Your guide to Lee County neighborhoods: Lehigh to Sanibel

SANIBEL-CAPTIVA ISLANDS

An upside-down comma-shaped pair of islands west of Pine Island and northwest of Fort Myers Beach.

Accessible only by boat or the scenic chain of bridges that form the Sanibel Causeway, Sanibel and Captiva islands are a popular resort and sea-sonal destination for families, honeymooners and celebrities. Although last summer's Hurricane Charley brought down trees, including the Australian pines that shaded many roads and hid cottages from view, and damaged some homes, recovery and replanting efforts are well underway. Condo prices here have appreciated nearly 15 percent per year and start in the $200,000s for efficiency units with no view to more than $2 million for Gulf-front homes, according to Century 21's J.B. Novelli, an islander since 1984. Single-family homes start in the low $300,000s for near-beach locations and run in the millions for Gulf-front estates and styles ranging from simple cottages to contemporary and Spanish-Mediterranean mansions, including the $18.9 million former home of CIA Director Porter Goss, currently listed by Jane Reader Weaver of South Seas Sanibel & Captiva Properties. Single-family homes prices continue to increase an average of nearly 10 percent annually, says Novelli. The islands are also home to wealthy entrepreneurs and a growing number of families and full-time residents, including celebs like artist Robert Rauschenberg and Willard Scott.

Two-thirds of Sanibel, the first of the island chain, is nature preserve, most of it the 5,220-acre J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge. "Naples is more sophisticated and cosmopolitan," says Novelli. "Sanibel is more about the environment, the birds and the wildlife. We don't have Saks Fifth Avenue, but we do have Periwinkle Place, restaurants and theaters, and can take a day trip and go to the Naples Philharmonic and downtown to shop."

Lots are at a premium on Sanibel, which Novelli estimates is 98 percent built out and has fewer than 100 good buildable parcels. "You may have to buy and tear down," she says. Homesites run from the low $200,000s for a small, interior lot to the mid-$300,000s for golf course communities and upward of $2.5 million for Gulf-front.

Captiva, separated from Sanibel by a small stretch of water at Blind Pass, hides most of its multimillion-dollar homes behind thick drapes of foliage along Captiva Drive. Many of the homes, priced from around $2 million for an "in-town" villa on Andy Rosse Lane to $10 million for best-of-both-worlds Gulf-to-beach access, have names. North Captiva, an island of just 75 year-round residents, is separated from Captiva Island by the ribbon of water of Captiva Pass and is accessible only by boat. This secluded island offers 2.5 miles of beachfront, homesites and resales from modest cottages to beautiful Gulf-front homes.