Gopher Walk

Only 12 home sites make up the Gopher Walk community along West Gulf Drive and Gopher Walk Way. With the beach just across the street, owners can easily go for daily beach walks along some of Sanibel's most private sandy stretches along the Gulf of Mexico. Gopher Walk is named for the Gopher Tortoise which is a turtle that digs burrows in high sandy ground. A Gopher Tortoise burrow can be home to as many as 250 different species of animals and they are very important to an area's ecology.

FUN FACT: A Gopher Tortoise is known as a Keystone Species. What does that mean? In masonry, the keystone is the stone in an arch that keeps the entire structure from collapsing. Likewise in nature, the Gopher Tortoise is key to the survival of many other species. Gopher Tortoise burrows can be home to more than 350 other species. They are considered a threatened species in the state of Florida, and many live here on Sanibel and Captiva Islands.