North Captiva Beaches
Golf Cart Rules On The Beach
*No Golf Carts allowed on Beaches at any time.
*No Fires allowed on Beaches at any time.
*Please remove all your items from the beach daily
*Please fill in any holes made on the beach
*Please take down any forts or structures made during the day.
Check out beach conditions on North Captiva on the link below.
Florida Healthy Beach Information
Dog Leash Law
It shall be unlawful for any person who is the owner, keeper or harborer of any dog, cat or household pet or other animal to permit or allow such animal to be off such person’s private property, unless such animal is under the restraint or control of a competent person who is physically capable of restraining and controlling the animal, by means of a chain, leash, cage, or other humane means of restraint. All dogs, cats, and other household pets must be securely confined to the real property of the person who is the owner, keeper or harborer of the animal.
Sec. 4-32. Leash law and presumptions.
Dolphin Beach
There is no monitored beaches. No lifeguards on duty at any time.
N. Airstrip Drive and Seair Lane, North Captiva 33924
This beach is on the East side of the runway. Although this side of
the island is the Pine Island Sound side or Intercoastal Waterway,
you can see pods of dolphins feeding by the docks just offshore
from sunrise until around 1-2pm.
Kayaking out or just floating on a raft will put you right in the center
of the action with dolphins swimming all around! PLEASE NEVER TOUCH THE DOLPHINS OR APPROACH THEM, LET THEM COME BY YOU IF THEY WANT.
This beach is also where the Sunday Worship takes place.
Sunset Beach
This beach runs all along the ocean side and has three main public entrances. The first one you go all the way down Rum Rd till you come to Panama Shell Rd and take a right. At the end of Panama shell you will see the public beach access.
Off of Rum Rd again turn onto Bartlett Parkway and around the corner you will see the public entrance to the beach.
At the end of N. Airstrip Rd you will see the third entrance onto the public beach. You will not be able to set up umbrella’s by the runway but it is a great beach to see the sunset at.
Rip Tides
There are no monitored beaches and lifeguards on duty at any time.
I know a lot of people are kind of aware of what to do if caught in a rip tide, but it has been brought to our attention recently that a lot of people aren’t aware of what a rip tide actually looks like or where the safest place to swim at the beach is if there is no flagged area.
One person will drown every two to three days this summer… 90% of those fatalities will be rip-related. Here are a few things that will help you and your kids stay safe during your vacation. We have also put together a few images that show what to look for.
1. The easiest thing to remember is that often the safest/calmest most enticing looking area along a beach is usually a rip. A rip is usually the area devoid of wave activity and appears darker and deceptively calmer. It can sometimes appear milky or turbulent, but it is always pretty much void of wave activity. All that water coming in via waves has to go back out somehow, this is what a rip is. (see pics).
2. Always take 5-10 mins when you get to the beach to observe surf conditions and identify where these areas are.
3. If you are caught in a rip, DO NOT PANIC. Go into floating mode and raise one arm as a distress signal when possible. See which direction the rip is taking you, is it straight out or at an angle? once you have determined this, and if you have the energy, swim to the right or left of the direction of flow, never against. Some rips can move at 3 times the speed of an olympic swimmer, you won’t win! If you cannot swim out to either side of the rip, just go with it. Most rips won’t take you out very far, and will usually spit you out not long after they take you, so keep calm and save your energy for the swim back to shore.
4. If you have kids, show them these pictures, educate them and make them aware. You can’t always be watching them, and it is only a matter of a few meters each way of the point of entry to the water that could mean them being safe, or instantly caught in a rip.
Obviously the safest place to swim is always between the flags on a patrolled beach, but this isn’t always practical given the immensity of our coast line and number of beautiful beaches. Of course there are many other factors that can come into play when it comes to beach safety, but rips are the No.1 killer. They are not hard to identify, and 10 mins observation before entering the surf is much easier than body retrieval.
*The darker/calmer areas in the pics are rips. The one with purple dye shows rip movement.
