Suzanne's Travel Adventures: Gasparilla Island

I woke up this morning tired and thinking maybe I would just skip the trip I had planned up to Gasparilla Island State Park and the town of Boca Grande but then I remembered that there are 10,000 islands from Charlotte Harbor to the Everglades and I have only visited 9 of them. With only 9 weeks left on my assignment that leaves 8 weekends left to explore the area and more than half of those weekends are already spoken for so I better get busy! So shortly after convincing myself to get out of bed, I found myself on my way to check out Gasparilla Island.

I had seen the island from the water before, when we went to Cayo Costa we rode by Gasparilla but this island you can drive to whereas Cayo Costa is only accessible by boat. To get there you have to take a small bridge onto the island and pay a $6 toll but once you get there it feels like a world away. With the crossing of one bridge you find yourself back in old, small town Florida where no high rises or chain restaurants exist. I only saw one gas pump outside of a mom and pop shop and I'm pretty sure you wouldn't actually get gas there though, unless you wanted to move some flowers first.

On my way to Gasparilla Island State Park, I made a quick detour down Banyan Street. Gorgeous, tall banyan trees line the small street with shade and make for an awe inspiring view. I may or may not have driven down it twice and walked down it once. Yes, it's that beautiful. I feel like I need to plant a banyan tree in my yard whenever I finally decide to stay in one place because I am becoming obsessed with them.

My other new obsession since living in southwest Florida is seeing gopher tortoises. When I see the warning sign to watch for gopher tortoises I get excited and then disappointed when I don't actually see one. Alas, no sighting this trip although I did see a couple of iguanas run across the road in front of my car.

When arriving in Gasparilla Island State Park, there is a little station for you to take an envelope and put your $3 charge into the box then take the attached paper to hang on your rear view mirror showing that you paid your fee. I had never seen that approach before but it's a cool idea, just make sure you have exact change if you come visit here!

Gasparilla has two lighthouses. One that looks more like the traditional lighthouse and then one that looks like a house with a light on top of it. The latter is partially what had inspired my trip to begin with. After seeing it from afar, I knew that I wanted to see it up close. It's such a unique looking lighthouse. I was a little disappointed because the museum in the lighthouse (as well as many of the shops on the main street) was closed for the month of August. There is always a trade off, fewer people on the beaches and in the water when it is out of season so you can feel like it is your own private paradise but then the weather may be less than perfect (I like the heat so it's great for me!) and some things may be closed. Plus, you have to visit early because there is always a good rain shower in the afternoons.

The water here is so clear that I could see manatees swim up and little fish swimming in the water even at a decent distance from where I was standing. I have been a shell collecting nut since I have been here and had told myself that I had enough, until I got here. There were so many pretty shells and different ones from what I had previously collected that I just couldn't help myself!

The two dark figures are manatees

Lots of little fish swimming in the water

The shells I collected

Gasparilla Island is such a beautiful place that I ended up taking over 200 pictures while I was there! I am definitely happy that I made the decision to spend my morning/afternoon there and not be lazy around the house instead. Here is a small sampling of some of my favorite pictures that I took.