South Seas on Captiva Island: Then, Now, and Back Again

By Elaine and Scott Harris

Some places you visit stay with you, and South Seas on Captiva Island has stayed with us. We first wrote about this 330-acre resort in May of 2021, when its 2.5 miles of Gulf beach, its shell-strewn shoreline, and its old-Florida calm made it a welcome respite for guests of all ages.

Sixteen months later, in September 2022, Hurricane Ian tore across Captiva Island and destroyed the resort.

What has happened since is a comeback story. After a rebuild the owners put at roughly a billion dollars, South Seas held its grand reopening over Memorial Day weekend in May 2025 — and it has been welcoming guests back ever since. So we thought it was time to look back at the resort we visited, and at the resort that stands on Captiva today.

THEN: THE RESORT WE VISITED

“Sanibel may be a place to reside, but Captiva is the place to escape,” Francesca Donlan of Lee County Tourism told us, and South Seas was the escape. In her book Gift from the Sea, Anne Morrow Lindbergh — who found her inspiration on these very islands — wrote that “the beach is not a place to work, to read or write,” but a place to return to “the ancient rhythms of the seashore.” Captiva still answers to that description: dolphins breaching offshore, manatees rolling in the still canals, osprey and pelicans diving for fish in the iridescent Gulf.

Shelling was, and remains, the island’s signature pursuit. The shell-laden currents and the protected underwater shelf create ideal beachcombing conditions, and the islands have earned their reputation with some 250 species of shells. We spent our mornings doing the “Sanibel Stoop” and the “Captiva Crouch,” hunting the perfect scallop, whelk, or moonshell. Pro Tip: get to the beach early in the day for the best selection from the overnight high tide.

We stayed in the Waterfront Harbourside Hotel guest rooms — nautical touches, whitewashed flooring, crisp white linens, and gorgeous views of the shimmering water — while the spacious villas, from 850 square feet to 3,400, offered full kitchens and screened balconies for families settling in. On the water, the full-service Yacht Harbour and Marina welcomed yachts up to 120 feet, the Colgate Offshore Sailing School taught everyone from first-timers to corporate regatta teams, and in the early morning and late afternoon, endangered Florida manatees frolicked among the boats.

On land there was golf along the Gulf on the resort’s 9-hole executive Captiva Course, tennis on 11 courts, and days that ended the way every Captiva day should: with the nightly Sunset Celebration as the sun made its colorful descent into the Gulf. At the table, we remember the Harbourside Grille’s gulf grouper with mango-pineapple chutney, a famous mojito at Doc Ford’s Rum Bar & Grill — named for the sleuth in resident author Randy Wayne White’s novels — and the 1950s charm of Scoops & Slices, with its floor-to-ceiling candy wall.

NOW: THE RESORT TODAY

The South Seas that reopened in May 2025 keeps the soul of the place we visited. The 2.5 miles of beach and shelling shoreline are back. So are the marina, the pools, and golf — and the dining lineup once again includes Harborside and Scoops & Slices, joined by the new Beach House restaurant. The biggest new arrival is Captiva Landing, the resort’s waterpark, which opened in December 2025 and gives families an entirely new reason to stay on property. Today’s amenities are reserved for registered guests and Club Captiva owners.

One chapter is still being written. The original main hotel was damaged beyond repair and demolished; its replacement — a new 219-room hotel at the heart of a larger redevelopment — is still under construction. The resort is open, operating, and very much alive, with its final piece still to come.

“One cannot collect all the beautiful shells on the beach,” Lindbergh wrote. “Gradually one discards and keeps just the perfect specimen.” Captiva kept its perfect specimen. South Seas is back — and if our first visit is any guide, the island’s answer to “What is your birth shell?” is still waiting on that shoreline.