What about your typical pristine desert island?  Cayo Costa State Park is just that, a 2,132-acre uninhabited tropical island in the Gulf of Mexico with seven miles of sandy beaches, mangroves, oak hammocks and grassland, just off the coast.  Cayo Costa is accessible by private boat, but not many people know that there is a regular passenger service from Bokeelia on Pine Island, just minutes form Cape Coral.

Tired of feeling like a castaway?  Times Square on Ft. Myers Beach offers white sand beaches with shopping, bars with live entertainment, beach volley, high rise hotels and restaurants right up to the sand.  Count on crowds, especially on the weekends.  The fishing pier, known as Pelican Pier is as crowded with birds as fishermen.  You can park your car on the mainland and take the trolley to avoid the bumper to bumper traffic in season.

If you don’t feel much like driving, there’s the beach at the Cape Coral Yacht Club.  The Yacht Club, which is open to the public, also offers a fishing pier with a snack bar and an Olympic size pool.

Occupying 342 acres, Barefoot Beach Preserve offers a varied natural landscape that can seduce and captivate everyone from sun worshippers to nature-lovers.   Loggerhead sea turtles that nest along the Lee and Collier county coast can sometimes be seen here.  Shielded from surrounding development by dense growths of mangroves and hemlocks, Barefoot Beach escapes the traffic and large crowds that other beaches usually see, making it one of the area's true treasures for those seeking a quiet, peaceful day on the Gulf.

Lighthouse Beach and Bowman’s Beach are on Sanibel Island, famous for world class shelling and beautiful white sand beaches.  Both are perfect for spending the day sunning or scouring the shores for shells, but watch out for the “Sanibel Stoop”!  Frommer's Guide has selected Turner Beach at the Blind Pass Bridge between Sanibel and Captiva as one of their nine favorite beaches in the world. Sanibel is accessible by car over the Sanibel Causeway (toll).  At Lighthouse Beach, in addition to working on your tan, you can explore the wetlands around the lighthouse using the designated nature trails and boardwalks, or fish from the pier, just a few hundred yards from the beach following the nature trail to the other side of the island.