Everglades Rod and Gun Club

After leaving Marco Island, we left the developed part of southwest Florida behind. The 42 miles between Marco Island and Everglades city is completely undeveloped and almost uninhabited. The same can be said for the 92 miles from Everglades City to the Keys. This area encompasses all of the Everglades National Sanctuary and cannot be developed by man.

This is what much of the coast of southern Florida looked like two hundred years ago coming in from the Gulf of Mexico.

Coming in off the Gulf we had to locate the channel markers for the Barron River that would lead us on a ten mile winding course through the Everglades National Sanctuary to Everglades City.

The Mangrove Islands that makeup Everglades National Sanctuary.

We finally reach the historic Rod and Gun Club in the heart of the Everglades. This hotel/restaurant is the original structure from the first permanent white settler who founded Everglades City in 1864. 

In 1922, Barron Collier, a banker and railroad baron bought almost all of southwest Florida and turned the building below into his private club. He turned Everglades City into his headquarters and developed a planned community for workers and their families to live,  while his company built the Tamiami Trail. The Tamiami Trail was the first direct route through the Everglades that connected Tampa on the west coast with Miami on the east coast. It was officially opened on April 26, 1928.

The sign in front of the Rod and Gun Club on the foggy morning we left.

The wide screened porch and eating area for the restaurant is a popular gathering place.

Inside the hotel is all dark wood with a definite fishing and hunting theme. Many Presidents, to include Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Hoover and Nixon have stayed here over the years as well as many celebrities from Gypsy Rose Lee to John Wayne and Earnest Hemingway.

One of the many interesting "touches" in one of the private bars and game room.

An old Chevy truck parked outside used for advertising.

An antique phone booth that still works.

The grandfather clock in the hotel lobby definitely adds to the "olde Florida Charm" of a bygone era.

Though they have space for many boats to tie up in front of the club, ITHAKA was the only big boat to stay overnight. Except for a couple of small fishing boats, we had the whole dock to ourselves.

We walked around the small town of Everglades City and visited the Museum of the Everglades. This building was built in 1927 and operated as the commercial laundry for the planned community until the end of WWII.

Though the Rod and Gun Lodge is open to the public, they state in their brochure that "they do not intend to meet the needs of all vacationers; therein lies our unique character. We invite you to stay with us with faith that you will appreciate the simple, basic values of Olde Florida." 

Sara and I thought it was well worth our time and effort to make this memorable stop!

Marco Island

This was a one night stop. We did not get to see any of the island. I will add it to my bucket list. 

The Co-Captains of the trawler Destinees (Nelson and Sandra), invited us to join them for a late lunch at a restaurant "cocomo" owned by their distant relative. We enjoyed listening to Nelson and the wife of the distant relative, sort out the family tree as she texted her husband for additional family information. 

Fort Myers and Santa

Sitting on the Sundeck of Ithaka, we caught a glimpse of Santa making deliveries in Florida. I guess a sleigh and eight tiny reindeer just don't work well in a warm climate with lots of water. 

Sanibel Island and Shells

We rented a car and took a day trip to the Island. I was there thirty years ago. Jack had never been there. What a difference 30 years makes...

Sanibel has always been known for shelling and the beautiful art work made with shells. 

Before leaving Sanibel and Captiva Island we drove through the J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge. You have to credit the Park Service with making the refuge really accessible to all people, regardless of physical ability.

This is one of the many signs throughout the park where you can drive right up next to the sign, use your smart phone to  

digitally scan the picture on the sign, then listen to the audio and/or video telling you about what you were looking at in the refuge. You never have to even open the door of the car, it can all be done by just rolling the window down!

Fort Myers Beach - A Very Different Xmas

Our Christmas Day was spent in Fort Myers Beach Florida at the Pink Shell Marina and Resort. 

It was a beautiful day. A walk on the beach was a must.

Then, off to see the movie "Unbroken". Great movie! It is a real testimony to courage and the human spirit.

We were surprised to see so many people at the movie on this day. We waited in line for 20 minutes to purchase tickets. It felt like we weren't the only ones who didn't make it home to have Christmas with family. 

The hotel hosted a Christmas buffet. Eating Christmas dinner out was a first for me. But I was very grateful I didn't have to figure out how to cook a turkey in an oven the size of a postage stamp. 

Boca Grande and the Dolphins

On our way down the ICW towards the island of Boca Grande, we were again surrounded by pods of Dolphins swimming along side, behind, in front of and under our boat, just like they did towards the end of our crossing of the gulf. Regardless of how many times they appear, we never get tired of watching them frolick in our wake. We are usually traveling around 10 mph when we see them and they are just idling along, since they reportedly can swim up to 30 mph.

Sara was able to capture two excellent videos of the Dolphins swimming with us, but these still pictures will have to suffice for our blog.

It seems that if they are being "talked to" or Sara slaps the side of the boat with her hand, that the Dolphins have more of a tendency to jump out of the water as they are swimming.

Webster's dictionary defines the dolphin as a small whale and in this picture it looks very much like one with the dorsal fin and blow hole plainly visible.

Many times as the Dolphins would swim by or jump they would turn sideways so as to look at the person looking at them "eye ball to eye ball". You have to wonder what they are thinking of us!

This shot was taken looking straight down off of the swim platform on the stern. They like to swim close to each other as well as the boat!

We found Boca Grande to be one of our favorite quaint little communities we have visited on our journey. The island is only seven miles long and a mile or two wide, with one bridge to cross to enter or leave. We rented one of the marinas golf carts for our day and night on the island and drove around town and up and down the length of the island checking things out. (Yes Cindy, we stopped at the "Loose Caboose", but not to eat. It was the only place I could find my USA

Today newspaper).

Our "selfie" headed down the Golf Cart Path of Life😃!

The privately owned and maintained golf cart paths are beautiful, extremely well maintained and can take you almost anyplace on the island without traveling on the streets, which you are allowed to do if you chose too.

Sara at the wheel while enjoying her little ice cream cone. She is good at multi-tasking!☺️

While cruising around the different neighborhoods looking at the beautiful homes and just enjoying ourselves, we came across this little house that was For Sale, so we stopped to check it out. It was not occupied and looked brand new, even though it was in one of the older neighborhoods. Since we didn't have anything else to do this afternoon but enjoy the beautiful Florida weather, we called the listing realtor and asked if we could see the house. He was in the area and was there in less than five minutes to give us the grand tour. We learned the house was built in 1959 and had been given a complete reengineering and design renovation from the ground up in 2013. The renovation included removing walls, raising the roof, all hurricane resistant doors and windows, all new, top of the line appliances, floors, lights, etc., etc. The entire house had been redesigned to bring it up to strict standards of the ADA (Americans w/Disability Act) with absolutely no steps, wide doors both interior and exterior, and many other features. The house was just over 2000 sq ft, with three bedrooms and two full baths and just a two car carport.

Sara and I both really liked this house and had a serious discussion about possibly buying it and making it our Florida home. After all, it had almost everything we wanted in a smaller home, it was in a beautiful community, and it was only a couple of blocks from the beach. THAT WAS UNTIL WE HEARD THE PRICE!    $895,000!!!!  The realtor thought it was a good deal because it had just been reduced from $1,099,000!!!

Sara and I decided we would keep looking.

One of the more interesting streets in Boca Grande, called Banyan Street.

It's not hard to see how it got its name. All the trees are young banyan trees.

We have stayed in some very nice marinas on our journey, as well as some that were pretty rough and rustic. Boca Grande marina is one of the nicer ones.

It accommodates 75' or 100' boats just as easily as our 42' ITHAKA.

That's ITHAKA pulled up behind our 75' neighbor.

Towards sunset we hopped in our trusty golf cart and drove out to the south end of the island to have dinner at the South Beach Restaurant and watch the sun sink slowly into the Gulf of Mexico.

It was a crystal clear evening with absolutely no haze or clouds or buildings to obstruct our view of the horizon.

I had told Sara about the "Green Flash" that it is sometimes visible for a mere instant as the sun dips below the horizon, but she had never seen it for herself. Until this evening! Though it was not caught on this picture, we saw the brilliant, neon green flash for that split second as the sun retired for the night. It was an amazing sight!

........and so ends another day on the beach.