ShellSanibel
Read the beach.
Beaches · Monday, October 5
Redfish Pass
North end of Captiva · West facing at a tidal pass
Here, today
Mixed
- The daylight low only reaches 0.9 ft, so comparatively little bar is uncovered.
- Wind is 8 mph from the SSE, off this beach rather than onto it, so nothing new is being driven ashore.
- If you go, walk the thin wrack line and the wash edge rather than looking for a deposit.
Best walk window here
3:01 PM–6:01 PM
Low water 0.9 ft at 4:31 PM.
How was it?
Nobody keeps a record of what people actually find here, so we are starting one. One tap, no account, nothing to fill in. Empty mornings are the most useful answer — they are the ones no other source has.
Before you go
Strong current through the pass. Same rule as Blind Pass.
Today’s tides here
| Tide | Time | Height |
|---|---|---|
| High | 8:41 AM | 2.5 ft |
| Low | 4:31 PM | 0.9 ft |
These times are the published Redfish Pass tide-table offsets, applied to NOAA’s St. Petersburg predictions — -55 minutes on the high, -74 on the low, heights scaled by 0.91.
The beach
The pass at Captiva’s north end. Boat access effectively — the shore approach is long — but the tide behaves the same way it does at Blind Pass.
- Access
- North end of Captiva; practical access is by boat.
- Parking
- None to speak of.
- Orientation
- West facing at a tidal pass
- What to look for
- Rubble either side of the pass on a dropping tide.
Access and parking change with the season and after storms. Check the City of Sanibel or Lee County before you rely on them.
Taking live shells is prohibited in Lee County
That includes anything with the animal still in it, and sand dollars, sea stars and urchins whether or not they look alive. If it moves, if it closes, if it is anchored to the sand — put it back where you found it, the right way up.
A shell with an animal in it is not a souvenir that has been left out. It is the animal’s house, and the beach is not producing spares.