Matanzas Pass Preserve
Everyone knows Fort Myers Beach for its 7 miles of sugar white sand beaches, but our barrier island is home to one of the last Maritime Oak Hammocks left in Southwest Florida! Matanzas Pass Preserve is 60 acres of brackish water. It's not as salty as the Gulf of Mexico. There is, however, a slight layer of freshwater that is an inch or two thick where most of the plants get their water. The soil basically is all sand and quite gooey, full of organic material that the plants absorb through photosynthesis.
The Estero Bay Overlook Platform
Matanzas Pass Preserve is home to oaks, cabbage palms, white indigo bushes, goldenrod, buttonwood trees, 7 different air plant species, strangler figs that wrap around ficus and palm trees, 3 varieties of mangroves that stabilize the shoreline and are critical to our environment especially during hurricanes. They are a feeding ground for birds, fish, and wildlife. A popular spot is the Estero Bay overlook platform, with much of Matanzas Pass Preserve having an ADA-accessible boardwalk.Free Nature Programs
In ``season``, Lee County Parks & Recreation hosts two free nature programs: “Life in The Mangroves” and “Exploring Ethnobotany.” Matanzas Pass Preserve is located at 199 Bay Road, at the end of the same side street as the Fort Myers Beach Public Library. It is open daily from 7 a.m. to dusk, with free but limited parking.