Walk the length of Hickory Boulevard this month and you will pass the same scene close to a dozen times: a small paved turnout, a chain slung across a boardwalk entrance, and Gulf water that looks exactly the way it should twenty feet past the barrier. The sand at Bonita Beach has looked right for well over a year now. Getting to it legally, at most of the numbered access points along the island, still has not been that simple.
Hurricane Ian hit in September 2022. Most conversations about storm recovery on this coast have long since moved past it. On Little Hickory Island, the practical experience in August 2026 tells a more specific story, and it is not the one you would guess from the beach itself.
The Sand Came Back First
Beach nourishment crews working under a Lee County contract spent roughly mid-October 2024 through mid-June 2025 pumping Gulf-sourced sand across 1.1 miles of Lovers Key State Park shoreline and another 0.8 miles at the north end of Bonita Beach, rebuilding stretches that Ian had eroded down to almost nothing. The county priced the broader effort, which touched several segments of Bonita and Fort Myers Beach, at more than $44 million, split between state grants, FEMA reimbursement, Tourist Development Tax revenue, and the City of Bonita Springs' own budget.
None of that money touched the boardwalks, pavilions, or restroom buildings residents actually need to reach the new sand. Those structures were damaged by the same storm, and they sat in an entirely different funding queue. That is the gap most people miss when they hear the beach has been "restored."
Two Contracts, Two Different Kinds of Fix
The queue finally moved this summer. Lee County commissioners approved a $6.95 million contract with O-A-K/Florida Inc. in mid-June 2026 to repair and restore three sites: Bonita Beach Park, Bonita Beach Access No. 1, and Little Hickory Island Beach Park, which carries the numbered designation Access No. 10. The scope covers boardwalks, pavilions, showers, landscaping, and parking areas at all three, plus a brand-new restroom building at Little Hickory Island Beach Park and repairs to the existing restrooms and county office at Bonita Beach Park.
A second, smaller contract worth $1.1 million went to Marine Contracting Group Inc. for eight boardwalks damaged by Ian across three separate county locations. Five of those eight sit on Bonita Beach: Accesses 3, 4, 5, 8, and 9. The other three cover Fort Myers Beach Access No. 41 and the Bunche Beach Boardwalk and Fishing Platform A.
Read the two contracts side by side and a pattern shows up that the beach-conditions page alone will not tell you. The south end of the island, at Bonita Beach Park and Access 1, and the north end, at Little Hickory Island Beach Park, are getting full rebuilds: new restroom facilities, showers, pavilions, parking. The five accesses in the middle stretch of Hickory Boulevard are only getting their boardwalks put back. No showers. No restroom work mentioned in the scope. Just a path back to the sand. Accesses 2, 6, and 7 do not appear by name in either contract, which means there is no confirmed timeline for them yet.
If you have ever wondered why regulars keep driving past a closer, technically-reopened access point to park at Bonita Beach Park instead, this is the answer. The middle of the island is being restored as a walkway. The two ends are being restored as destinations.
| Location | Status this summer | What the current contracts cover |
|---|---|---|
| Bonita Beach Park & Access 1 (south end) | Open | Restroom and county office repairs, parking, landscaping |
| Little Hickory Island Beach Park / Access 10 (north end) | Still closed | New restroom building, rebuilt boardwalk and pavilion |
| Accesses 3, 4, 5, 8, 9 (middle stretch) | Still closed | Boardwalk reconstruction only |
| Accesses 2, 6, 7 | Still closed | Not named in either current contract |
The status column above matches Visit Fort Myers' own beach-conditions page, updated in late June 2026, which puts it plainly:
Bonita Beach Accesses 2-10 are still closed.
That line has not changed as of this writing.
What This Means If You Live Here Now
The functional consequence is simpler than the contract language: right now, the entire island funnels through one working entrance. Bonita Beach Park and Access 1, at the south end, are the only spot with open parking, working restrooms, and a paved lot. Everyone walking, biking, or driving to the sand from a home in the middle of Hickory Boulevard is routing through that same south-end lot, because the north-end alternative at Little Hickory Island Beach Park is still fenced off while its new restroom building goes up.
Heading north instead is not really an option either. Lovers Key State Park, just past the island's northern tip, still has its hiking trails closed per the same conditions page, so that overflow route is off the table for the moment too.
A few things worth knowing before you load up the car this month:
- The only access point with full parking, restrooms, and showers is Bonita Beach Park and Access 1, charging $2 per hour through mobile payment.
- Little Hickory Island Beach Park (Access 10) stays closed while its new restroom building is under construction, part of the $6.95 million contract.
- Accesses 3, 4, 5, 8, and 9 have boardwalk repair money committed, but no public reopening date has been announced.
- Sargassum can show up on Gulf beaches with little warning in late summer, and conditions shift day to day, so a quick check before you drive over saves a wasted trip.
After the Beach
Doc's Beach House has stayed put through all of it. The landmark restaurant at 27908 Hickory Blvd sits steps from Bonita Beach Park, open daily from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., with two floors of dining plus a beach-level concession window for anyone who would rather eat with sand still on their feet. It has been the reliable stop at the working end of the island since before the storm, and it still is.
Elsewhere in Bonita Springs, Coconut Jack's Waterfront Grille has been voted Bonita's best waterfront restaurant every year from 2011 through 2023, and Royal Scoop, the oldest homemade ice cream shop in Bonita Springs, has been serving since 1979. Neither depends on which access point happens to be open this week, which is part of why they have outlasted a few hurricanes' worth of construction fencing.
One Working Mile
There is no published date yet for when the five middle boardwalks reopen or when Little Hickory's new restroom building is finished. What changed this summer is that the money is finally committed, after nearly four years of the beach itself being ready before the paths to it were. For now, the practical map of Bonita Beach is smaller than the island itself: one open lot at the south end, everything else waiting on a contractor.
If you're weighing what a home along this stretch of Hickory Boulevard is actually worth while its access points are mid-repair, that's exactly the kind of local read The Grant Group works through with buyers and owners every week. Request a private consultation and we'll walk you through what's happening block by block, not just island-wide.
