The Florida coastline boasts some of the most beautiful beaches in the U.S. This is particularly evident on the west cost of the state. After living in Jacksonville Beach for a few years we decided to make a weekend getaway to the other side of the state.
Our first stop on our weekend adventure was Sanibel Island. This is such a cute place! From the charming shops and restaurants to the fantastic beaches covered in shells, the island vibe was a little different than other beach towns we have visited. Our first stop on the island was Mad Hatter for lunch. The seafood was very tasty and fresh. Next, we checked into our hotel, grabbed a bucket of Corona’s and headed out to the beach for some relaxation and shelling. We ended the day at Il Cielo for dinner.
The next day we visited Bowman’s Beach which was hands down our favorite part of the island. We found so many cool shells that we dug out of the ocean and so many sand dollars too! We had several hours of fun before heading to the shops on Periwinkle Way.
That evening we made the trip over to Captiva Island to watch the sunset at The Mucky Duck. Captiva Island is AMAZING! The island is so quaint and beautiful. The homes are quite large with very southern architecture. We sat outside where we enjoyed live music and a few cocktails. Right at sunset, we walked out to the beach and were treated to a family of dolphins swimming by just before dusk.
We made our way to Marco Island the next day for lunch and sightseeing. We had brunch at Mangos Dockside Bistro. The view was spectacular and the food was pretty good too.
After brunch we headed to the beach – and wow! The water was an amazing color of blue and almost completely see-through. And the sand was bright white. The beach was pretty lively and even had had some sea turtle nesting stations. After a leisurely stroll, we hopped back in the car and headed to Naples.
We stayed as the Naples Grande Resort getting an awesome deal through the hotels tonight app. The resort was super nice – we even had our own balcony with an amazing water view. We had a few cocktails by the pool before getting dressed for dinner at The Turtle Club. I highly recommend this restaurant. The food was awesome but the view was even better. After dinner we headed to 7th Avenue Social for some live music.
Bottom Line:
One of our favorite things about living in Florida is the fact that you can be a tourist in the state nearly every weekend and still see something new each time. Captiva Island was our favorite place we visited on this trip and we will certainly be back some time soon.
Habitual Tourists 
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