The nice thing about staying at Palm Island Resort is that it's a fairly self-contained community. It's also very quiet. The only automobiles allowed in the resort are service trucks working on construction projects or repairs and maintenance.
If you bring your car over on the ferry you'll have to park it in the lot at the entrance to the resort. You'll use a golf cart, a bicycle or your own two feet to get around the resort (you can't take the resort golf carts off the resort to explore the rest of the island though. Bummer.)
There is one restaurant at the resort (and it's a very good one). Leaving the island for a few hours for dinner or to pick up some groceries is easy, just take the ferry. All rental units are within walking distance of the beach.
Note: Palm Island Transit runs a water taxi between Leverocks Restaurant and the Palm Island resort so the public can eat at their restaurants. However, beach equipment (chairs, umbrellas, coolers, etc) is not allowed on the water taxi and Palm Island Transit wants you to understand that Palm Island Resort beaches are private and for resort guests only.
My favorite place to go while I was staying at the resort for a few days was up to the north point at Stump Pass. It was a relaxing 10 minute ride via golf cart. I made the trip one night after a late dinner. It was really quiet and dark. I saw several meteors streak across the sky. Below are some photos and videos of my little adventure at the Palm Island Resort. And if you'd like to see where I stayed, have a look at some photos and video of my Palm Island Resort beach rental unit. Be sure to check out Don Pedro Island and Little Gasparilla Island.
Palm Island beaches have a light gray sand with patches of shells.
An assortment of shells washes up on Palm Island beaches.
This is the view of the houses on Don Pedro Island as seen from the beach in the Palm Island Resort.
Low tide on the Gulf of Mexico on Palm Island Beach during sunset.
Palm Island Resort has plenty of beach houses right on the beach.
The roads in the Palm Island Resort are unpaved shell roads mostly used by golf carts and bicycles.
Cruising through the Palm Island Resort in a golf cart. Resort guests leave their cars in the resort parking lot. A few service trucks are the only vehicles seen in the resort.
The shells on Palm Island Resort beaches offer many species, but the most common is the ark shell.
For those not staying directly on the beach, a bicycle is often the preferred way to arrive.
The road through the Palm Island Resort ends right here at Stump Pass. Across the pass is Stump Pass State Park, accessible from Englewood Beach.
Dogs are not allowed on the beaches in the Palm Island Resort, but they are generally tolerated on Don Pedro Island and Little Gasparilla Island, two other islands in this archipelago.
Shorebird Stewards and Charlotte County biologists survey nesting birds at Stump Pass.
Parts of the beach are off limits to humans during nesting season.
Palm Island Resort properties are meticulously maintained and beautifully landscaped.
Although the beach sand on Palm Island is largely pure white quartz crystals, it also contains enough dark fossilized material to make it look like gray sand. The amount of broken shell in the sand is low. The sand is very clean.
