Islands of the World #3: Pine Island

From Wikipedia:

Pine Island is an island located in Lee County, Florida, on the Gulf coast of southwest Florida. The Intracoastal Waterway passes through Pine Island Sound, to the west of the island. Matlacha Pass runs between Pine Island and the mainland. Pine Island lies west of Cape Coral.

Geography
Unlike the sandy barrier islands of Sanibel to the south, Captiva to the southwest, and North Captiva to the west, Pine Island is made from the same coral rock as the mainland. Sanibel owes its unique shrimp-like shape (and orientation perpendicular to the coast) to being on the leeward side of the Gulf Stream from Pine Island.

Communities
Pine Island is home to four unincorporated towns: Pine Island Center, Bokeelia, Pineland, and St. James City. Matlacha is also considered one of the communities, but is actually on its own small island. Bokeelia is at the north end of the island, at the mouth of Charlotte Harbor.

Ecology
Pine Island is also home to Matlacha Pass National Wildlife Refuge. Little Pine Island is a state-owned wildlife refuge, currently being "de-developed" and returned to its natural state. Ospreys, herons, egrets and ibises, and, roseate spoonbills are often seen, as well as owls, hawks, bald eagles, and songbirds.

The local form of the marsh rice rat has been recognized in some classifications as a separate subspecies, Oryzomys palustris planirostris.[1]

History
Skeletons unearthed on the island have been dated to about 6000 years ago. The Calusa are thought to have inhabited Pine Island since around the year 300, with a cultural center called Tampa (or Tanpa or Toempe) at the mound-site now known as Pineland, where an archaeological dig is underway. Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León landed near the city in 1513, and careened his ship for repairs in Pine Island Sound. After the Calusa empire collapsed in the 1700s due to war and diseases, the island was only sparsely inhabited until the 1870's.

Hurricanes
Pine Island was hit hard in 2004 when Hurricane Charley passed through the area.