Bonita Beach Park, Bonita Beach, Florida

In the eighteen months since Hurricane Ian leveled Bonita Springs and Fort Myers Beach, residents and governments are working hard to rebuild, including at Bonita Beach Park. Most of the amenities are closed, replaced by portable facilities and chainlink fences. The beach and the waves are ready for enjoyment, however.

Parking is not easy at Bonita Springs Park. Spaces are limited and payment went contactless in October 2023. There are neither pay stations and nor parking attendants. The beach-goer must usually have a credit or debit card and a smart phone. Lee County has posted a how-to video on its Parks & Recreation page for parking.

Is this beach vista worth the friction generated by the pay-to-park and the portable amenities? Absolutely. Beach-goers need to arrive between 8 and 9 am to get easy access to parking. Public transit does not currently seem to get from, say, a Naples hotel to Bonita Beach. There are alternatives, however.

Both residents and non-residents alike may purchase a $60 annual parking pass for Public Access #1 and Public Access #10. At $2 per hour, the pass may pay for itself after just a couple of uses. The pass is valid at several beaches in Lee County, which includes Turner Beach on Captiva Island.

The volleyball area is part of Bonita Beach. The Lee County Parks and Recreation website says “Ultra” service will come in June 2024. The website seems to show connectivity between Collier County (to the south) transit and Lee County transit. “Ultra” shows dedicated, curb-to-curb Uber vehicles partnered with public transit.

Sidewalks abound near Bonita Beach, and just walking might be a great way to get here. Jet skiing is again a recreation option here. This jet ski rental is adjacent to Doc’s Beach House, which re-started outdoor food service last March, in 2023, with an outdoor food truck and limited menu during daylight hours only.

At 10 in the morning, the breakfast crowd heads into Doc’s Beach House for a bite to eat. Doc’s opens at 8 am and stays open until 9 pm daily. There is valet parking everyday. Doc’s has a shirt shack and a hotdog stand, both to the left. This restaurant completely re-opened, full-service, full-everything, in December 2023.

Doc’s breakfast runs until 11 am, everyday. Shoes are optional; this eatery proclaims that it’s a casual, fun place to get out of the sun. The floor here on the lower level is foot friendly. The morning sunshine and the gentle breeze make for a pleasant breakfast experience, coupled with a personalized diner atmosphere.

This is the breakfast special at Doc’s Beach House on Tuesday, March 5th, 2024. These two breakfast tacos feature ham, eggs, and goat cheese. The hashbrowns are delicious. This meal is $11.99, plus tax. Fresh-squeezed orange juice is $5 per glass. This restaurant is in Lee County, thus the sales tax is 6.5 percent.

The oatmeal-and-toast breakfast is $6.99. The additional fresh fruit cup is $1, with the milk and brown sugar at $0.50 each. Thus, the total is $8.99 as shown here. Choice of toast is white or whole wheat (shown here). The consistency of the oatmeal was very good. A small coffee or tea is $3 and a large coffee is $5.

Bonita Beach Park is at 27954 Hickory Boulevard, and Lee County parking passes are not valid here. Public Access #1 is located just north of Doc’s Beach House (27908 Hickory Boulevard) at 27890 Hickory Boulevard. Public Access #10 is farther north at Little Hickory Island Beach Park, 26082 Hickory Boulevard.

Looking southward from Bonita Beach, there are more beaches to explore. Nearby Barefoot Beach has very foot-friendly sand. There is the County Preserve, Delnor-Wiggins Pass State Park, Vanderbilt Beach, Clam Pass Park Public Beach, Lowdermilk Park, Naples Pier, Port Royal Beach, Keewaydin Island, and then Marco Island.

Hurricane Ian struck Bonita Springs in Lee County on September 28, 2023. Lee County was hit hard. A storm surge of 10 to 15 feet (3.0 to 4.6 m) wreaked havoc in Fort Myers Beach and on Sanibel Island in addition to Bonita Springs. The eye of the hurricane made landfall at Pirate Harbor near Punta Gorda in Charlotte County.

The shower house at Bonita Beach Park is a construction zone. On this day, there were several county workmen with their work trucks in and around the facility. The portable facilities are what they are. Upon asking, a workman briefly moved the chainlink gate for a better image. He said repairs would take a long time.

Parking is still tight. There is barely any turnover for spaces until people start leaving at 3:30 or 4 pm. However, around noon, a few beach-goers might decide to head out for lunch, freeing up a few spots. This is what is happening here. Cars coming in after this one were out of luck and were driving around for a half hour.

This boardwalk leads to the beach from the parking circle at the southern tip of Bonita Beach Park. Just past this boardwalk is Collier County’s famous Barefoot Beach and its public access point. Hickory Boulevard is home to Bonita Beach Park, but here is where the name of the road changes to Bonita Beach Road SW 865.

This self-serve kiosk of Lee County-approved children’s life jackets has many sizes. The latch is a little tricky to open, but the life jackets looked good in both quantity and quality even after the beach filled up. Parents who borrow these for their kids should make sure that each child is properly fitted and is supervised. There are no life guards here.

This is a Collier County sign, not a Lee County sign, but this information still applies to both. Both counties have places to collect eligible shells. Non-live sand dollars abound on Keewaydin Island, as do all the shells depicted here. Estero Island is another great location. Lee County has very narrow exceptions for live clams.

Bonita Beach Park, and its crowded parking lot, was very busy between 11:30 and 3:30. Sunny conditions and a high temperature of 79 F (26.11 c) made for a pleasant, easy-going day. The beach was very much free from litter, and uniformed park rangers patrolled this stretch of the beach in a John Deere at least twice.

The Bonita Beach Park volleyball area appeared well-maintained and well-used in the afternoon. The sky was hazy but the beach was still beautiful. Located near Doc’s, there is a lot of room here to enjoy the game. Dogs are not permitted at Bonita Beach Park, but there is a dog park to the north at 8800 Estero Boulevard.

The take-out door is the perfect place for alfresco diners to enjoy Doc’s full menu while partaking of the beach. Take-out is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner; while Doc’s hotdog stand has a very limited menu. This line is cash only. Menus are provided at the door, with picnic tables close up and also right on shore.

The take-out line moves quickly at Doc’s as the cashier rings everyone out at a steady pace. Everyone is soon on their way back outside. Adult beverages are allowed outside the Beach House in the courtyard, but not onto Bonita Beach itself. Doc’s has an on-site ATM on the left by the washrooms from which to get cash.

The half-pound (227 g) char-broiled burger was $11.99. This burger comes with lettuce, tomato, onions, and pickle, plus chips and slaw. Condiment packets are at the counter. The Italian sausage hotdog has peppers and onions and is also $11.99. Standard bottled or canned beer—like Pabst and Bud Light—is $5.25 each.

After a late lunch, it was time to head back to Bonita Beach. At 3 pm, the noon-time glare was gone, with some cloud cover coming in. This break was a great time to check Ft. Myers tide tables online (Floridasportsman.com). Low tide occurred at 4:43 am at a negative half-foot (-15.25 cm) and high tide would roll in at 8:46 pm at 2.1 feet (30.5 cm).

A day at the beach is different than any other, but there is a certain rhythm to be expected. The morning is bright and filled with promise, as beach-goers arrive and find a place to settle. Noon-time finds the sun high in the sky, with lunch and a cold drink on the horizon as the water has been tested and found to be wonderful.

The sun tracks overhead during the afternoon, leaving thousands of diamonds sparkling in the water. The water and the air will be as warm as they will be. Those who stay for the entire day will enjoy a little more space as young families head home for dinner. Shell-seekers will make the most of the rest of the daylight this afternoon.

Please don’t feed the shorebirds. As if on cue at 4:30, flocks of shorebirds descended upon the beach looking for dinner. Fish were evident in the water a few swim-lengths from the shore, but prospects for a tasty treat were most assured right here. Today’s nautical fact: maximum tidal flow will occur at around midnight.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) publishes tide and current data for Ft. Myers out of the St. Petersburg, Florida, tidal station. Its NOAA chart number is 11413 with a station ID of 8726520. The term “maximum tidal flow” is defined as halfway between the high and low tides. The MTF mixes surface water with deep water.

One hour until sunset, the Bonita Beach crowd thinned out by 5:30, with a few more sunset-seekers to come in the next half-hour or so. The temperatures declined and the wind picked up by this point. The shorebirds were mostly gone as well. The surf was a little rougher with declining sunlight, and no one remained in the water.

At a half-hour til sunset, cloud cover rolled in, along with cooler temps and crashing waves. High and low tides occurred only once each today; in Naples, high and low tides came in twice this day. The ocean here was loud, overtaking even the traffic from Hickory Boulevard and Doc’s Beach House. No one is playing volleyball.

This 6:31 pm sunset was obscured by cloud cover at Bonita Beach on a chilly Tuesday evening on March 5, 2024. (It is always a good idea to have a jacket, blanket, water, and snacks on all beach outings.) Few beach-goers remained, due to the unspectacular view. The day ended here, but night has just begun.

While the sunset was underwhelming, Doc’s Beach House was festively illuminated for a fun evening in Bonita Springs. People came in on foot, or drove in from close by with license plates from both near and far. Doc’s fills up before dark, and there was a fifteen-minute wait time. Doc’s has several different dining areas to enjoy.

The downstairs patio, adjacent to the hostess stand, has a tiki hut and/or chickee hut feel to it. The brick flooring, lattice window treatments, and plastic chairs lend an alfresco air to this sort of, kind of, enclosed dining room. There are several TV’s here. One of the downsides to this area is the prevalence of mosquitos.

The prices for Doc’s online menu is out-of-date; for instance, the shrimp basket is listed as $17.99 but is $19.99. The clam basket is listed as $12.99, but is a dollar more. Key lime pie is a dollar more than the $6.99 listing. The fruit plate—a very generous, fresh portion—is the only correct listing at our table at $7.99.

Like the shrimp basket, every item of the clam basket arrived hot, fresh, crispy, and delicious. Although indistinctive, the Cole slaw was tasty. Doc’s TVs show a variety of sports via satellite; this area had women’s golf. Other TVs have had MLB, NHL, NFL, Big Ten, and college football. The menu proclaims that Chicago sports fans are welcome.

As good as this key lime pie was, it disappeared fast as the mosquitos were biting. Although food arrived quickly, the waitress became distracted as the patio filled up. The check was indeed received, but the bill was settled at the take-out stand as the waitress did not come back to receive payment.

The guests seated in the upstairs at Doc’s Beach House look west out into the Gulf of Mexico as they enjoy drinks, dinner, and each other. The downstairs rooms at family-owned Doc’s were destroyed during Hurricane Ian. Upstairs was virtually untouched, and aside from new flooring, this area needed little work.

At 7:30 pm, most of the 89 spots at the Bonita Beach Park parking lot have cleared out. A ten-hour parking fee paid at 10 am will expire in a half-hour. There is no overnight parking here, and the beach itself closes at dusk. Now is the time to head back to the hotel, looking forward to tomorrow’s adventures in the Gulf of Mexico.