Living on Sanibel and Captiva
Let the pros help you find your island home
Royal Shell Real Estate and South Seas Sanibel & Captiva Properties lead the pack in the business of buying and selling properties in paradise. The two agencies are equally delighted to share with prospective buyers the special beauties of island living. And both companies take full advantage of the new technological assist that digital marketing offers. It gives properties global coverage.
ROYAL SHELL REAL ESTATE
Customer service is Michael Polly’s calling card. “Royal Shell embraces a mission, to put our clients’ needs first,” Polly said. “We measure our success by the satisfaction of our clients.” Under Polly’s leadership, the company has grown from four employees, when it opened in 1997, to a 160-plus member team today, with 15 offices in Southwest Florida, one in Ocala and four in North Carolina. “Royal Shell has become the No. 1 brokerage in Lee County because our clients have put their trust in us—repeatedly, over time,” Polly said. “That is a super feeling.” Polly takes pleasure in assisting people “who want to find their own place in our paradise. We’ve helped buyers purchase multimillion-dollar beachfront compounds,” he said, “and we have helped families who, after visiting our islands for years, want to make a permanent home for their children on Sanibel, Captiva or anywhere in Southwest Florida. That’s the nature of my business, and it inspires me every day.”
SOUTH SEAS SANIBEL & CAPTIVA PROPERTIES
Prominent realtor for South Seas Sanibel & Captiva Properties, Marty Stokes is steeped in island living. Since early childhood, he has lived, off and on, on the islands, where his family first purchased property in the early 1900s. “My memories go back to before the causeway was built,” he said. “In the early days, we routinely harvested coconuts and Key limes, and wild boar and Key West deer were plentiful,” he added wistfully.
Marty’s dad, Marty, Sr., named Rabbit Road when it was still just a sand path, and his mother, Edith, during her association with the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge, initiated the program to protect the loggerhead sea turtles. “She was the first to patrol the beaches for turtles and turtle nests—and that program still exists,” he said proudly.
Marty attended the Sanibel school—sporadically. “My dad was in the military, so we moved around a lot.”
Returning permanently in 1969, Marty now calls Sanibel home. He has watched as the island has dramatically changed, “especially after it incorporated, in 1974,” he said. “The police department went from just one deputy to an entire force.”
Gulfside City Park and Tarpon Bay Beach are great for picnicking, and Bowman’s Beach and Blind Pass are perfect spots for serious shellers.
Sanibel and Captiva play host to a wide variety of real estate options. Marty pointed in particular to canal-front properties, Gulf- or bay-front estate homes, and such family communities as the Dunes, Gumbo Limbo, and Beachview. “These neighborhoods in the interior are great for growing kids and grandkids,” he said, “and homeowners can still access the water easily by bicycle or golf cart.”
Differentiating between the Sanibel and Captiva sister islands and other coastal resort communities is easy. The seascape along the causeway tells the tale. “The choppy waves, the dolphins at