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Useppa Island's historic Collier Inn serves seafood and beds you in rooms where Zane Grey and Shirley Temple purportedly once slept (not together, mind you).
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Cruisin’ to Dinner

Set the mood by enjoying a meal aboard a sailboat or cruise, or yachting to an island eatery – boating to your dining destination can be just the pre-dinner entertainment you're craving.
By Chelle Koster Walton

Cabbage Key
Cabbage Key
Why just go out to dinner when you can hop in a boat and cruise to dinner? What could be more romantic in a rakish, look-how-out-of-the-mold-we-are sense than lunch or dinner island-style at the end of a boat hop? The best part? You can sit, relax and sip as much as you want and let your captain do the driving.

Easy and Affordable

Excursions and charters make it totally painless and easily spontaneous to be whisked off in style to dine in an exotic island or waterfront setting. Captiva Cruises does daily luncheon excursions to Cabbage Key and Useppa Island aboard the classic cruise yacht, Lady Chadwick. Historic inns on both islands boast restaurants not-to-be-missed: Cabbage Key Inn has a funky sailor’s vibe, while Collier Inn beckons back to the 1920s with an air of island elegance.

From Pine Island, board a Tropic Star excursion for lunch, shopping and sightseeing via rental golf cart in Boca Grande, where the DuPonts and Vanderbilts have historically cavorted.

On some excursions, dining aboard is the adventure. Sanibel Harbour Princess departs from Sanibel Harbour Resort & Spa for daily dinner buffet cruises in the Intracoastal Waterway aboard a sleek modern yacht. From Fort Myers Yacht Basin, J.C. Cruises’ triple-deck paddlewheeler excursions ply the Caloosahatchee River while serving lunch, Sunday brunch or dinner.

Charter cruise
Charter cruise
Something Special for Two

When it’s time to pull out all the impress-your-date ammunition, plan ahead for some way-wow, over-the-top occasions. For example, how does a romantic catamaran sunset picnic sail to Captiva Pass sound? New Moon Sailing on Captiva Island will follow your fantasy, no matter where it takes you.

How about dinner at rustic, old-island-style Barnacle Phil’s on North Captiva with a surprise overnight stay in a harbor condo or beach house? Jensen’s Marina on Captiva will taxi you to the untethered island, drop you off and pick you up the next day. Kick it up a cha-ching and opt for Useppa Island, where historic Collier Inn serves you seafood deluxe and beds you in rooms where Zane Grey and Shirley Temple purportedly once slept (not together, mind you).

If sailing appeals to you (or more importantly, your date’s sense of romance), book a lunch-aboard cruise with Magic Wind out of Fort Myers Beach. Go a step further for maximum impression value and plan an overnight cruise with meals at sea.

Gala by Sea

So, you’ve already won your partner’s love. Now it’s time to plan the big event – be it a wedding, an anniversary celebration or a renewal of vows. Think out-of-the-church and plan your affair aboard the Princess or Lady Chadwick. Something more over-the-top? Captiva Cruises will transport your party of up to 148 to Cayo Costa’s sweep of deserted island and set up a beach feast no one will ever forget. Least of all you and your dearly beloved.

If you go...

Barnacle Phil’s Harbor Restaurant, 239-472-6394

Cabbage Key Inn, 239-283-2278, www.cabbagekey.com

Captiva Cruises, 239-472-5300, www.captivacruises.com

Collier Inn, 888-735-6335, www.useppa.com

J.C. Cruises, 239-334-7474, modernsurf.com/jccruises

Jensen’s Marina, 239-472-5800, www.gocaptiva.com

New Moon Sailing, 888-472-7245, www.newmoonsailing.com

Sail Magic Wind, 800-975-5824, www.sailmagicwind.com

Sanibel Harbour Princess, 239-466-2128, www.sanibel-resort.com

Tropic Star Cruises, 239-283-0015, www.tropicstarcruises.com

Last modified on May 06, 2008


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