Where to Stay
We stayed on Captiva Island at the South Seas Resort, a 330 acre nature preserve & wonderland for the entire family – our kids had a blast here! Two super fun water slides (even fun for the kids at heart haha), great food, so much lush greenery and since we came during manatee season – we saw over a dozen of them every morning at the marina before breakfast. Guys, there is always such a magical feeling when your kiddos see marine animals in the wild – it takes your breath away!!! The kids were so, so excited about it and we got a ton of video we can’t wait to share when our Vlog is complete. I highly recommend this resort if you are looking for a family getaway, the activities for the kiddos are endless! We enjoyed our first meal on the island at The Harbourside Bar & Grill at the resort, right at the marina on the water – the sunset was magnificent and I highly recommend their chilean sea bass. The kids also loved their Grouper dish and this place is very family friendly too, custom colouring books and all. We also dined here for our first breakfast on the island and the buffet is sooo good, including a DIY donut station!!
We explored some of the local beaches including Bowman Beach, the sand is covered with beautiful seashells of all different shapes & sizes. It sure helped that we learnt so much from the Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum before our beach stop – the kids looked for specific shells and we followed a scavenger hunt activity sheet the staff had given us at the museum! Noah had me take a photo of some of his finds. 🙂
We all love Shells & Sanibel!!
“Since 1995, The Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum on Sanibel Island has remained the only museum in the United States that is solely devoted to shells and the mollusks that make them.”
The kids brought out their polaroid cameras just in case they had a chance to capture some wildlife!
The South Seas resort had a fun scavenger hunt on the property where you would look for animal markers and earn a scout band each time, this was super fun for us and the kids every day finding one!
Where to Eat
On one of the evenings we enjoyed a dinner at Doc Ford’s in Captiva Island, the service was great and the food was delicious. The kids and I love seafood so we were totally in food heaven here!
After dinner we walked to the beach at the resort where they had live music at sunset, the kids and us ran off our dinner and searched for more shells while listening to the music. It was a really memorable evening for me as a mom, I don’t think I will ever forget this place.
Time for some exploring at the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge! We took the drive yourself tour on the property and saw so much fauna and wildlife, they have a great lookout tower with HUGE binoculars for the kiddos to spot some of the birds.
There are over 245 different species of birds that call the refuge “home”. It is famous worldwide for its spectacular migratory bird populations.
So long Fort Myers & Sanibel, Florida, we will miss you!
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