Cape Coral Canals (house, taxes, to live in)

[monikac21]

there are more than 400 miles of canals in Cape Coral, that is more than Venice Italy has. Those Canals however don't all lead out to the Gulf of Mexico. Some of them are fresh water canals which lead to fresh water lakes, some of them are fresh water canals which don't lead nowhere. Others do lead out to the Gulf. If you think about purchasing a waterfront home, make sure you know if the canal is leading out to the Gulf or not. It is important for you if you are a boater but also in regards of the value of the home. Also if you are purchasing a home on a Gulf access Canal make sure you know how long it will take you (by boat) to get the the Gulf of Mexico and if you have to go thru a lock or not. If you want to purchase of own a sailboat or a boat with a fly bridge make sure that the bridges (if any) are high enough for your boat. Some of the canals in Cape Coral are deeper than other - here too, make sure you understand if (or that) the canal and the waterways you need to go thru to get out to the Gulf - are deep enough for your boat.

[gmendenhall]

The Chamber of Commerce map no longer has the canal names.
The realtor office just west of the Cof C has one for free that does.

TeamAubuchon.com
239-542-1075

[rikoshaprl]

Here is an interactive map that shows every canal name:
Cape Coral Canalwatch Program - CHNEP.WaterAtlas.org

Just zoom in and pan to the area you want.

[Samiamnh]

Also,when you are boating in the canals you can use your Garmin, any GPS or the Wase traffic app and it will plot you right through the canels and show you all the streets.Doesn't show canal names but fun to see where you are by street vs canal.

[xoomer]

Originally Posted by gandalfthegrae

The fresh canals can draw mosquitos and aligators.

I've lived on a fresh water canal for two years and have never seen a mosquito or an alligator.

[rikoshaprl]

Originally Posted by xoomer

I've lived on a fresh water canal for two years and have never seen a mosquito or an alligator.

I'm not sure if you are kidding.
Alligators | Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife

[subject2change]

Since I'm not familiar with Cape Coral, or any area with a lot of canals, I'm having a hard time understanding why flooding wouldn't be an extra concern for houses right on a canal?

[nhkev]

Originally Posted by subject2change

Since I'm not familiar with Cape Coral, or any area with a lot of canals, I'm having a hard time understanding why flooding wouldn't be an extra concern for houses right on a canal?

along the canals they build seawalls which are quite a bit higher than historic high tides. also houses need to be built at elevations quite a few feet higher than sea level. being close to the gulf the water flows from yards, into canals out to the open water. Some areas of the SE cape coral may be more prone to flooding due to being built long before current elevation requirements. However you can still have times of extreme wet weather that coincides with extreme high tides that the water can get pretty high in the canals.

I'm not sure of along the river if this is the same as rivers can oftentimes over run their banks.

there was one time that I remember that there was extreme rain during high tide , although it didn't over flow the seawalls the water was high enough that some boats that were on lifts floated off their lifts and people that did not tie their boat to the lift woke up to them floating down the canals.

[Beak Boater]

We live on a salt water canal with gulf access in the NW Cape. Been their two years and have seen one small Alligator swimming down the canal. We have also seen dolphin, and manatee's. Have plenty of No See Um's, but very few mosquitos.
About the only draw back to living on a salt or freshwater canal, your property taxes are higher.

[rikoshaprl]

Originally Posted by Beak Boater

We live on a salt water canal with gulf access in the NW Cape. Been their two years and have seen one small Alligator swimming down the canal. We have also seen dolphin, and manatee's. Have plenty of No See Um's, but very few mosquitos.
About the only draw back to living on a salt or freshwater canal, your property taxes are higher.

Xoomer was talking about a fresh water canal. I thought there would be lots of mosquitoes and at least some alligators in those.