PEDAL. PADDLE. PACE. Score some exercise and fresh air with your sightseeing.
Island Secret Take your foot off the gas and step away from the car. You’re on island time now: Downshift and take your explorations to the sands, trails, paths and waterways that promise the ultimate island experiences. It’s better for your health and the health of our islands.
Island Secret Before taking to Sanibel Island’s shareduse path by bike, visit mysanibel.com to watch the “Cycling on Sanibel” video.
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When you ride your bike to the Tarpon Bay Recreation Area of “Ding” Darling, you receive a free gift for keeping green. FREE-WHEELING THE ISLANDS Instead of driving around Wildlife Drive at “Ding” Darling Refuge, try cycling for close-up, stealth encounters. The entire loop from the Visitor & Education Center, through the Refuge and back to the center via the Sanibel-Captiva Road (a.k.a. SanCap Road) shared-use path, is about 8 miles, all paved. Or you may want to diverge onto the unpaved shortcut via the Cross-Dike Trail almost 2 miles from the Refuge’s entrance.
Sanibel Island’s mostly flat, 25-mile, hard-paved shared-use path takes you just about anywhere you want to go—to shopping, dining, beaches, trails and most condos and resorts. Marked crosswalks without curbs accommodate cyclists and specialneeds travelers. Nature-lovers bike the “conservation corridor” path paralleling San-Cap Road. It leads to “Ding” Darling, SCCF and other environmental attractions. Here, fewer cyclists and driveways make biking breezier than on some of the well-traveled path sections along Periwinkle Way. Try the loop off Sanibel-Captiva Road that runs parallel to Rabbit Road behind the houses on the west side. It ends at West Gulf Drive, where you can turn left and circle around to Tarpon Bay Road, past the beach and the Bailey Tract (where bikes are allowed, but must be walked in places), then back to San-Cap Road. SA NIBEL- C A P TI VA .ORG