A few weeks ago, we decided to do something fun for Ayla as well as the rest of us, so we took a little drive to the Bonita Beach Dog Park. It’s less than 30 minutes drive from us (in off season) and a really cool place to go spend a morning, afternoon or whole day. The park is open from sunrise to sunset.
bonita-beach-dog-park_01

The dog beach is located just off of 41 when you’re heading north from Naples (the physical address is 8800 Estero Blvd, Fort Myers Beach, FL, 33931 for your navigation system), before you reach Lovers Key. You’ll cross onto Big Hickory Island and it’s on the left just before you leave the island. Parking is right next to the entrance and free.

Visiting Bonita Beach Dog Park

It’s requested that you have your dogs on leash when you go in and out, which is the narrowest part of the beach. And if you forget your short leash, you can borrow one. Dogs are welcome to frolic and play off leash once on the beach.  This is an unsupervised facility so you are responsible for yourself, your dog, and it’s behavior. The future of this wonderful facility depends upon your ability to self-monitor. And obviously, if you dog is sick, he should not be brought here.
bonita-beach-dog-park_02

When you go towards the beach, don’t be surprised to see tidal pools that you’ll need to wade through when you go to the beach. At low tide, they’re only about ankle deep and can sometimes be mostly avoided, but they’re warm and a bit funky feeling so just be aware. At high tide, the water rises so much that this area is flooded and you may actually have to wade through waist-high water to get to the beach. But the good news is, those warm tidal pools are getting flushed regularly, just like the random poop that people leave behind.

When you get to the beach, this is what you’ll find:
bonita-beach-dog-park_07

There were lots of dogs and owners at the beach that day in late April and everyone was very nice. The dogs were also very well behaved despite there being several “fighting” breeds. Many of them are super inquisitve and will just wander over to you – and you may need to watch for running dogs from time to time. But everything was fully peaceful and happy while there. And we saw a LOT of big dogs which we thought was great.

bonita-beach-dog-park_12

The beach area is partitioned off by mangrove trees and there’s not a huge beach. But it was plenty of space for people to lounge in their chairs and for Mackenzie to build a tower, so everyone was happy. And if you’re more adventurous, you can swim over to another island if you choose (according to one person we met, you used to be able to walk to it in the past) and have your own private beach. We were a little ill prepared, so we didn’t have our swim suits with us. Ayla did consider giving it a try, despite there being a rather strong current running between the two stretches of beach.
bonita-beach-dog-park_09

You can also approach the beach by boat and there were several boaters nearby. You’ll have to wade ashore a bit, but if you’re bringing  a massive pontoon party boat with a water slide, my guess is you’ll probably just want to hang out there…
Visiting Bonita Beach Dog Park

Ayla had a great time although it took her a little while to realize that it was indeed ok for her to go in the water and stay there. She usually gets yelled out for trying to swim in ponds around here, so this was something totally different for her. bonita-beach-dog-park_13

But once she understood, she was swimming around and having a great time. She didn’t care too much to play with the other dogs but the people there were fascinated by her since there aren’t too many Newfies in SW Florida.

bonita-beach-dog-park_11 bonita-beach-dog-park_10

Eventually all Ayla wanted to do was lay in the water and relax. And thankfully, there’s plenty of room for that since the water is very shallow here and you can basically just sit or kneel up to 50 yards out in the water while the dogs frolic around you. I highly suggest taking a swim suit, lots of sunscreen, fresh water for you dog and drinks for yourself. Don’t forget your poop bags either. If you don’t bring it, you won’t find it there. There’s no kiosk or restrooms, although there is a portable toilet.

bonita-beach-dog-park_05

Once everyone is done frolicking, there’s a dog shower station to the left of the entrance as you approach (closer to the bridge) which was made possible by a private donor (thanks donor!) but please don’t use shampoo. It all runs into the mangroves and water right behind there and we want to keep everything pristine.

Visiting Bonita Beach Dog Park

We’re looking forward to our next visit and perhaps we’ll see you there!