South Seas Island Resort is a resort located on the shores of the
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...
in the community of
Captiva in
Lee County, Florida
Lee County is located in Southwest Florida on the Gulf Coast. As of the 2020 census, the population was 760,822. The county seat is Fort Myers (with a population of 86,395 as of the 2020 census), and the largest city is Cape Coral with an esti ...
. The original resort, South Seas Plantation, was opened in 1946 as a fishing resort by Clarence Chadwick, following a dry hurricane (salt-water storm surge kills the plants) which ended commercial farming on the island. Chadwick owned much of Captiva and portions of nearby Sanibel, making his fortune inventing the Checkprinter in the 1920s. His heirs sold the property to Mariner Properties in 1966, which began the modern era of the resort. The original Plantation house, suffering from termites and wood rot, was demolished in the 1990s.
In 2004 South Seas was seriously damaged by
Hurricane Charley
Hurricane Charley was the first of four separate hurricanes to impact or strike Florida during 2004, along with Hurricane Frances, Frances, Hurricane Ivan, Ivan and Hurricane Jeanne, Jeanne, as well as one of the strongest hurricanes ever to ...
, and was renovated and reconstructed in the two following years. South Seas Resort is managed by Interstate Hotels & Resorts, the largest management company of independent hotels in the world.
The resort was closed for 18 months after Hurricane Charley and reopened slowly in March 2006.
In 2021, Timbers Company, Wheelock Street Capital and The Ronto Group have jointly acquired South Seas Island Resort.
In 2022, the resort was once again devastated when
Hurricane Ian
Hurricane Ian was a large and destructive Category 4 Atlantic hurricane that was the deadliest hurricane to strike the state of Florida since the 1935 Labor Day hurricane. Ian caused widespread damage across western Cuba and the southeast Unit ...
made landfall there.
Onsite Dining
South Seas Island Resort has a variety of dining options. The Crooked Snook Tiki Bar, Haborside Bar and Grill, The Pointe, Scoops & Slices, and Attitudes Beach Bar/Latitudes Food Shack are located at the resort's north end.
Doc Ford’s Rum Bar & Grille, a popular area restaurant, is located near the entrance and open to the public. Every Tuesday, November through April, the resort hosts the Captiva Farmers Market, near the South Seas entrance.
References
Buildings and structures in Lee County, Florida
Seaside resorts in Florida
Tennis venues in Florida
Tourist attractions in Lee County, Florida
1946 establishments in Florida
Captiva Island
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