Cayo Costa State Park

Cayo Costa is a barrier island park accessible only by boat or kayak. Florida State Parks gives its location as 4 nautical miles west of Pine Island, at 26.685789, -82.245381. The park is open 8 a.m. to sunset, 365 days a year, and the ranger station is open until 4 p.m. daily. The park's phone number is 941-759-2007.

The island is approximately 7 miles long, with nearly 9.5 miles of beach on the Gulf of America, and boaters may visit the beach daily from 8 a.m. to sunset.

Two notices stand on the park's own pages, and both matter to anyone planning to arrive on their own keel. Effective 28 July 2025, ferry services and overnight accommodations at Cayo Costa State Park are currently unavailable; the park remains open daily from 8 a.m. to sunset for those with private vessels. So this is a day stop by boat, not a place to book a cabin or step off a ferry.

Effective 22 June 2026, the park reports a precautionary boil water notice in effect at Cayo Costa State Park due to power outages and loss of pressure. The park lists bathroom facilities as available and accessible, but that notice is the park's own word on the water that goes with them – worth knowing before you plan to top up a tank or fill bottles ashore. Both notices were on the park's pages when this page was checked.

Admission is $2 per person. How you pay changed recently: effective 5 October 2026, the park says entrance fees are now paid at the Remote Off Grid Kiosk (ROK) or through the visitor service provider at the park entrance in Pelican Bay. The park's hours and fees page adds that correct change is required for the honor box.

Correct change on an island with no ferry and a ranger station that shuts at 4 p.m. is the kind of detail worth sorting out before you leave the boat.

Sea turtle nesting season begins in May and continues through October, which covers a good part of the cruising year here. Pets are allowed in the park but not on the beaches or in the cabin area, and must be kept on a 6-foot, hand-held leash.

One distance figure on the park's pages is easy to misread, so it is worth saying exactly where it belongs: among the rules the park sets out for scuba diving is keeping a minimum distance of 50 feet between you and manatees at all times. That line is written for divers in the park's diving rules. The park publishes no general manatee distance for boats at anchor on these pages, and we do not stretch it into one.