Captiva Island - Part 1
I recently took a family trip to Captiva Island, Florida. Captiva Island is a beautiful place located off of the west coast of Florida. After flying into Ft.Myers, it is a quick 45 minute drive. After much research, we decided to stay at the South Seas Island Plantation Resort. www.southseas.com It is located at the very tip of Captiva Island. The resort was completely destroyed by a direct hit from Hurricane Charlie. It was closed and underwent a $140,000,000 refurbishment. I had heard mixed reviews of the place on TripAdvisor.com and other sites devoted to travel. When I go on vacation, there are certain criteria that need to be met. I want a fairly new room with a comfortable bed, white duvet on the bed (so I know it is clean) and a bathroom with decent lighting. I also enjoy fantastic service. I don’t like to wait to check-in or having to search for towels at the pool or beach. Upon arrival at the resort, we were directed to the registration area. Since the plantation includes many different types of accommodations, there was not a central lobby area within our hotel. We did arrive prior to check-in time and our room was not yet ready. We were able to go to the pool and relax until it was ready. However, they did forget to call us on our cell phone (as promised) when it was ready (not good service). The friendly bartender at the pool bar offered to call the front desk for us after waiting about 2 hours to see if it was ready (good service) and it was. We decided to stay in one of the hotel rooms at the Harborside instead of in a condo, beach house or villa.
Upon arrival, I was a little skeptical. The rooms all have doors that go directly outside so that it is more like a motel than a hotel. I generally do not like that. Upon opening my door, I found that my room had been newly renovated and was very large. All rooms have flat screen televisions and large bathrooms. Each room also had a refrigerator. The bed had a clean white duvet cover and was fairly comfortable. We also had a large balcony overlooking the channel that connects the marina to the gulf. We were able to see a lot of wildlife including dolphins from the balcony. Another caveat, if you are looking for room service and mints on your pillow, than this is not your place. My little brother who likes room service was dismayed to find only pizza on the menu. We did find a general store located about a 3 minute walk from our room that had a deli, breakfast items and liquor for purchase. The marina area was also very close by and was fun to stroll through. I even spotted two manatees next to the dock.
The new pool area was about 5 minutes from our room. They had built a new pool complex with two pools and cabanas. One of the pools is a zero entry and the other is not. I think they should have made both pools larger. They were both very crowded and overflowing with children. If I were in charge, I would make one pool an adult’s only pool and one a family pool. This would help make the area more relaxing. They are currently building a water slide complex (set to open in 2009) that will most likely alleviate this issue. The beach area was very large and very pretty. The water was a beautiful blue color and felt like bath water.
They should think about adding a beachfront restaurant. It would be great for lunch or cocktails while watching the sunset. They currently have a small trailer that serves sandwiches and hotdogs. I did find that the whole place grew on me. By the end of the week, I got used to the little community we were in.
