101 Things To Do While Staying at the Outrigger Beach Resort. Have a Florida Picnic - Stop in at one of our many fresh fish markets, ask them to steam some shrimp, stop in at 7-11 grab a six pack (your choice) and grab a piece of sand. This is picnicking - Fort Myers Beach Style! Design and paint your own t-shirt or beach bag with our many Florida stencils and fabric paint. Play cards while sunning on our sundeck or in the shade of our tiki huts. Decorate a sand dollar at our Guest Service Center on the beach and enjoy a free poem of The Legend of the Sand Dollar. Practice your shots on our putting green. Visit the winter homes of long time friends, Henry Ford and Thomas Edison. Take a dreamy afternoon sail with an expert. Take an exciting manatee cruise. If you do not see one, you do not pay! Take a trolley ride from one end of our island to the other for only 25 cents. Start the day off with a round of golf at one of the fabulous courses in the area. Take a dolphin tour on a waverunner. If it's time for church, there are many within walking and trolley distance. Take an airboat ride in the Everglades. Watch your favorite team while enjoying your favorite beverage at the Tiki Bar. Have lunch poolside. Take a walk in our natural estuary and see the marine life in the protected mangroves. Build a magnificent sand castle. Stores Galore at Tanger Factory Outlet. Take a euphoric parasail ride and get your toes dipped in the Gulf. If you are so inclined, join the many happy couples who have taken their wedding vows on our beautifully romantic beach or renew your vows. Plan and enjoy a fun barbecue with family and friends at our picnic area. Treat yourself to a beautiful sunset view while enjoying the delicious fare at the Gulfshore Grill. Take a day trip of shelling and snorkeling to a remote island. Take a bike ride on the beach. Baseball Baseball Baseball! Minnesota Twins and Boston Red Sox enjoy our beautiful winters for spring training. Feed the frenzy complete with sunshine, cold beer and hotdogs while your friends at home are shoveling! Grab your camera at sunrise or sunset and catch on film a memory that will last a lifetime. We have the perfect, expansive beach to fly a kite. Hunt for all sizes of sand dollars as the sun comes up. Take your watch off! Forget you have one! Take a fun-filled day cruise to the home of the Cheeseburger in Paradise song - Cabbage Key! Go glow bowling with the family or friends. Pass some time at our Guest Service Center on the beach decorating a jewelry box in the afternoon breeze. Play a friendly game of beach volleyball. Take a cruise on the Big M casino boat and win some extra mad money. With the help of Guest Services, personalize a picture frame with your sea treasures found on the beach. Just do absolutely nothing lounging by our pool. Catch a wave on our boogie boards and skim boards. Florida Wine? Taste the delightful tropical fruit wines of Eden Vineyards and Winery. Interested in learning about our turtles? Visit the Guest Service Center for information on Turtle Time. Watch the dolphins play just off our beach in the early morning and at dusk. Spend some time with your metal detector searching for treasures the Gulf may have washed up and buried in the sand. Take a guided nature walk at one our our famous beaches. Events! Events and More Events! Enjoy the beach while attending the Sand Sculpting Festival, Shrimp Fest, Taste of the Beach and Mango Mania are just a few! Try out different suntan lotions from the Gift Shop. Enjoy a day of deep sea fishing with friends and family on one of the many charter boats on the island. Take a romantic sunset dolphin cruise. Ding Darling - what is in a name. Explore this beautiful bounty of birds at the Ding Darling Bird Sanctuary. Get your thrills on one of our two water slides in the area. Rent a scooter or electric bike and cruise the island. If it's St. Patrick's Day, join the group in our frontyard to watch the parade and then join the crowd for our delicious corned beef and cabbage special of the day. Play a game of shuffleboard by the pool. Take a murder mystery train ride. Call your friends and describe your beautiful surroundings. Socialize with other guests on our sundeck at our complimentary wine and cheese party every Thursday afternoon. Listen to a local favorite greet the sunset by blowing a conch shell. Put your headset on and work on an awesome tan. Explore the shorelines under your own power. Rent a paddle boat! Take a spin with the dolphins on a jetski. Take a short drive to the Seminole Casino and play the slots while cashing in on the great food and drink. Take part in our many holiday activities, such as Easter Egg Hunts, Christmas visits from Santa, Thanksgiving Dinner, New Year's Eve Celebrations and our children's Halloween Parade. Dig your toes into our powdered sugar sand beach. Relax for the day in style on our Adirondack chairs. Fill a day with a cruise to a remote island for shelling and sunning. Take an intriguing kayak tour along miles of tropical waterways. Friendly nativesour locals love their island and love to share with our tourist/new friends! Spend the day at Miramar Factory Outlet. Dine in one of their six restaurants and shop in just a few of +150 stores. Alligators Alligators Alligators! Tour different eco-systems at the Babcock Wilderness Adventure. Learn to playScuba, Sailing, Fishing all fun activities can be learned here! Enjoy a scrumptious dinner just across the street at Charley's Boat House where the 68 item salad bar is never ending. Take a tennis lesson or just play for fun at the Bay Oaks Recreation Center on the island. Enjoy floating in the Gulf on one our rafts. Relax the day away on our padded cabanas. Relish in the gorgeous sunsets from our Tiki Bar. Go night snapper fishing. Play a game of frisbee golf on the beach. Go to Key West for the day on a fast ferry. Play a game of beach horseshoes. Enjoy your favorite foo foo drink at our Tiki Bar. Toss the football around or enjoy a friendly game on the beach. Have a refreshing swim in the peaceful Gulf. Sit amongst our palm trees and read a novel. Spend an evening at Times Square and enjoy a stroll on the beach pier. Go backwater fishing and enjoy your catch for dinner. Shop at Guest Services for memorable souvenirs and special gifts for your loved ones. Throw a line in right off our our beach and catch breakfast, lunch or dinner. Visit our neighbor island Sanibel and explore the incredible shells at the Shell Museum. Feel like a game? Borrow one from our assortment kept in our front office for your enjoyment and fun. Get a thrill on a guided ghost walk and enjoy the many stories passed down through the years about the many strange happenings on our little island. Take a romantic stroll on our beautiful beach at sunset. Sit back and enjoy a delicious ice cream treat from our Deckside Cafe. Visit our fabulous library to see an awesome shell collection and enjoy free internet connection. Have an early morning jog on our breathtaking beach. Sit on the beach and count the dolphin sightings just off the beach. Rock away on our deck to our fabulous entertainment. Mount a horseshoe crab on a piece of genuine driftwood at our Guest Service Center while enjoying your favorite beverage. Escape to a secluded beach at Lover's Key complete with a picnic lunch. Take a brunch or dinner scenic cruise. Take a tour of the Everglades with a conchologist. No kidding! Times Square/New York City doesn't have cobblestones in colors of sand and water. Nor does it have Palm Trees and outdoor eating - year round. But ours does! Visit our unique movie theater and see a first rate movie while enjoying delicious food and drink.

Weve some ideas on how to make your Florida family vacations truly special. Whether you like tanning on Southwest Florida beaches or exploring Fort Myers, our daily itineraries will inspire you to relax and enjoy! Day One Never felt so relaxed. Slept in til 9:45 and indulged in bacon and eggs at the resorts Deckside Cafe. Afterwards, I wandered out to the Outriggers white-sand beach to read the newspaper on one of their comfy cabanas. The white herons kept me company while I worked the crossword puzzle. (Whats a five-letter word for quiescence that starts with a p?) Mid-afternoon we headed to downtown Fort Myers, past the hundreds of royal palm trees that line McGregor Boulevard, to tour Thomas Edisons estate and laboratory, as well as Henry Fords home. Just outside Edisons lab stands a spectacular Banyan tree, which was a gift from Harvey Firestone in 1925. If youve never seen a Banyan tree, youre missing out on one of the wonders of nature. Dozens of shoots reach down from the branches and then take root themselves, becoming new trunks. A singular Banyan tree is a forest unto itself. The estate also includes beautiful and colorful botanical gardens, which Edison himself designed over the course of 40 years. There are trees from all over the world including specimens from China, Japan, India, Africa, Java, Panama, Mexico and Australia. We took lots of pictures for the scrapbook. That evening, we decided to stay downtown for dinner and found a great restaurant on the Caloosahatchee River. As the boats drifted by, we made a toast to sunshine, water, and friendship. Back to the Outrigger and in bed by 10 p.m. And thats when the crossword puzzle answer hit me peace. Day Two Shopping extravaganza! First, we drove just a few miles from the Outrigger to shop at the Tanger Factory Outlet Shops. There are 50 brand-name stores there, including Coach, the Gap, Fossil, Jones New York, and Zales. Then we scooted up to the corner of US 41 and Cypress Lake to hit the Bell Tower Shops. There, I did my best to restrain myself at Williams-Sonoma, Banana Republic, and Saks Fifth Avenue. Our toughest decision at the Bell Tower Shops was where to eat lunch. There were so many choices Bistro 41, TGI Fridays, Johnny Rockets, Taste of New York Pizzeria Cafe, and more. Just north on 41 is Page Field Commons complete with Mens Wearhouse (the guys shop too!) and Michaels for arts and craft ideas for the shells. Further north is the Edison Mall, with Dillards, JCPenney, Sears, and Burdines as the major department stores, plus a great array of shops like Victorias Secret, Bath Body Works, Bailey Banks Biddle, The Disney Store, Footaction USA, and Ruby Tuesday. And finally we headed south to the Miromar Outlets, which is just lovely with its European architecture, fountains, and landscaping. There are 150 top designer and brand name outlet stores, including Off 5th Saks Fifth Avenue, Polo Ralph Lauren, Nike, Tommy Hilfiger, and many more. At the end of the day, we were exhausted but happy. And we could hardly fit all the bags into the rental car! (I knew we should have rented a mini-van). Day Three The Outrigger offers very affordable bike rentals, so we spent a leisurely morning pedaling up and down the beach and then into downtown Fort Myers Beach. Then, I bought a giant kite with a curled yellow tail at the Guest Service Center, just like one Id had as a kid. We were excited to launch it on its first flight, but decided that lunch on the Outriggers deck was more important. Id been craving a juicy burger and french fries from the Cafe, and when our server set my plate in front of me, I was in heaven. The kite flew spectacularly. I felt a kinship with it, flying so high, free and dancing in the wind. This is what a vacation is supposed to be like. This is what life is supposed to be like. Later that night, we settled in at the Outriggers Tiki Bar to listen to the live entertainment. Everybody limbo! Day Four Adventure! We rented kayaks and spent the day paddling along the Great Calusa Blue Way, a series of water trails through Southwest Floridas back bays and estuaries. I brought my bird book along, and was thrilled to see four roseate spoonbills a vibrant pink bird as well as a bald eagle. There are some 300 bird species to be seen. Life below the surface of the water was just as exhilarating. We saw two manatees, which are also known as sea cows for their enormous size. These gentle animals weigh over 1,000 pounds and are an endangered species. We also had the sheer joy of seeing several dolphins racing through the water. The urge to jump in and swim with them was overwhelming, but we knew we wouldnt be able to keep up! Day Five Can I stay here forever? I met a couple on the beach whod been married at the Outrigger three years ago. He wore a tux; she wore a formal gown. But neither of them wore shoes! All in all, it was a low-key day for us. Just naps on the beach, a dip in the pool, and drinks at the Tiki Bar. We also met the resorts managers at a wine and cheese rendezvous party, which was open to all guests. The snacks there were great appetizers before we hit the Deckside Cafe for dinner. Day Six Our exploration of Southwest Florida beaches wouldnt have been complete without going shelling. Our tour guide showed us the difference between wentletraps and drills, and tulips and cones. Being on the beach early in the morning was wonderful. There was a light breeze coming off the Gulf of Mexico, and the water was warm on our bare feet. Afterwards, we decided to educate ourselves further by making a trip to Sanibel Island to tour the Baileys Matthew Shell Museum. And as if the day werent perfect enough, I was thrilled to find that I was back just in time to take one of the Outriggers many arts and crafts workshops. I learned how to decorate the sand dollars Id found on the beach that morning. Theyll make super Christmas tree decorations. Later that afternoon we freshened up and caught a matinee at the Beach Theater, which is right across the street from the Outrigger. Then off to dinner, also across the street from the resort, at Charleys Boat House Grill. I cant decide if I love grouper (a favorite local fish), stone crab claws or prime rib better. Of course we had dessert, too key lime pie. Day Seven All good things must come to an end, and so we had to check out this morning. The staff was so friendly. Theyve already got us booked for a week next year, but Im thinking well need to stay a bit longermaybe ten daysmaybe two weeks And maybe well bring the whole family the next time. It would be wonderful for all of us to make Outrigger family vacations a yearly tradition!

 Rent-a-car service
 Central situation
 Playground for children
 Clothes dry cleaning
 Conference and meeting room
 Credit cards accepted
 Dinner may be served in the room
 Lift
 Facsimile services
 Fitness hall
 Hairdryer
 Access to internet
 Ironing facilities
 Laundry services/washing machine
 Licensed bar
 Fully stocked mini bar
 Smoke-free guest rooms
 Parking lot
 Private park, garden, courtyard
 Clock/radio
 Fridge
 Restaurant
 Safe deposit box
 Shop on premises
 Private/Ensuite bathroom
 Swimming pool
 Tea and coffee making facilities
 Phone at reception
 Phones in rooms
 TV sets in rooms
 Patio, summer terrace
 Common room with a TV set