Dr. Beach Missed Palm Island

Dr. Beach must not have made it to the west coast of Florida just north of Sanibel and Captiva Island when he was searching for the best beaches. There is a small island called Palm Island that is only accessible by boat.

The beach has beautiful white sand and crystal clear water. If you wake up early you can watch the dolphins jump and swim down the beach.

At most you will see a dozen people on the beach at the same time.

There is absolutely no trash. Every visitor picks up their trash behind themselves.

There are plenty of shells to pick up on a walk on the beach. Not just your ordinary broken shell, you can find shells the size of your hand or larger. We found lots of shark teeth last year, we loved hunting for them. You may not realize that there are shark teeth there until you bend over and pick one up and look at it. We found a huge tooth last year. It was about 1 ½" in length. We have it proudly displayed at home and every time we look at it, it brings back fond memories of Palm Island.

There is no commercialization on this island. It is all beach houses, condos no taller than three stores, and one resort called Palm Island Resort. The resort has a restaurant on its property that you can dine at. They have excellent Grouper Sandwiches.

Travel is mostly done by golf cart around the island and everyone is very friendly. You can either walk on the ferry, drive your car or golf cart on the ferry to get across to the island. When crossing over to the other side you think you have landed on a far away island. The speed of life slows down, the smell of salt air sets in, and everyone is just a little happier.

We went fishing last year and I carried a bucket with small fish in it, a bird would follow right behind me by about two feet. He was waiting for me to set the bucket down so he could eat some lunch.

We have made it a yearly event to go back to the island. We usually do not like to vacation to a place more than once so that we can see more places. Palm Island has captured our heart and this year will be our third year in a row vacationing there.