A perfect day on Fort Myers Beach

By Staff

Crescent Beach. NATHAN MAYBERG

An ideal beach town includes a wide open publicly accessible beach, enough good food to please everyone and a friendly home for nature.

Those ingredients spell Fort Myers Beach with its seven miles of beach sand, more than two dozen public beach accesses and about as many eateries. The beach recently underwent a renourishment project that widened the entire length of its shoreline. You can walk from one end to the other and enjoy majestic views of the Gulf, take a dip into the water, soak up the sun and enjoy the scenes of wildlife.

Here are some options for having the perfect day on Fort Myers Beach:

On the first floor of the Lani Kai Island Resort, coffee is served at 7 a.m. at Grace’s Café. The café, named after the resort’s late co-founder Grace Conidaris, is the newest edition to the hotel. Enjoy an expresso or cappuccino. Breakfast time is at 8 a.m. with pancakes, cheese danishes, bagels, fresh fruit and yogurt.

At Wahoo Willies Tiki Bar & Grill, the restaurant offers a weekend brunch with pancakes, Belgium waffles, bagels, eggs, omelets and more.

Mom’s Restaurant is known for its cinnamon rolls, mango tango juice, buttermilk biscuit sandwich and apple pecan rolls.

After breakfast, you can head for the water.

Salty Sam’s Marina offers boat rentals, cruises and even a pirate ship. Sight Sea-R Cruises gives tours of the bay. Spot dolphins or go shelling.

Whether its lunch or dinner, Doc Ford’s Rum Bar & Grille is the perfect waterfront setting for a meal. Their Yucatan shrimp is the highlight with their signature zesty Yucatan sauce. The menu ranges from tasty burgers to Campeche fish tacos, Macadamia nut crusted grouper, ribeye steaks, crab cakes and their “Famous Fish Fingers.” The clam chowder is also a hit.

At Parrot Key Caribbean Grill, the coconut shrimp and crunchy grouper sandwich are popular. The menu includes wings, burgers, nachos, oysters, shrimp and seared ahi tuna.

After lunch, a visit to the town’s Mound House is a must. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Mound House is more than a century old and is the oldest home on the island, sitting atop a Calusa shell mound estimated to be 2,000 years old. The town offers tours of the property and operates a museum with artifacts. There are also public docks for kayak tours of the bay. This is also a great picnic spot.

Many options abound for dinner and the sunset.

At Snug Harbor Waterfront Restaurant, an idyllic view of the bay awaits along with an island night-time ambience buttressed by decorations and lights. The vast menu ranges from teres major steak to stuffed shrimp, yellowtail snapper, a full rack of baby back ribs, oysters, scallops, Cajun shellfish pasta, calamari, ahi tuna and grouper sandwiches.

The adjoining Nautical Tiki Cruises offers a variety of daytime tours and specializes in sunset ventures.

At the DiamondHead Beach Resort, take a seat at a table on the sand at Cabanas Beach Bar & Grille or sit upstairs at Coste Island Cuisine and looking over the Gulf at a sunset.

The Coste menu features the seafood cioppino which includes shrimp, scallops, clams and mussels with fennel tomato sauce and grilled crostini. Gremolata crusted Faroe Island salmon is another unique entrée with roasted fennel, baby potatoes and tomato beurre blanc.

Whatever you choose to do on Fort Myers Beach, you can’t go wrong.

Lani Kai Island Resort

1400 Estero Blvd., Fort Myers Beach

(239) 463-3111

www.lanikaiislandresort.com

Wahoo Willies Tiki Bar & Grill

645 Old San Carlos Blvd., Fort Myers Beach

(239) 233-8055

www.wahoowillies.com

Mom’s Restaurant

2450 Estero Blvd., Fort Myers Beach

(239) 785-0707