West Coast Of Fla. On Points

[walter]

Has anyone used their points to stay at a Fla. west coast resort along the beach? We would prefer a development 3 stories or less in height including cottages,etc. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Lisa P.]

We traded another timeshare resort into Charter Club on Marco Beach (Marco Island, FL) through RCI and had a wonderful beach vacation overlooking the Gulf sunsets. We thoroughly enjoyed sailing, fishing, crabbing, swimming, dolphin & manatee watching, walking and a half-day visit to the Everglades for an airboat thrill ride. The Gulf beachfront there is sprawling and warm. Hope to return someday.

Just down the block was Eagle's Nest Resort, which trades through II and also overlooks the Gulf sunsets. We looked around this resort's grounds and thought it would offer a very pleasant resort vacation - attractively landscaped & maintained, nice pool area, etc. The main building is much higher than 3 stories though, with fewer stories in the cottage or wing buildings.

The beach area at both resorts offers rentals on beach lounge chairs, unbrellas, sailboats and jet-ski-type boats. Most of the beach front is only accessible to guests staying at a beachfront resort so it wouldn't get jam-packed. The nearest public access beach is blocks away.

If you are able to trade into a resort on Captiva or Sanibel Island, those are very desirable. The beaches are not as sprawling as Marco's but the whole island is so lush, green & pretty - terrific bicycling and a very conservative, upscale feel to the shops, restaurants and local neighborhoods. Again, beach access is restricted. We only drove around to look. This is a tough trade since, like DVC, owners rarely deposit exchange weeks with II.