Do We Beach House

Fort Myers Beach gets a free, open-to-everyone celebration of the bay that shapes island life on Saturday, Sept. 19. The Estero Island Historic Society and the Ostego Bay Foundation are joining forces for National Estuaries Week with Estero Bay: Our History, Our Water, Our Future, from 10 a.m. to noon at 161 Bay Road.

The morning opens with a screening of WGCU’s documentary Preserving Our Waters, which follows the story of the Estero Bay Aquatic Preserve — Florida’s first, established in 1966 — and the community effort that helped make it a model for the state’s system of aquatic preserves. After the film, local historians and environmental experts will take questions on the bay’s wildlife, water quality, and history.

Weather permitting, the program finishes with a guided walk into Matanzas Pass Preserve, where guests can see the island’s mangrove ecosystem up close and learn how estuaries shelter fish, shrimp, and birds while helping buffer the coast. It’s a real chance to understand what makes this stretch of Southwest Florida so special — and admission is free.

Whether you’ve lived on the island for years or are just discovering it, it’s a great way to spend a late-summer morning on Fort Myers Beach.

Source: Beach Talk Radio News — “Celebrating National Estuaries Week”