When the sun is beaming full throttle, pulling a boat up to the beach at the southern end of Cape Romano has a surreal beauty. The whiteness of the sand blazes against the blue-green Gulf of Mexico. Remnants of a weekend getaway home, its distinctive bright-white architectural bubbles still intact, glisten near the water’s edge. Sea oats wave in the breeze, surrounded by a carpet of seashells.

“It’s always nice and peaceful here,” says Harald Stavenas, as he surveys the beach, his boat nestled next to him at the shoreline. The Naples resident cruises from Marco Island out to Cape Romano at least once a week. “My wife loves to go shelling. She’s a collector and she finds the best shells here.”

Located about 3.5 miles south of Marco Island, mangrove-covered Cape Romano is a coastal barrier island complex within the Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. Kice Island sits to the north; Romano is adjacent, south of Blind Pass. The only access is via watercraft, adding to the remote feel of these undeveloped gems. Sandy stretches of beach pop up mostly along the western and southeastern shores, acting as catnip for boaters and adventurous paddlers.

“If you’re an experienced kayaker, it’s so beautiful there,” says Chris Boland, owner of Saltwater Sports, who recommends at least a 14-foot kayak to tackle Cape Romano. He frequently takes a long route from Goodland, logging about 15 miles roundtrip, though it’s much closer to slip into the water at Caxambas Pass.

“It’s such an expansive area you don’t notice the boats, even if there is some traffic. There are tons of fish everywhere, birds, a lot of sea turtles this time of year, manatees and dolphins. Sea turtles are just so beautiful and something that boaters rarely see. They don’t come up for very long, they’re skittish, but you see them from a kayak. It’s wonderful.”

Water clarity changes with the wind and tides, but Cape Romano also registers strongly on the radar of local anglers. Pompano, tarpon, snook, mackerel and sharks all lurk in the surrounding waters. Thanks to a series of channel markers added this year, it’s now easier to navigate the shallow Cape Romano shoals for boaters less familiar with the area.

“It can be hit-or-miss, but I keep going back because I know what the potential of Cape Romano is,” says Captain Michael Van Jones, of Fins-N-Grins Charter Fishing, on Marco Island. “When it’s on, it’s on, and it’s an awesome, awesome place to fish. I also like to take [friends] there; it’s a great social place to go.”

In early 2009, the Sea Excursions 10,000 Islands Dolphin Project added a weekly shelling stop at Cape Romano to its itinerary. The eco-tour aboard the Dolphin Explorer is the only ongoing study of wild bottlenose dolphins in Southwest Florida, and the island sits at the southern tip of their phase one study area.

“It’s not that we take it for granted, it’s just that we’re used to it – but to people who visit, it’s remarkable,” says Captain Chris Desmond, who launched the Dolphin Project in 2006. “It’s part of [the Cape Romano-Ten Thousand Islands] aquatic preserve, and it’s also unique in that it’s an end point; there’s almost like a little peninsula there that doesn’t exist in other places that you’re going to be able to visit. There is Hurricane Pass, which is an end point for Keewaydin Island, but it’s just flooded with people. There are always tons of boats there. You truly feel, down in Cape Romano, that you are in a wilderness area. With the exception of the housing [remains] there is no civilization around at all.”

Beyond the beaches, low shrubby hammocks, lagoons and hardwood hammocks with gumbo limbo trees and sabal palms commingle with the dominant mangrove forests. Collier County and Rookery Bay cooperatively monitor sea turtle nesting activity on Romano and Kice; both islands are included in a larger study of loggerhead nesting-beach temperatures currently under way through the University of Alabama at Birmingham to determine the ways global climate change impacts turtle conservation. Rookery Bay also keeps a watchful eye on shorebird nesting on the islands and removes invasive species that threaten the natural habitats.

“The Department of Environmental Protection, as the Reserve’s managing entity, provides much of the funding we need to manage the lands and waters in trust for the Florida people,” says Renee Wilson, Project Greenscape Coordinator for Rookery Bay. (The state of Florida purchased a large portion of Cape Romano in 1975.)

“(Our) mission is to promote informed coastal decisions through research, resource management, and education. Public access is probably one of the biggest issues we’re trying to improve out there – making it so it’s accessible and protected at the same time. It’s a difficult balancing act,” says Wilson.

For Ohio resident Cindy Payne, a recent visit to Cape Romano left an indelible impression. “It was kind of like a moonscape,” she says. “It’s appealing to be one of the few humans who gets to go out there.”

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