The beach is back. The island tract of Don Pedro Island State Park reopened on March 6, 2026, and its 1-mile stretch of white sand between Knight Island and Little Gasparilla Island is open again from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., every day of the year. The current Florida State Parks notice still lists the dock and facilities as unavailable. As the Boca Beacon reported in March, that leaves access by private craft or kayak only.
For anyone who keeps a boat at Gasparilla Marina on Gasparilla Road in Placida, that sounds like a temporary gap. The state's planning documents describe something more lasting. The draft plan for the island rebuilds the landing and leaves out the restroom, and it rules out ferries. Don Pedro is being planned as a beach you reach on your own boat and leave the way you found it.
What reopened on March 6, and what stayed closed
The storms took the island apart in stages. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection's draft management plan says Hurricane Ian damaged island infrastructure in 2022. Hurricanes Helene and Milton then destroyed the island's pavilion, restroom, shed and storage area in 2024. The island tract stayed closed while the mainland unit remained open.
Here is how the island's pieces line up today against what the draft plan proposes.
| Island feature | Status as of October 2026 | Draft management plan |
|---|---|---|
| Bayside visitor dock and boat slips | Unavailable | Replace boat slips |
| Paddlecraft landing | Unavailable | Replace |
| Paths from dock to Gulf beach | Not specified | Repair on-grade paths |
| Pavilion | Destroyed in 2024 | Provide "sheltered space" and interpretive elements |
| Restroom | Destroyed in 2024 | Remove |
| 1-mile Gulf beach | Open, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. | Not addressed |
The last two rows on the built side carry the story. The plan rebuilds what gets a boat to the sand and does not rebuild what made the island a full-service day park.
The plan writes the restroom out
DEP reviewed the draft plans at an advisory group meeting on April 9, 2026, and accepted written comments through August 10, 2026. The public did ask for amenities. The meeting record includes a request for bathrooms and picnic pavilions on Don Pedro Island. In response, the record notes that the barrier-island setting leaves such structures "highly vulnerable to storm damage, including the potential for scattered structural debris and high repair costs," and that any new facilities would have to be elevated under code.
DEP's written answer in the Public and Inter-Agency Participation Report is direct:
While reconstruction of shelter and restroom amenities on Don Pedro Island State Park - Island tract was considered, resilience priorities dictate that such infrastructure is not suitable for this vulnerable environment.
That response sits uneasily beside the draft plan's own line about providing visitors with "sheltered space." The two documents don't yet say the same thing about shade. On the restroom they agree: the draft plan says remove it, and the response says it won't be rebuilt.
None of this is final. The management plan is still a draft, and it gives no construction schedule and no reopening date for the slips, the landing, the paths or any shelter. What the record does show is the direction the state is leaning. It favors a lighter footprint on a low island that has now lost its buildings twice.
No ferry, so the boat is the ticket
The same DEP response settles a second question. Increasing visitor access to Don Pedro Island by ferry "would necessitate additional infrastructure that is considered unsustainable and unsuitable for this vulnerable environment." No ferry or water taxi currently serves the island.
That leaves private boats and paddlecraft as the way across, and the approach has always been shallow. Florida State Parks directs boaters to the channel south of the Cape Haze power line crossing and warns that it runs only 2.5 feet deep, so idle speed is the rule. With the dock unavailable, the state has not published guidance on where to beach or anchor instead. Before planning a landing on either side of the island, the park office at 941-759-2007 is the source to check.
There are options that don't require your own hull. The park manager's page names SUP Englewood as the park's paddling concession, offering kayak and paddleboard rentals, guided eco-tours and lessons. SUP Englewood's own page for its Don Pedro Island guided kayak tour, dated April 2025, describes a beginner-friendly trip of 2 to 2.5 hours. Depending on tide and wind, the route may visit a mangrove tunnel or the beach side of the island. On the mainland, the park's 100-acre land base at 8450 Placida Road in Cape Haze has a kayak launch, fishing dock, nature trails and a picnic shelter. The fee there is $3 per vehicle, paid by QR code. The draft plan has changes in store there too. It would make the paddlecraft launch pedestrian-access only and consider phased removal of the Lemon Bay dock as that structure becomes inoperable.
For a mainland restroom and a ramp near the marina, Charlotte County's Placida Park at 6499 Boca Grande Causeway lists a boat ramp, paddling access and restroom or portable toilet facilities.
The same logic runs through the rest of the chain
Don Pedro is not unusual among its neighbors. Charlotte County's Thornton Key Preserve covers more than 31 acres in the middle of Thornton Key, an island in Lemon Bay south of Stump Pass and east of Palm Island. The county calls it one of the few protected examples of tropical hardwood hammock left in Southwest Florida, with rare plants, mangrove swamp, salt barrens and herbaceous marsh. It has no mainland access. The county describes public access by watercraft, with birding, paddling and a nature trail listed among its amenities.
Much of the hands-on work on these islands falls to the Bocilla Islands Conservancy, a public nonprofit working across Don Pedro, Knight, Little Gasparilla and Thornton Key. It uses land acquisition, conservation easements, shoreline restoration and environmental education. Its recent projects follow the same instinct as the state plan, with more planting and less building:
- 47 Tarpon Way, Placida. The Conservancy acquired the property in December 2025. Donations are paying down the purchase and supporting habitat restoration, shoreline resilience and education on the site.
- Palm Island living shoreline. Planned with the Charlotte Harbor Environmental Center and Keep Charlotte Beautiful, the project plants native mangroves, sea grape, buttonwood and cordgrass alongside existing riprap. The Conservancy says permits were approved and a CHEC grant supports the work, which was planned for summer 2026. Completion has not been confirmed.
- Marine & Pollinator Park, also called Driftwood Park, at 181 Bocilla Drive. The park holds 20 mini reefs, and a driftwood bench leads to a dock where visitors can see the Conservancy's ongoing oyster restoration work. Nearby, the Eco-Educational Island Conservancy Park, known as the Gnome Garden, sits at 160 Gasparilla Way.
- Bat & Wildlife Natural Habitat Preserve at 24 Bayshore Circle. Bat houses and interpretive signs went up there through a Girl Scout Silver Award project after storms damaged natural roosting habitat.
The Conservancy's cleanup team reports removing about 10 tons of construction debris and 6 tons of vegetation from the islands. That is the same "scattered structural debris" the state's planners hope to avoid creating again on Don Pedro.
On the beach itself, the Conservancy's shorebird guidance asks visitors to respect posted nesting zones, stay 300 feet away, keep pets away and avoid the upper beach where birds nest. Its sea turtle page credits Coastal Wildlife Club volunteers with beach monitoring and gives boaters advice on avoiding collisions.
On the calendar this fall
The Conservancy's events listing brings some of this work ashore in the coming weeks:
- October 14, 2026: a public hearing on the Conservancy's proposed Conservancy Center and community meeting hall at 130 Gasparilla Way.
- October 17, 2026, noon to 2 p.m.: a culinary fundraiser at Scarpa's Coastal, 321 Park Ave., Boca Grande. It includes handmade gnocchi, a berry mojito demonstration and a chef-prepared coastal lunch, with proceeds going to conservation. The Boca Beacon listed the event in its October 8 edition.
- October 30, 2026: a bat talk and walk.
- November 13, 2026: Casino Night.
Charlotte County's separate beach and dune renourishment project for Don Pedro and Knight Island deals with sand, not the park's dock or buildings. It shouldn't be read as a repair timeline for the island landing. Until the state publishes a schedule for the slips, the island stays as the March 6 notice describes it: open, with no dock and no facilities.
If the islands across from Placida are part of how you spend your weekends on the water, Jeff Moore and The Moore Team can walk you through which waterfront addresses put Don Pedro, Thornton Key and the rest of the chain within an easy run. Book a Private Consultation.
