Coming out of Gordon Pass, the first beach to port is Keewaydin. It runs eight miles toward Marco Island with no bridge, no road, and almost no development. Most of the island belongs to the State of Florida and is managed by the Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. From a Port Royal dock it's close to a back-door beach. But how that beach looks in a given week depends less on weather than on schedules set by the Reserve, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the island's commercial operators.
In the first week of November, several of those schedules point the same way. The Reserve's shorebird restrictions are over. The hop-on shuttle out of Naples Bay hasn't come back yet. The sand at the north end was pumped there last fall out of Gordon Pass. And the Corps has just opened comments on the next dredge, which runs through November 12.
The sand off Gordon Pass came from the channel you just ran
Gordon Pass has been dredged since it was first cut in 1960, and the Corps says it was most recently maintained in 2025. That job went to Southwind Construction Corp. of Evansville, Indiana, under a $3,045,784.37 Corps contract awarded September 2, 2025. It covered cuts 1 through 7 of the pass and its settling basin. The Corps planned to place about 65,000 cubic yards of beach-compatible material on Keewaydin, in the beach placement area south of the pass.
The work went ahead. DredgeWire reported that Southwind crews were pumping dredged sand onto Keewaydin over Thanksgiving weekend 2025, drawing from the mouth of the inlet channel. While the dredge was working, a Coast Guard Local Notice to Mariners listed Gordon Pass Channel Buoy 1 and Light 3 as discontinued. It warned boaters about dredging vessels and a submerged pipeline, and gave December 31, 2025 as the estimated completion date.
The previous cycle shows how often this comes around. A Corps fact sheet from May 2025 says the maintenance before that was finished in August 2020. That round put about 87,000 cubic yards from Cut 1 and the settling basin onto Keewaydin south of the inlet. So about five years passed between dredges. Each time, sand that drifted into the pass went back onto the beach just south of it, the stretch Port Royal boats reach first.
What the calendar changed since summer
The Reserve's rules shift during the year, and the boundaries between them fall in late summer and fall. Here is how Keewaydin and the waters nearby stand for a trip in early November, according to Rookery Bay's visitor guidance:
- Shorebird restrictions, March through August. Nesting shorebirds bring restricted access at Keewaydin Island, Morgan Beach, NEW BEACH, and Second Chance Shoal during those months. That period ended with August. The Reserve still asks visitors to respect any posted closure.
- Camping south of San Marco Road, reopened November 1. Designated sites south of San Marco Road close April 1 through October 31 for nesting sea turtles and shorebirds, then reopen November 1 through March 31. That includes Cape Romano, Camp Lulu, and Hog Key.
- Keewaydin camping, open all year. The Reserve north of San Marco Road, Keewaydin included, stays open to camping year-round unless posted. Sites are first-come, first-served, and no permit is needed.
- Second Chance, a separate case. The sandbar some people call Shell Island was closed March 1 through August 31, 2026, and camping there is closed all year.
The commercial schedule hasn't caught up yet. Sand Dollar Boat Tours says its Naples Bay Water Shuttle is on its off-season break and returns Thanksgiving weekend 2026. Its other boats keep running shelling, dolphin, sunset, and private trips in the meantime. For roughly three weeks, the nesting restrictions are over and the hop-on shuttle hasn't restarted. For anyone with a boat tied up in Port Royal, those three weeks are the in-between stretch.
The next dredge is proposed south of the pass, and comments close November 12
On October 13, 2026, the Corps' Jacksonville District posted a draft environmental assessment and proposed Finding of No Significant Impact for the federal channel between Naples and Big Marco Pass. Comments are due November 12, 2026, according to the district's environmental documents register. It's a proposal at the review stage. No dredging is underway.
The draft describes the preferred plan this way:
"maintenance dredging of the Naples to Big Marco Pass and Uncontrolled Channels to the authorized depth of 6 feet MLLW plus 1 foot of allowable overdepth. Material will be placed on Sand Dollar Island, the Rookery Islands Sand Bar Complex, Key Island, or Keewaydin Island as appropriate based on dredged material compatibility and placement capacity."
The plan covers Cuts J through O and Uncontrolled Channel Cuts 1 through 3. Those are the stretches near Big Marco Pass and along the "uncontrolled" inside route, which follows naturally deep water instead of a fixed alignment. The Coast Guard flagged those segments for maintenance in 2024. The draft also says Big Marco Pass hasn't been maintained since it was first built, because there were few places to put the sand and shoaling there is slow.
For a Port Royal boater, two details matter. First, Gordon Pass isn't in this project; the draft ends at the cuts below it, and the pass itself was done in 2025. Second, Keewaydin is again on the list of placement sites. The draft describes possible nearshore placement between Florida Department of Environmental Protection monuments R-90 and R-94. The beach just south of the pass got last year's sand from the north. If this plan moves forward, the island could also get sand dredged from the inside channel to the south.
The run out goes at the pace the water allows
Port Royal sits inside the same manatee protection zone as the rest of the route. Under Florida's Collier County manatee rule, Naples Bay, Gordon Pass, Admiralty Bay, Port Royal, Bartell Bay, and nearby waters are a year-round Slow Speed zone. The exception is the marked channel, where the rule allows 30 mph. That channel runs through Naples Bay from marker 33 south to marker 52, plus a defined channel inside Gordon Pass. The rule has no seasonal start date for this route, so November brings no new speed change here.
The FWC's Collier zone map calls itself a visual aid. It says its zone layout is accurate as of January 2021 and tells boaters to follow the signs posted on the water. The City of Naples manatee page points boaters to those same FWC maps and doesn't set a separate local schedule.
Once you're on the island, pack the boat with no services in mind. Keewaydin has no restrooms, shade, lifeguards, or fresh water, and Visit Naples asks visitors to take their trash home. The state's Buffer Preserve rule, which Rookery Bay applies to Keewaydin, lists the admission of unleashed domestic animals among its prohibitions, and the Reserve's current guidance names no off-leash area on the island. The rule's text also ties vessel operation in water bodies, wetlands, and low-lying areas inside preserve boundaries to posted signs. This post is general information, not legal advice. The rule texts and posted signs are the authority, and specific questions are best taken to FWC or the Reserve.
When the guests don't have a boat
November visitors often want the island without the logistics. Here are the options listed in Visit Naples' Keewaydin guide, updated October 16, 2026, with each one's departure point:
- Sweet Liberty Catamaran Sailing & Boat Tours leaves Naples City Dock at 9:30 a.m. on a 53-foot sailing catamaran. It spends about an hour on Keewaydin and is back by 12:30 p.m. Guests can bring their own snacks and drinks.
- Sand Dollar Shelling and Boat Tours leaves from Naples Bay Resort with no more than 12 guests and spends about two hours of each three-hour trip on the beach. The guide lists its shelling and dolphin trip from $125 per person.
- Pure Florida, at 1200 5th Ave S, runs a three-hour Dolphin Watch & Eco Shelling Tour through Naples Bay and Rookery Bay to a Keewaydin beach stop, listed from $80 per person. It also rents deck boats for up to 10 people, listed from $299 for four hours.
- Gulf Breeze Charters runs a drop-off shuttle with departures scheduled around the tides, from early morning to mid-afternoon. The meeting point comes with the booking confirmation.
- Only Tides Charters runs private trips for up to six people, including low-tide shelling charters. The captain brings a cooler, water, beach chairs, and shade.
Visit Naples' timing tip for Sand Dollar is a good fit for an early-November visit. It recommends the 8 a.m. trip for serious shellers, late morning for kids, and the 3 p.m. trip for the best photo light.
Whether you're weighing how a dock, lift, or seawall affects your own runs through Gordon Pass, or how the proposed channel dredging could change the water you use, I'm glad to go through the details with you. Josh Greenwald brings a builder's eye to Port Royal waterfront property, from the seawall to the slip. Schedule Your Free Consultation.
