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CAPTIVA - The ritzy barrier islands that Hurricane Charley pummeled first before raging across the state appear to have survived far better than their neighbors farther inland.
Although damage assessments had yet to be completed for the islands Sunday night, Lee County officials said they were confident that damage could be repaired and the islands could recover their identity as an idyllic vacation getaway.
"Nearly all (buildings) had some damage, but it was varying degrees, because these are big homes and well-put-together homes," said Pat O'Rourke, spokeswoman for the Lee County Emergency Operations Center. "It's a matter of the integrity of the structures."
While many resort homes on Captiva and North Captiva Island saw some damage, most lost rooftops, not walls. A St. Petersburg Times reporter and photographer who toured the area in a boat noted some damage to homes on the tip of North Captiva Island but not to the extent of those damaged in Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte.
The hurricane punched a new water pass, several hundred yards long, splitting North Captiva Island, where posh homes can be reached only by private boats and planes. North Captiva Island had been similarly broken off from Captiva Island many years ago by another hurricane, O'Rourke said. It's unclear whether the pass will remain permanently.
The South Seas Resort at the north end of Captiva Island had some damage, but again, the structure of the homes and hotels that make up the resort appeared intact, according to several condo owners reached by phone.
On Sanibel Island, trees and limbs caused most of the island's damage, officials said. Enforcement of Sanibel's strict building codes over the years prepared the island for the disaster, City Manager Judie Zimomra said.
"Overall, we've not had the major structural damage, the surge damage, nor the fatalities, but we have extremely heavy vegetation in the street," Zimomra said. "The investments we made in planning for our community have been in good stead here."
On upscale Useppa Island, damage was also minimal.
However, the north side of Pine Island fared far worse, according to reports from several Pine Island residents who toured the area Saturday and Sunday. Two mobile home parks and several marinas on the Bokeelia side of Pine Island were devastated.
"We're talking power lines across the road, trailers flipped on their sides, upside-down cars," said Caine Kaar, who had recently moved off Pine Island but visited Saturday. "It was completely different compared to what I saw in Cape Coral. I went from "Oh, my God, oh, my God,' to "Holy s---,' when I saw Pine Island."
The waters of Pine Island Sound, normally crowded with boaters on a weekend, were deserted Sunday morning. Channel markers had been stripped of signage and uprooted Australian pine trees littered the shallows.
Debris - from roof trusses to tree trunks - littered the water, making it dangerous for boaters to travel at any speed. A boat that stopped to inspect the new pass formed by the storm on North Captiva Island near Foster Bay was circled by a helicopter, and within minutes the boaters were stopped and questioned by three officers from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission on the lookout for looters.
"If you set foot on shore, you will be trespassing and subject to arrest," said an officer who refused to be identified. "These islands are off limits."