Oh, The Places You CAN Go…Why Captiva, Florida should be on your Spring Break calendar
Captiva, Florida came to my family as a magical surprise, and over the years turned into a tradition that embedded itself as one of our sons’ fondest childhood memories. Below is our story, and a wonderful depiction of a special island.
And then there were six……I have been thinking of a place that defines the progression of time and of our family. There are just a few places that we have returned to over the years, and one of them is Captiva, Florida. We first went to Captiva in June of 1995. I was expecting my third child , and at that time we were a young family of four…My husband, me, and our two first sons. This was our first plane trip with children in tow, and we were so excited to be away with just the four of us in an entirely new place. I had read about Captiva in a travel magazine, and it was promoted as a wonderful family destination, especially for families with young children. What we discovered was an island that was a world unto it’s own. There were no strip malls, or chain restaurants…..there were no fabulous resort hotels in the sense of Florida beach resorts. This was a tropical Floridian “throw back” where sunsets were the most exciting part of the nightlife.
We enjoyed that week, playing in the tranquil Gulf of Mexico with the two boys, walking along the beautiful beach and searching for the perfect seashells that we would bring home. We stayed at The South Seas Plantation. This resort was as close as you would come to luxury, but honestly, it wasn’t about luxury…It was about family and amenities that appealed to this demographic. The lodging was not Five Star, but the Gulf view condos had comfortable beds, a small kitchen and living space, and screened in porches that gave way to expansive views of the gulf. The beach was just down the mangrove lined path, and that was our little world each morning. We also discovered the resort trolley that takes you from one end to the other of South Seas Plantation. On one end there is a village with restaurants, gift shops, beach boutiques, and a gourmet market. At the far end of the resort was the main pool complex that truly catered to families with pool games, and the well loved “Pelican Pete’s” Bar and grill serving up great poolside drinks and snacks. This is where we sometimes spent the early afternoon. There was also a kids’ club that focused on the natural aspects of the island, an ice cream parlor, and Captiva Cruises, who offers a daily lineup of excursions to see dolphins, the sunset, or visit nearby Cabbage Key. There is plenty to do here, but you can be content to doing nothing.
The village of Captiva, which is just a short walk from the resort, has a few iconic restaurants…notably “The Mucky Duck” This beachfront dining establishment is the most famous on the island, and is known world wide. This is where Captiva gathers to see the daily sunset. There is a process….you put your name in with the hostess, then you grab a couple of cold beers and cokes for the kids, then you find a nice slice of beach on the outskirts of the Mucky Duck’s outside bar….and you wait for the sunset. Most of the time there is a guy playing Jimmy Buffet songs on his guitar, which adds to the entire setting. I have now done this countless times, and yet each sunset reveals itself as the most magical sunset to date! When the sun sets, everyone cheers. And then you go in for some delicious British pub food with island accents. And then you walk home and fall soundly asleep.
So, this became “our place”. We came back a couple of years later, this time with three sons. During this decade, we often chose Easter as the time to go to Captiva. The Easter Bunny would show up on the trolley and herald in the annual easter egg hunt and lawn games. We continued to build wonderful memories each year…always including a visit to the Mucky Duck and never missing the sunset.
And then we had our fourth son, in 2000, and he was suddenly indoctrinated into the world of Captiva. We spent that next Easter there, our hands were full, but our hearts were fuller. We had “graduated” to fishing off the pier, taking turns riding the jet ski with Dad…..and searching for alligators at the J Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge. Again, we ventured down the beach to catch the sunsets at the Mucky Duck.
In 2004, Captiva was hit by Hurricane Charley. We had intended to go that spring, but we had to cancel, as the resort and the island were in ruins. We were devastated. The plan was for the island to rebuild quickly, but the photos of the aftermath did not give us much hope that we would be back soon.
We did return, in 2006 ( the island was still under repair and the mangroves had still not grown back), 2008 ( with some good friends that we encouraged to join us), in 2011, and again in 2015, our latest trip to Captiva. The South Seas Plantation is back and better than ever. The main pool has been expanded to include a waterslide and a kids area. There are poolside cabanas and Pelican Pete’s has been replaced by The Pointe Restaurant, more of a full service poolside restaurant, and the Crooked Snook Tiki Bar, more of a, well, “poolside tiki bar”. We still have fond memories for Pelican Pete’s but my now grown sons did develop a nice relationship with the Tiki Bar on the last trip!
Each time, we cheered at the sunsets, reminisced about past adventures on the island, and embarked on new ones ( notably, the nightime kayak trip through the “haunted mangroves”). On each trip, we walked the beach to the Mucky Duck, put our names in with the hostess, grabbed a few beers from the bar, waited for the sunset, cheered, had a delicious dinner, walked home and fell soundly asleep.
The past few years, we have been going to Key West, as Captiva was a bit too quiet for our now grown up sons. They wanted something more “happening” after the sun set… But every time that we mention the word Captiva, you can see their expressions, and you realize that the feeling for the place and the memories that were built there, live on in their full hearts. In 1995, we started with four of us, and then suddenly, there were six. I imagine we will some day be back there with grandchildren in tow….who knows how many we will be then????
