Celebrate Independence Day in Paradise!

Have you made your 4th of July plans yet? Why not head on down to The Castaways and celebrate our nation's birthday in paradise? On Saturday, July 3rd at 9 a.m. head on down to watch the City of Sanibel's Independence Day parade. Then after spending the afternoon on our beautiful white sand beaches, bring the family to the Sanibel Causeway to watch an amazing fireworks display over the Gulf of Mexico!


Then top off the weekend by attending the 1st Annual Castaways 4th of July party and cookout! We'll be grilling burgers and hotdogs along with all the fixings, and providing fun kids games and patriotic decorations for all! Make your reservation today! Cottages are going fast...

Looking forward to seeing you in paradise!

Oil Spill Update

We've all been following the Deep Water Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and we're keeping tabs on where the oil moves in relation to the State of Florida and specifically Southwest Florida beaches.

Currently, there are no impacts to Florida’s 2,276 miles of tidal shoreline and 663 miles of beaches. Our shores are clear, beautiful and open for business.


In the event that the oil spill moves toward Southwest Florida and is likely to impact our beaches, we will immediately notify guests with reservations. We will give you the option of changing your reservation date or canceling your reservation, at which point your deposit will be fully refunded.

We are hoping the forecasts are correct and that our beaches will be spared from any damage from this spill, but our hearts go out to anyone that is affected by this tragedy. We'll keep you updated on our blog as we receive any new information.

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!