Side trips from Ft. Myers Beach
 

My friend and I (50ish) are here at Ft Myers Beach and trying to plan a few side trips. Looking for help from my friends at Fodor's! We have a rental car and would like to explore the nearby areas. Have never been here before so we are up for anything. Brought snorkeling gear with us. Love the nature scene, kayaking, but also like quaint little towns and shopping. Thanks for any tips! We are here for 5 days.

Edison winter home/labs on McGregor Blvd in Ft Myers, Sanibel and Captiva, Corkscrew Swamp, Pine Island(look for eagle nests). Drive down to Everglades City and take the National Park service boat trip out through the mangroves.

Everything emalley said. Also, be sure to head to downtown Naples for an afternoon.

I highly recommend the Edison/Ford winter homes and lab.

You can also do a day trip to Key West with

http://www.seakeywestexpress.com/default.htm

Agree with everything emalloy said. You could also get to the Ringling Museum in Sarasota in about an hour and a half. John Ringling's mansion, circus museum, and art museum in lovely gardens - one admission; it's worth a few hours.

Key West is 3 1/2 hrs. by boat, giving you only about 6 hrs. there (and over 5 hrs. driving, so you wouldn't want to do that in a day!) If you're willing to spend 3 1/2 hrs. in transit and since you say you're taking snorkeling gear and there's not any remarkable snorkeling on the gulf that I know of, I'd consider John Pennekamp State Park. http://pennekamppark.com/ You <i>will</i> find remarkable snorkeling there, probably the best in FL. You can snorkel from shore and/or take a boat out to the reef (rent your own or go on one of their group trips) and also kayak through the mangroves. Long day with 7 hrs driving, though.

You could get to Big Cypress National Preserve in under 2 hrs., probably about 90 min.

If I were planning the trip and had the time, I'd drive through Everglades NP and stop at Shark Valley for their tram tour or hike or bike the 7 mi. loop (2 hr. drive), then go in the east side Coe entrance (another hour away), at Homestead/FL City, as far as Anhinga Trail. You'd see more animals and way more wading birds, etc., in either of those places than on an Everglades City boat trip. (Though you could kayak in Thousand Islands and probably see more than on a commercial trip.) Then I'd spend the night in FL City or Homestead, spend the next day at Pennekamp before driving back. But I just noticed that you're already there, so this is probably not an option.

Everglades will be extremely hot and buggy this time of year.

For sure explore Sanibel and Captiva, so close to Ft Myers Beach.

If you go to Sanibel and want to go to the "Ding" Darling Nat'l Wildlife Refuge, don't go on Fri. because they're closed that day. Recently got caught on that - took a friend on a Fri. Should have remembered but didn't. Will keep it in mind next time, though.