Crazy 8: Goodbye Sunshine State

Today is our final day aboard Crazy 8. We head home tomorrow for family events and the holidays. We have had a wonderful month exploring more areas of Florida and have met some wonderful people. Boaters are the friendliest people without a doubt!

Our Halloween weekend stay at Boca Grande Marina on Gasparella Island was very nice, despite the gale force winds and 15 foot seas that were not a very nice treat!

Crazy 8 at Boca Grande Marina

The wind and the waves kept us from venturing out on the water around the island, but we had fun exploring the land via our rental golf cart.

Pass on the dinghy ride today!

Bailey and Buster come with us too.

The locals have fun and stylish golf carts!

Gasparilla Island has 7 miles of beaches and is bordered by the Gulf of Mexico, Charlotte Harbor, Little Gasoparilla Pass and Boca Grande Pass. Gasparilla Island, according to folklore, got its name from the legendary pirate, Captain Jose Gasparilla, who buried his fabulous treasure here which has yet to be found... so the story goes. Gasparilla Island boasts many pretty canal homes and Banyan Trees line the streets. No wonder the Wall Street Journal named the island as one of the best places to own your second home!

Canal homes

Planted in 1914

Boca Grande is the village on the island and is home to the Gasparilla Inn and Club, one of the largest surviving resort hotels in Florida, opening over 100 years ago in 1913 attracting the wealthiest as a winter retreat. The Inn has been described as the preppiest place on Earth, and I would have to say that is not an exaggeration. With its all white dress code for the 3 croquet lawns and the required slacks and jacket for dining, it definitely has the aura of old money. Being boaters, Tom has no jacket nor even slacks on board, so we miss the opportunity to enjoy their cuisine.

Gasparella Inn and Club

Boca Grande has interesting boutiques, numerous locally owned restaurants and a small grocery store. There are no chain restaurants or stores, no hi rises and not even a traffic light.

No Walmart in sight. Perfect!

They also do not have a gas station, so fill up before you venture over the bridge if arriving by car. If desperate, the marina which owns the only pump on the island, will fill a gas can with a gallon or two.

The lone gas pump

After spending the weekend at Boca Grande, we throw in the lines and head back to Captiva Island and South Seas Marina.

Need to follow markers carefully in and out of Boca Grande Marina. The water is very shallow in areas.

The trip to Captiva is always a fun trip as the dolphins are very active for some reason in this area of the Gulf. We never tire of seeing them play!

Dolphins playing in our wake.

We run into Kathy and Keith again from the boat Pandora. They are a fun couple and we are fortunate that both our stopovers at South Seas coincided.

Pandora and Crazy 8

We see another Pandora. This Pandora did not fare too well in the rough seas of the last few days.

Washed ashore at Redfish Pass

South Seas Resort provides a shuttle service to take visitors to "downtown" Captiva. There are several small shops, restaurants and bars. We enjoy the steel drums and the beautiful beach location of the Mucky Duck,.

Mucky Duck

Mucky Duck workers hanging Christmas lights with the sound of steel drums in the background, Florida style.

Captiva Island also has some very remarkable homes.

Nice!

And of course there are always the manatees near the docks at South Seas Marina.

Manatee

During this stop, we take our dinghy and cross Redfish Pass to North Captiva Island. This island was damaged in August 2004 by Hurricane Charlie when the eye wall passed over. It actually cut the island in two with the storm surge. You can see the remnants of many stripped and dead trees that line the beaches.

North Captiva Island

The island is home to about 300 homes and still has about 300 lots yet to be developed. There are no cars on the island; only electric golf carts. To arrive to North Captiva, you need your own boat or board the public ferry from Pine Island.

We leave South Seas and return to Legacy Marina in Fort Myers. The boat will rest here for a few months until we can return this winter.

Legacy Marina

Legacy is a wonderful marina and we have met lots of very nice people here. The negative perhaps is that we are now in slip D13, which is a mere .3 miles to the gate. The dogs make that walk in record time each morning to find that little patch of grass! The positive for us is that we are working off the calories from some of our Florida dinners!