Bowman's Beach — Attraction in Sanibel

I recently moved to Sarasota, Florida about 6 months ago and thought I'd drive to Sanibel Island to check it out. I arrived at the Bowman's beach park and there is a sign that says pre-pay to park. The parking lot is large and there is sign at the beach path entrance that says additional pay stations ahead. After walking past the rest-rooms and across several bridges to get to the beach, there were no additional pay stations. I spent about 10-15 minutes looking around, took a pit stop, and started walking back to the car to get my chair, towles, etc. Along the way a few other couples asked me if I paid and I told them 'no', that there aren't any other pay stations and they would need to walk back the fron entrance and not waste their time walking past the facilities to the beach. When I got back to my car I was lucky enough to find a 150.00 parking ticket. There is no question that the sign clearly says 'pre-pay', but there is also no question that there is a sign that says 'additional pay stations head'. This isn't illegal, but is unethical. The reason I'm lucky is because I got into my car, set the destination to Sarasota, and didn't spend another dime. There are to many other nice beaches that are nicer than this one, more convenient, and has clearly marked pay stations. I hope the City of Sanibel enjoys the 150.00 theft. Yes, it is theft, because I'm 53 years old and have never received a parking ticket. The reason is because it is so easy and cheap to pay unless the public is intentionally mislead and that is what the City of Sanibel is doing. I would have thought that maybe I just made a mistake, but the fact that 2 other couples made it almost to the beach looking for a place to pay is no mistake. It is intentional. Anyway, I've visited most of the beaches from Clearwater to Sanibel and there are many better options than this one. However, the facilities here are nice and if you are reading this and make darn sure you pay at the very first pay station, you will probably have a...

Beautiful beach with gentle surf and endless shells to comb through. We visited Bowman's Beach twice on a three day stay in Fort Myers in April, both times over lunch. The beach is a short hike from a large and mostly shaded but fairly expensive parking lot. Near the lot was a good bathroom and beach house for changing into suits (and out of dirty diapers) and a playground full of little lizards to chase. The lot was almost full even on an 80ish days in April. Even so because the beach was so large we easily found a lot of space to setup close to the path from the lot, keeping the walk pretty easy. However it might be harder during the summer months unless you get there earlier then we did.

We found the swimming was nice, but there was a bit of a breeze both days that made it hard for the kids to stay in for long periods, even though the surf was gentle. The water was very clear and nice for snorkeling. There is not a lot of wildlife to find, one boy did find a living giant conch!

The kids were happy to pick over the shells and build things out of them. However we didn't find many intact shells like we had hoped. We were told that because of recent storms many of the intact shells were crushed which was unfortunate. Overall we mostly enjoyed ourselves and would like to go back when we...

This IS the beach to go to right now post Ian! It’s like it was never touched! Plus there is tons of parking and the beach is huge, so lots of space to find a spot. We went for Mother’s Day and just had the best day! We brought a wagon, totally recommend as it is quite a hike to get to the beach so lugging gear is exhausting. There are zero shady spots on this beach so bring an umbrella too. The bathrooms are about a 5 min hike and located in between the parking and the beach… so be prepared. There are water fountains there too, so we pack a water bottle and refill there. We didn’t use the picnic tables this time but they are there and accessible. One walkway on the beach is closed off but you can get to the area by walking around. However it’s truly not necessary. The water was perfectly clear and fantastic! We had zero issues post beach visit (it’s been a month since we went). Parking is not credit card or cash anymore. It is by ap… or web so bring a phone! It’s pretty easy once you scan the QR code. Just plan on spending 10 min extra in the parking lot the first time. This beach is dog friendly with a leash. We never saw any poop or...