed with a bit of clay and mud. Sanibel is the southernmost in a chain that extends 50 miles to the north.

There has been human occupation in this area of Southwest Florida long before there was an island of Sanibel or Captiva. Archeologists have estimated Paleo-Indians lived here 12,000 years ago. In that time span, sea level has changed enough to shift the place where the land meets the sea. The islands have been host to Calusa Indians, Cuban and Spanish fishermen, homesteading farmers, and rusticating winter visitors.

Among barrier islands, Sanibel and Captiva are unique. Their natural features, together with a climate that is subtropical in summer and temperate in winter, create unexcelled habitat for a diversity of birds, reptiles, mammals and aquatic life.

Sanibel is Southwest Florida’s only barrier island with a significant southern exposure. It formed from a lobe extending from Captiva. Along its south-facing shores, the currents of the Gulf of Mexico deposit countless shells with every tide. Sanibel is also Southwest Florida’s only remaining double-barrier island, in which two major sets of ridges catch rains to produce an extensive system of interior freshwater. Just beneath the surface, a rain-fed freshwater lens protects the interior wetlands from saltwater intrusion.

Vegetation is luxuriant. On the ridges, cabbage palm, strangler fig, gumbo limbo, waz myrtle, wild coffee and a host of indigenous shrubs and trees flourish. In the lower swales, sawgrass, spartina grass, leather ferns, sedges and purslanes dominate.

Captiva, with a high backbone of a ridge and rich with tropical growth, is the older of the two islands. Roosevelt Channel, lying between Captiva and the neighboring Buck Key, is a haven for otters, manatees, dolphins and an abundance of fish. Captiva and Buck Key were used to grow key limes and coconut palms. Much of Sanibel was farmed in the 1880’s with crops of peppers, tomatoes, citrus, squash and melons. Forty families had settled the islands by 1890. Salty soil, as a result of storm overwashes, caused a shift to more saline-tolerant citrus by the 1920’s….

…In the end, all of us are dreamers. Dreams lift us out of the pressures of everyday life and transport us to a world of beauty and calm. The cause of conservation created a vision long ago that generated big changes and altered the course of history. In the social evolution of the islands, there was a point in time, long before others were aware of the idea of conservation, that enough was enough and that development must be planned in an orderly way that takes into account the wildlife and habitat.

Natural resources have proven to be a strong economic asset for the islands. These islands can continue to achieve high levels of natural resource protection but not without the hearts, minds and resources of its citizens. The living testimony is the coexistence of wildlife and humans on these thin ribbons of sand.

Long-legged birds walk along roads, alight on dock pilings and watch anglers on the shores. Bald eagles return year after year to raise eaglets and prosper from the rich estuarine fisheries. Roseate spoonbills flock by the hundreds to the mudflats of the bay. Bobcats rear their young among interior wetlands and coastal scrub ridges. Otters swim in the bay and the island’s freshwater habitats.

It is important to remember that actions were taken to avoid potential harm even when there was some uncertainty about the precise nature of damage. The public stayed informed and expanded their knowledge to help them make open and effective decisions. The people recognized the interdependency of environmental quality, economic strength and social growth. They recognized that change was inevitable, but that change could occur in an orderly fashion that minimized and mitigated human impact so wildlife was assured a place on the islands.

Without early planning and the initiative of our forbears to protect the islands’ resources, Sanibel and Captiva would not be what they are today. To some, the rules and restrictions that are in place appear to be inhibitors, but these regulations are the very reason the community has such a unique look and feel. To most, these guidelines are a promise of the future for a quality of life that is rapidly vanishing from coastal Florida. These ideals are the foundation of what the islands are today.

The story written here is but a simple introduction. The conservation-oriented organizations and volunteer opportunities on the islands are varied and you are encouraged to become involved. It is the hope of SCCF that this brief introduction to the cultural and natural heritage of Sanibel and Captiva helps you become rooted in the place you now call home. Our common future will depend upon our choices today.

THE SANIBEL VISION STATEMENT

After months of public meetings in 1995 and 1996, the citizens of Sanibel reaffirmed their commitment to preservation of natural resources by adopting a vision statement that, in part, follows:

Sanibel is and shall remain a barrier island sanctuary, one in which a diverse population lives in harmony with the island’s wildlife and natural habitats. The Sanibel community must be vigilant in the protection and enhancement of its sanctuary characteristics.

The City of Sanibel will resist pressures to accommodate incased development and redevelopment that are inconsistent with the Sanibel Plan, including the vision statement. The City will guard against and, where advisable, oppose human activities in other Jurisdictions that might harm the island’s sensitive habitats, including the island’s surrounding aquatic ecosystems.

Sanibel is and shall remain a small town community whose members choose to live in harmony with one another and with nature, creating a human settlement distinguished by its diversity, beauty, uniqueness, character and stewardship. The Sanibel community recognizes that its attractiveness to visitors is due to the islands quality as sanctuary and as community. The City of Sanibel will welcome visitors who are drawn by, and respectful of, these qualities; it will resist pressures to accommodate visitor attractions and activities that compromise these qualities…