South Seas Island Resort
South Seas Island Resort is a resort located on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico in the community of Captiva on Captiva Island, in Lee County, Florida. The original resort, South Seas Plantation, was opened in 1946 as a fishing resort by Clarence Chadwick, following a dry hurricane which ended commercial farming on the island. Chadwick owned much of Captiva and portions of nearby Sanibel, making his fortune inventing the Checkprinter in the 1920s. His heirs sold the property to Mariner Properties in 1966, which began the modern era of the resort. The original Plantation house, suffering from termites and wood rot, was demolished in the 1990s.
In 2004 South Seas was seriously damaged by Hurricane Charley, and was renovated and reconstructed in the two following years. South Seas Resort is managed by Interstate Hotels & Resorts, the largest management company of independent hotels in the world.
The resort was closed for 18 months after Hurricane Charley and reopened slowly in March 2006.
