Anyone with suggestions for five ladies(35+yrs)traveling to FortMyers/Naples/Sanibel/Captiva
for the first week of May. Likes:beaching, shopping, sightseeing, maybe a night out for dancing socializing with locals and just having a fun time. We're staying in Fort Myers Beach but need to make an itinerary that lets us see it all. I've been there briefly once before, the locals were the nicest anywhere and the beaches delightful!
Any website recommendations for these areas?

In Naples, you'll love the shopping (unless you're more "outlet mall" type shoppers) along 5th Avenue South and 3rd Street South. Have lunch on 3rd Street South at either Tommy Bahamas or Campiello, either one outside if not too hot. Stroll 5th Avenue South for more shopping and pick out a restaurant for dinner -- Pazzo, Chops, and Zoe's are my favorites (although Zoe's recently sold, and maybe not so good now). For your age group, perhaps the best place for a "nightclub" scene would be either the "Club" at the Ritz Carlton or the bar/nightclub at The Registry Resort. Surprisingly those two places host as many locals as tourists.
Having a cocktail or light dinner out at the beach bar at the Ritz while watching sunset is pretty special too, and surprisingly affordable. Use valet parking at the door to feel important, or if you want you can actually park yourself in the lot and walk up the ramp to the main entrance. You pass through the hotel and follow the signs to get to the boardwalk through the mangroves and to the beach.
For a bit of total craziness, The Great Dock Canoe Race is usually the first Saturday in May held between Tin City and the Dock restaurant at the city docks on the bay.

Thanks Patrick,
It sounds exactly like what we are looking for! No, not outlet shoppers.Is there any good snorkeling around that area? How about horseback riding on the beach? Wind surfing rentals? Also, a previous posting recommended a Jazz club in downtown Fort Myers? What about any good gallaries in the area? We'd like to hear back on any suggestions to fill our days & Nights(first vacation away without our children). Thanks again!

Don't get up to Ft. Myers much, but I think you're talking about the jazz place above or below Peter's LaCuisine, which is also a fine restaurant. I have had a number of friends who love the jazz there, I think only on weekends.
Forget snorkeling on the Gulf Coast, it just isn't clear enough, and they don't allow dogs on the beach in Naples, so I'm sure horses are totally out. But they do have some windsurfing and also parasailing at a couple of the resort hotels -- the Ritz and the Registry I'm sure, and some at the Edgewater and the Naples Beach Hotel, both nearer to downtown.
There are roughly 3 million galleries in Naples (OK, so I'm exaggerating a little). There is a big concentration of them in the 3rd Street shopping district that I mentioned, particularly along Broad Avenue. There are a number of others on 5th Avenue South. Naples has a brand new "world class art museum" at the Philharmonic Center for the Arts in Pelican Bay. Being a resident I haven been yet, but of course if I were a tourist I'd have been there by now. There are also package shows and concerts at the "Phil" some still going in May. Also I can put in a plug for the Naples Players at the beautiful new Sugden Communtity Theatre in the center of 5th Avenue South. We will be doing A Streetcar Named Desire at that time. Normally tickets are impossible to get, but because many of our subscribers head north by May, there will probably be tickets available if you call when you get here.
Did you see the news this year released from the 2000 census? Las Vegas was the most rapidly growing metropolitan area in the 1990's (no surprise), and Naples was second with a 60+ percent increase in population in the 1990's.
P.S. Would love to meet you all for a drink in Naples, but I will be leaving the last week of April for my long summer trip I've been requesting info for all over this board! Have fun.

A quick update. After posting about having drinks and dinner at the beach bar at The Ritz, it occurred to me that we hadn't been there in ages, so this evening we went and had a great time. But in talking with the waiter, I found that no there is no windsurfing -- apparently anywhere in Naples, just parasailing. I do my beach walking further south from the hotels so don't see all that activity much, but it just seemed like there would be windsurfing.

Thanks again Patrick! You are a wealth of assistance! We're excited about our "ladies only trip" and will benefit from your suggestions. I'm curious..where is your "big,up-coming trip" to? Also, my son is a baseball fan and said that professional spring training is near Fort Myers somewhere? I'm not into baseball but, a surprise autograph for my son would be a thrill for him. Do you know of any off season team games or some sort?