Pelican Landing

Pelican Landing sits in Bonita Springs, in Lee County, west of US 41 on the water of Estero Bay, over 2,300 acres of lakes, cypress hammock and preserved wetland. Two gates serve it, north off Pelican Colony Boulevard and south off Pelican's Nest Drive. Coconut Point is 0.6 miles from the northern gate, Fifth Avenue South in Naples 16.2 miles from the southern.

The beach park is what most changes a decision here. The community association owns 34 acres at the northern end of Big Hickory Island. Access is by shuttle boat across Estero Bay. No club membership and no separate beach membership is involved, because ownership carries association membership.

How does the island beach park work?

Ownership is not in doubt: "The 34-acre beach park is owned and maintained by the Pelican Landing Community." Big Hickory is a barrier island, the Gulf on one side and Estero Bay, "Florida's first aquatic preserve", on the other. Nearly 32 of the 34 acres sit under a conservation easement.

The shuttle boat crosses from Coconut Point Marina in 12 minutes. The association's line is "As an owner, the choice is yours, 364 days a year." There's no food or drink service out there, so lunch crosses the bay with you.

What is the difference between Pelican Landing and The Colony?

One name, two parcels. The association's words are that the community "is comprised of two parcels, Phase I (Pelican Landing) and Phase II (The Colony at Pelican Landing)". Phase I started in 1989 and is long finished. Phase II started in the late 1990s, holds the high-rise towers, and still has new construction going up inside it. The housing is "low-rise condos, attached or detached villas, cottages, estate homes, and high-rise condos with views over the Gulf of Mexico".

The Colony runs its own association, The Colony Foundation, and counts just over 1,000 residences. The Colony Foundation says its residents reach the Pelican Landing beach park, community center, fitness center and tennis center. The Bay Club, a dining building on Estero Bay, belongs to The Colony, and a Phase I buyer does not get it.

Do you have to pay for golf?

No. "Golf here is completely optional", the association says, and "all costs are funded by club members". Three 18-hole courses sit across two clubs, neither part of the community association.

The Nest Golf Club runs two Tom Fazio courses, the Hurricane and the Gator. Membership is Full Golf or Social, and neither dues nor availability is published. It isn't "directly affiliated with the Pelican Landing Community Association", and "You don't need to live in Pelican Landing to enjoy everything our club has to offer." So a home here does not put you in the club.

The Colony Golf & Country Club is a member-owned Jerry Pate course, 18 holes. Full Golf is capped at "just 275 Full Golf Members". In September 2026 the status line under Golf Membership read "Fully Committed", and the route in for a Sports Member is the Golf in Waiting Program. Sports Membership is not golf: it carries "Limited golf in-season (maximum of 6 rounds per person, November-April) and unlimited golf May-October." Six rounds is the whole winter.

What can an owner use here?

The association says it twice, in the same words: "With the exception of the country clubs and golf, access to all amenities is included with your annual HOA assessment, which also covers basic cable, internet and 24/7 privacy."

Behind that sentence: 12 Har-Tru tennis courts with seven lit for night play, six pickleball courts, two bocce courts and a Wellness Center of 4,200 square feet. The Sailing Center keeps a Hobie Wave, an American 18 and ten Sunfish for owners "who have demonstrated sailing proficiency".

Boat slips "can be leased" at the Pelican Landing-owned Coconut Point Marina and at the Red Fish Docks behind Pelican's Nest Golf Club. Leased is the verb, and slip counts, size limits and the wait are not published.

What does it cost?

The association publishes its own fee schedule.

• Annual assessment, around $3,500, due at the start of the year.
• Resale capital assessment, around $6,000, payable at closing. Raised before, so confirm what applies to yours.
• Special assessments have landed on top of the annual figure before. Ask whether one is in force.

The resale capital assessment falls on the buyer, at closing, unless buyer and seller expressly agree otherwise. The board moves the amount, so work from the figure for your own closing year. Dozens of neighborhoods inside the gates run their own associations and charge their own assessments beside it.

Can you lease it out, and can you bring a dog?

Leasing turns on the neighborhood. An owner in a neighborhood with its own association may lease four times a year, and where there is none, once. Thirty days is the minimum either way, and a neighborhood may be stricter and never looser. Which side of that line an address sits on decides what a rental plan is worth.

Pets run to two per home, dogs or cats or other usual and common domesticated household pets, fish excepted.

The community was originally Pelican's Nest, and the association changed its name in 1990. That's why the southern gate is on Pelican's Nest Drive, why the Red Fish Docks sit behind Pelican's Nest Golf Club, and why both names still turn up on paperwork.