Gasoline, water, ice, marine supplies, launching ramps, and some engine repairs can be obtained at the small piers near the bridge between West Island and the mainland.
Navigation:
Click the “Map View” button above to see a chart of Matlacha Pass.
The pass is navigable for drafts of 2 to 3 feet, but the channel, marked by private daybeacons, is narrow and crooked and has numerous oyster bars. This channel is not recommended without local knowledge as the hydrography in Matlacha Pass is from surveys made before 1900.
About 4 miles above the entrance at San Carlos Bay, the pass is crossed by an overhead power cable with a clearance of 47 feet over the channel and 32 feet over the rest of the pass. State Route 78 highway bridge connects Pine Island, Little Pine Island and West Island with the mainland. The section of the bridge between Little Pine Island and West Island is a 27-foot fixed span with a clearance of 4 feet and the section of the bridge be- tween West Island and the mainland is a bascule span with a clearance of 9 feet.
In 2010, a replacement bascule bridge between West Island and the mainland was under construction with a design clearance of 9.5 feet. An overhead power cable on the south side of the bascule bridge has a clearance of 56 feet.
