Lighthouse Beach Park — Attraction in Sanibel

If you were ever at Lighthouse Beach on Sanibel before Hurricane Ian, then you know how beautiful it was. Guess what? IT STILL IS. BEAUTIFUL. Yes, even though the hurricane destroyed so much , everyone pulled together, and got it cleaned up. This actually revealed the beauty of the Lighthouse in a simple and raw way. The hurricane destroyed all that was man-made (except the LH) and brought this beach right up to the base of the LH. I found it to be beautiful. So, as for the functional aspects of this "park", the parking lot is smoothed out and the craters are gone. The shady treeline at the beginning has been wiped out but a few tree skeletons remain. It is clear that they hope these trees will come back as well as the lower dense foliage. The restrooms are closed and boarded up. There is a block of portapotties where the parking lot used to end closest to the buildings. There is at least one accessibility PP. In the center of this square, they have handwashing stations. Do NOT drink this water. It is suitable for handwashing and rinsing off your items that fell onto the sand. The pay stations are operational, so DO plan on paying for parking. If you have a handicapped placard, the parking is free. I did not notice any picnic tables or man-made shelters. Bring plenty of water to drink, sunscreen, and protective footwear. Remember the most important things: shellbag and scoop! The shells are just as plentiful and pretty as they have been. Be sure to do some pre-planning and check to see what shops and restaurants are open- to get your refreshments, protective weather gear and support the island! So basically, the beach is now back to the natural basic beauty it was before Man made it...

Our trip was soured when we got back to our car to discover there was a parking violation ticket on our windshield with a fee of $150. We are new to the beach and weren't aware of a parking fee until we were leaving. There aren't any pay to park signs in front of the parking spots. There are no pay to park signs in front of the beach or at the entrance to the beach. No, in their brilliance they placed the pay to park signs across the street where the restrooms are located on the opposite side facing the beach. Because we didn't use the restrooms until we were leaving we failed to notice the signs to pay for parking. As nice as the beach was it is not worth paying $150. Out of curiosity i went to pay the fee for parking and was sent a website that charges 5 dollars per hour for however many hours you expect to be there. We were only there for 3 hours so our charge would have been only 15 dollars had we noticed the sign and paid in advance.

There is no parking booth and the signs are on the opposite side where the beach is facing so there are obviously better locations to place the sign to get more people to notice that they have to pay for parking. Place it on the walkway to the beach and we would have seen it and paid it. This review is for those new to the area like we were and aren't aware of the fee for parking. To pay the fee for parking you have to visit a website on your cellphone and enter a credit...

This was my first time. I had fun searching for seashells. The ones in the pictures have living inhabitants. I took pictures and videos then returned them to their home. There was a seashell sand bar to walk on and next to. The water was refreshing.

My concerns at this park were in regards to people. First we saw a sweet little puppy whose young boy kept putting the puppy in the water to make it swim and the puppy wanted to get to where it could stand. The puppy was sprayed with water from a water gun while it was paddling its way to ground where the puppy could stand. This concern was expressed to the cop at the beach and the response was "dogs can swim." That was awful. No one can swim when it is too much for them including a puppy. Adults near the boy must have told him to bring the puppy to shore. The boy did so. My group and I were concerned that the puppy may drown or catch pneumonia.

When I was washing up at the showers 🚿 there were two workers in an open vehicle and one was looking in my direction. I then turned around and an older man was on the little bridge for a nature path watching me. As soon as I looked at him and he knew I was looking right at him he turned and walked down the path. Gosh is there a peeping Tom community and they are supporting each other? Don't watch me. Watch for the...