A fabulous family fishing trip with Captain Dave. Three generations - grandkids, parents and…read moregrandparents - caught fish all day. We hit spots that you'd only find thanks to a lifetime of Dave fishing these waters. Every spot we stopped we caught a fish! Trout, snook, lady fish, Spanish mackerel - everyone hauled in just about every kind of fish you could imagine. Dave was a very friendly & patient teacher, who clearly cares about these waters. A wonderful way to spend a day.

I booked a 4 hour fishing trip with Captain Dave on August 24 and my family (wife, 11, 9 and 5 year…read moreold sons) had a blast! The total experience was so good I just don't know where to begin this review. The boat and equipment are top notch and kept very clean and organized. We took off from the marina and when we reached our first destination, my son Ethan caught a snapper as soon as he casted. My other sons joined the fun and we were catching everything from mackerel, catfish, snappers, sea trout, and the highlight of my trip, I caught a 100lb stingray that was at least 4ft wide. Such an exhilarating experience for a first time fishing trip. Also, wanted to add that Captain Dave is an amazing person. So patient and kind. Took the time to teach this rookie and he was so good with kids. I can't say enough about him. When we finished, he fillet our catch and told us we could take it Lazy Flamingo Restaurant and they would cook it for us. So that's what we did right after the trip and I will say it was the best tasting fish I ever had. Literally a few hours old. I highly recommend Captain Dave if you ever plan on a fishing, dolphin sighting or shelling in Sanibel or Captiva. I will come back here in 2 years with my friends.

I went to this place today. Thursday, February 18, 2021, at 10:30 AM. There was not a soul in…read moresight. Looks like 3 boats tied up there: a center console, a pontoon, and 1other boat. There was nobody selling bait!! There was no available fishing tackle!! It may be that if you send smoke signals, they might rent boats or do charters, but this place looked closed to me. As in--they do not appear to be a going concern??

Amazing experience!! Don't pass this up! Justin, the charter captain is calm, focused and very…read moreknowledgeable. Great guide too! He's very passionate about what he does and takes pride in his work. Boat was immaculate. Bathroom was very clean. No weird smells. I've been on many boats for fishing before and this one was perfect. It was a perfect day. He knows his way around and where to catch the best fish. We went in a group & had a great time. I even caught a Cobia! It was huge! Must've been 20lbs! Don't miss out ! Hidden gem!

We went out with Captain Ted on a beautiful Friday Morning. He is a great guide and was so…read moreorganized! He even gave us a safety check about the boat (which is a 28.5 ft center counsel, with plenty of room to move around) and where everything was in case of emergency. His boat is very nice with anything you would need. Ted catches his bait right when you go out so, it is as fresh as it gets. We had a ton of fun catching King Mackerel, Spanish Mackerel and blue runners. Along with Grouper, snapper and a few others. When we got back to skin the fish, we had 10 Times the fish that other fishing guides had brought in! He is also very attentive, making sure you always have fresh bait on your line and is right there when you have a fish on your line to guide you if you need help. We highly recommend him!

Look no further if you are looking for fish and a great experience! Our family just spent a…read morebeautiful December morning with Captain Ted and could have not had a better time. During g this half-day trip, we tried 3 or 4 different ways to catch fish and everyone was a success! He was patient and worked with our daughters and explained how to catch the fish using live bait. We fished over a reef, then trolled and even snuck up on a triple-tailed fish who was hanging by a buoy! Caught him too! We all caught several fish and only kept what Captain Ted would eat or use. Absolutely worth it and a complete success!

Making the call to Ace Performer felt like calling an old friend. We were immediately scheduled for…read morethe best time to windsurf and the meetup was convenient and easy (just over the causeway coming from Sanibel). We were at ease with learning something new and exhilarating. This took strength, coordinating and mental focus but it all came together beautifully at the excellent instruction of Roy. what a wonderful experience for my 14 yo and me to do together. I recommend this without hesitation.

We had a blast with our 3 pedal drive kayaks! We hit up…read moreseveral spots over the week! Great customer service and company!!

The shop is under new ownership and takes a much more helpful and available role. Stopped in…read moretowards the evening and manager Keith was great to work with and had some local insight... please revisit this family owned business.

We've been kayaking here for almost 3 years now and it's great.. the area is beautiful lots of…read moredifferent places to paddle to. I love the bait shop ! plenty of beverages to choose from, sunscreen or hats , shirts if you need protection and other odds and ends incase you forget something. I think I've bought tums and tampons there before. There's bait vending machine in the event no one is there and you need bait. We don't fish we paddle and drink but if you fish there's all kinds of stuff for that . There's also bars and restaurants on either side for after your finished and probably really hungry. Chris is always a joy to deal with and has been very helpful every time we've been there. There are a ton of kayaks too if you are a big group singles and double one

Spent the day with Captain Robin on a boat tour where we asked to see dolphins and manatees. We…read morewere not disappointed! We found a pod of dolphins pretty quickly and had them following us for quite awhile. The manatee cove was empty, except for some jumping fish, so he took us out to a sandbar to look for sand dollars. While at the sandbar he spotted a manatee so we boarded the boat to get a closer look. All in all a great day on the water! I would highly recommend Captain Robin.

We rented a boat during a recent visit to North Captiva. Boats and Fun made the process easy and…read moreprovided great support via instructions and a laminated map book of the area. Captain Andrew who assisted us throughout the process recommended several stops and places to check out, which made our day even better. He also told us about dolphin alley and how to potentially get them to play in our wake, which resulted in 10+ minutes of dolphins playing in the wake of our boat. One of the coolest things I've ever experienced! The boat looked like it was brand new and it ran great. Definitely a recommended option during a stay in Captiva.

Listed as one of the best shelling beaches in all of florida, i took my friend who was visiting…read morefrom Scotland here. A year ago, this area had been hit by Hurricane Ian and is still being built back up. Many of the businesses around are currently closed or in the process of re-opening, a year later. This beach has a small parking lot, for about 15 cars, there is a little facilities building and a place to wash your feet off. it offers access to the gulf of mexico, that at the time of visit, was quite warm.

3.5-rating, but I'll round up. We stopped at Turner Beach as a final beach stop before leaving…read moreCaptiva Island. It was easy to pay for parking with the QR code. Parking is $5/hour and you enter your car's license plate number on your phone. I didn't find it to be super scenic - it just looked like any other beach. In terms of shelling, there were no extraordinary finds. We didn't go at low tide, so pickings weren't great. My understanding is that the quality of shelling has gone down across the board due to the re-shaping and rebuilding after Hurricane Ian. We did find digging in the sand yielded more results than simply taking a stroll and combing the beach. We were able to find sand dollar remnants on this beach (though no whole ones... "pennies" if you will). There were several sea turtle nests blocked off - you must steer clear of these and keep your distance. Still a nice way to spend the day, it is the beach after all!

Gulfside Beach is always our #1 pick on Sanibel Island. We like it because the parking lot and…read morerestrooms are very close to the beach itself. Plus, there are always lots of shells to search for. It is a fairly wide beach, but others on Sanibel are wider. Today, the sand and shells were packed down very hard. There is no way that you would walk around barefoot. The water in late March is still quite chilly, even so, there were a number of brave souls who enjoyed it. We also saw a fair amount of seaweed today. It was a special day as we saw between 5-10 dolphins playing for us. We love seeing the dolphins, pelicans and sea gulls. We had a nice three hours or so on the beach. When we left, there were quite a few cars waiting for a place to park. That's the only thing about this beach, there is limited parking.

We stayed at the Colony Inn for a week. It was approximately a 5 to 10 minute walk to this beach…read moredefinitely depending on your walking pace and how much your carrying to the beach, lol This location during the week days for us was quaint, quiet, private, and peaceful. But the weekends are crowded! People are jogging, shelling and camping. Music is intrusive. The entire shoreline is full of boats, people are snorkeling, floating and fishing. Overall, this beach is just as beautiful as any beach on Sanibel Island. Enjoy it wherever you go.