Lovers Key State Park

Most people who stay on Fort Myers Beach never make it to Lovers Key, which is a shame and also the reason it is worth going. It sits about two miles south of Eden House, across the new Big Carlos Pass bridge, and it is four barrier islands rather than one — Lovers Key, Black Island, Long Key and Inner Key — wrapped in mangrove and threaded with tidal creeks.

The short version: go early, bring cash or a card for the entrance station, and give it half a day rather than an hour.

The two-dollar walk-in rate is worth knowing about. If you cycle down Estero Boulevard you pay a quarter of the car rate and skip the parking problem entirely, which in season is not a small thing.

The beach

Lovers Key's beach is a different animal from the one in front of the condo. It is backed by vegetation rather than buildings, so the tree line comes almost to the sand and there is proper shade if you want it. A tram runs from the parking area to the beach for anyone who would rather not carry chairs the length of the boardwalk.

Because the park is undeveloped, there is no beach bar and no rental umbrellas beyond the concession. Bring water. Bring more water than you think, especially between March and May.

Kayaking Estero Bay

This is the real reason to come. Behind the beach, the park opens into the Estero Bay Aquatic Preserve — Florida's first, designated in 1966 — and the paddling trails run through mangrove tunnels and across shallow flats where the water is often clear enough to watch the bottom go past.

There is a launch inside the park and a concession renting kayaks, canoes and paddleboards, so you do not need to haul your own. Two things to plan around:

• Tide. The mangrove creeks are shallow. Going out on a rising tide and coming back near high water saves you dragging a boat across a flat.
• Wind. The bay is protected but not immune. An afternoon sea breeze in spring can make the return leg a grind — morning paddles are almost always easier.

If you have never paddled a mangrove tunnel, do this one. The canopy closes over the top, the sound drops away, and you will see more wildlife in twenty minutes than in a day on the beach.

Trails and Black Island

Black Island carries about five miles of flat, packed trail through maritime hammock and along an old shell mound. It is easy walking and easy cycling, and it is where the park stops being a beach and starts being Florida.

Go in the first two hours after opening. The light is better, the birds are active, and you will avoid both the heat and the mosquitoes that come out when the air goes still. Bug spray is not optional in summer.

Wildlife, and where to actually look

The park sits on the Great Florida Birding and Wildlife Trail, and the list is long: ospreys nesting on the poles, herons and egrets working the shallows, roseate spoonbills if you are lucky with timing, and a resident population of gopher tortoises on the drier ground.

For the mammals, look on the bay side rather than the Gulf side. Bottlenose dolphins work the pass on moving tides. West Indian manatees drift through the canals and the calmer back water, particularly in the cooler months when they move toward warmer inshore water. If you are on a paddleboard and one surfaces near you, hold still and let it decide what to do — approaching, feeding or harassing a manatee is a federal offence.

How to spend half a day there

• 8:00 — arrive at opening, park near the north lot
• 8:15 — walk or ride the Black Island trail loop while it is cool
• 9:45 — pick up a kayak at the concession, paddle out on the rising tide
• 11:30 — back in, swim off the beach, eat whatever you packed
• 1:00 — home before the worst of the afternoon heat

That leaves your afternoon free for the lanai, which is the correct use of an afternoon.