Enter our Photo Contest for a chance to win a FREE STAY!

If you’re a current or former guest you won’t want to miss this great contest! We know our guests have an eye for the tropical beauty that is Sanibel Island and take some fantastic photographs while staying at The Castaways! Here's your chance to show off your best photo from your stay at The Castaways and enter to win our Grand Prize! Submit your best Sanibel vacation photo and you'll be entered in our contest. We'll select the Top 10 best photos and post them online to our website. We'll then open it up to voting from our website visitors and the photo with the most votes wins!



Contest is open from May 1 to July 31, 2010.

Voting for the Top 10 Finalists will be held from August 1 to August 14, 2010.

The GRAND PRIZE WINNER will be announced on August 16, 2010

Grand Prize is a 5-night FREE stay (available from July 1 to Dec. 19, 2010, excluding holidays)in a 1 bedroom unit in the Marina, Poolside, or Bayside area. The winner will also receive 1/2-day use of a kayak and a 1/2-day use of 2 bicycles.

2nd Prize is a 2-night FREE stay at The Castaways with the same restrictions as the Grand Prize. This also includes 1/2 day kayak and bicycle use.

We'll accept ONE submission per person so find your best photo and send it in now! Visit our contest page for details, complete rules and to enter the contest.

No purchase necessary.

Happy Easter!!

The staff and management of The Castaways would like to wish everyone a very Happy Easter!


This little marsh rabbit hopped by The Castaways office this weekend to say hello and we thought it was the perfect Easter snapshot! Did you know that marsh rabbits are great swimmers? Sounds great, but we don't think he'll want to carry his basket full of colored eggs into the Gulf of Mexico!!

Have a safe and happy holiday weekend and we hope to see you soon!

Celebrate Earth Day on Sanibel Island

Looking for another reason to visit The Castaways in April? If the gorgeous beaches, breath-taking sunsets and the warm Gulf of Mexico aren't enough, we've got a great Earth Day celebration on Sanibel Island that you won't want to miss!


In partnership with Tarpon Bay Explorers and “Ding” Darling Wildlife Society (DDWS), J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge will host Earth Day 2010 on Saturday, April 24, from Noon to 4 p.m.

The first 200 participants to arrive for Earth Day will receive a free reusable Refuge grocery bag, compliments of DDWS.


Tarpon Bay Explorers, the refuge’s official concessions operator, will be providing free bike use on-site at the refuge throughout the event to encourage families to get out and get fit. Visitors can also bike Wildlife Drive and Indigo Trail on their own.

It's the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day so why not spend it on Sanibel Island at The Castaways? You can even use one of our FREE rental bikes and cycle down to Ding Darling for the big day! Call today for a reservation.

Looking for something to do on Sanibel in March?

If you're visiting Sanibel Island on March 26th and 27th, 2010, you're in luck! In addition to all the regular fun things to do on Sanibel Island, you'll be here for the Lions Club 27th Annual Arts & Crafts Fair!


This year there will be over 130 artists and artisans in the park at the Sanibel Community Center, plus live Dixieland music from Harry & the Dixie Strollers, a Fabulous Food Court and a Fantastic Raffle. This fun event is the perfect place to get some handmade local crafts and souvenirs for friends and family back home. You'll find local Florida-themed crafts you won't find anywhere else!

The Craft Fair is held from 9 am to 4 pm on Friday and Saturday and is less than eight miles from The Castaways. The weather is gorgeous and it would be a great bicycle ride to the fair from our property on one of our free rental bikes for guests.

Visit the Sanibel Lions Club webpage for more information.

We're Back from the Big Apple!

We just got back from New York City after a fun weekend at the New York Times Travel Show! We had a great time and met some wonderful people who seemed ready to take a break from the snow for a relaxing vacation on Sanibel Island.

We had a few spare hours on the last day to tour the Big Apple and had an amazing time! Here is a view from the Empire State Building that just took our breath away.


All of these massive skyscrapers and wall-to-wall buildings are a far cry from Sanibel Island, where buildings cannot exceed 35 feet tall! We also learned that there are about 12,000 intersections with traffic lights in NYC compared to ZERO on Sanibel Island. And we learned that Manhattan Island is about 13 miles long with about 1.6 million residents, while Sanibel Island is about 12 miles long with about 6,000 residents. Not to mention bright lights and neon signs are a no-go on Sanibel and are actually required in Times Square! What a world apart the two cities are!


Although we had a wonderful time, we're happy to be back on our little piece of paradise where traffic lights, skyscrapers and snow are replaced with palm trees, tiki huts and sand. Thanks for the hospitality New York!! We can't wait to visit again!

We're at the New York Times Travel Show!

We just got to New York City for the New York Times Travel Show and it's snowing like mad! Now this is something us Sanibel Islanders are NOT used to! We're staying bundled up and gearing up for the start of the biggest and best travel show in New York! Come to the show at the Jacob Javits Convention Center on West 34th Street and explore over 500 destinations from around the world, enjoy live performances, tastings, travel seminars and more. There are exclusive deals and getaways just for convention-goers!


For the best deals come to Booth #954 to see us and learn about 'Tween Waters Inn, The Castaways and Beachview Cottages. You can even register for a free stay at one of our properties! We'll be there from February 26th to 28th and we're looking forward to meeting you at the show where we'll be bringing a little bit of the tropics into the snow!

Visit us at the Boston Globe Travel Show right now!

Anyone in the Boston area? Come on down and see us at the 2010 Boston Globe Travel Show at the SeaPort World Trade Center. We're there from February 19th to 21st in Booth 334 under the Visit Florida banner. We are visiting with our sister property, 'Tween Waters Inn, from Captiva Island, FL. Stop by our booth and register to win a FREE 4-day, 3-night stay at 'Tween Waters Inn - or winners can choose to take their stay at The Castaways, of course!


With over 200 exhibitors, show-only travel deals and giveaways, and all kinds of fun activities, the 2010 Boston Globe Travel Show will have something fun for everyone. Some of the fun includes cultural performances, exhibits from SeaWorld and Busch Gardens, celebrity chefs, exotic foods from all over the world, US Passport services and more!

We're looking forward to meeting you so stop by and say hi! It's New England's biggest and most comprehensive travel expo so how can you stay away? It's the perfect time to explore your travel options and learn about the gorgeous island that we call home!