Seafood and Sunsets
Our stay in Matlacha continues with a short trip to Little Pine Island and some exploring on foot to see the bling of this colorful town. Community Park provided us a look at the other side of our canal and bird paradise, as well as the open waters of Matlacha Pass.
To start at the beginning of this series, visit Southeast to Sunshine
Hurricane Ian
“Hurricane Ian… brought significant wind damage and flooding to western Cuba, central Florida, and North Carolina and South Carolina in late September and early October 2022… Ian became a category 5 hurricane for a brief period as it approached Florida, with maximum sustained winds peaking at 161 miles per hour. Ian’s winds slowed slightly to about 150 miles per hour when it made landfall in Florida as a category 4 hurricane… ” ~ READ MORE
Ian made the first of its three landfalls near La Coloma, Cuba. Its second was in Cayo Costa – as the crow flies approximately 10.5 miles northwest of Matlacha. Ian then continued to wreak havoc across Florida to its final landfall near Georgetown, South Carolina.
When Ian devastated Matlacha and the surrounding areas, it wiped out the bridges on both ends of Matlacha. The devastation left Pine Island and Matlacha cut off from the mainland, so construction on both bridges had to start immediately.
Almost 2-1/2 years later our route into Matlacha from Cape Coral was back to normal, but the construction on Little Pine Island Bridge to Pine Island was ongoing, with only one lane of traffic crossing at a time with the assistance of a stop light.
I just read that the bridge is now open to two lanes of traffic, but crews are still working to get it finished up. Visit the bridge link just above to see the devastation to the entire area right after the hurricane.
Day Trip to Pine Island
Bokeelia is on the northern edge of the island. At first glance there wasn’t much to see, but in delving in I wished we had explored further. The approach to a pretty lengthy dock was gone. The fishing pier that is the best place to view a sunset was closed – apparently from Milton in 2024. Hopefully they will rebuild, and maybe we’ll catch that next time we’re here. It’s always nice to have a go-to place for great sunsets. And also at that link, it tells of several Mango groves that were closed when we were there, but may be open later in the season.
The Tarpon Lodge Restaurant offers “fine dining with a beautiful water view sunset”, and the menu looks fantastic! And, if you’re a fisherman, click on this link to see a video of a four-day fishing trip out of Bokeelia with their home base at the Tarpon Lodge.
Manatee Bay was closer to the southern end, and – on the map at least – seemed like a fun place to go. Not that I had any expectation of seeing a manatee, but I didn’t expect it to be an RV park! Same with Flamingo Bay. I wish we would have gone all the way to the southern end, but now we have a reason to return.
A Taste of the Yucatan
We decided to head back across the bridge for some dinner at Yucatan Waterfront Bar and Grill. We had to wait for a long string of cars that were waiting at the light to proceed across the bridge. Just before the bridge we had to make a right into the parking lot at the Yucatan. We didn’t realize it at the time, but this was the Valet lot, which was free, but required a tip. The handsome gentlemen who took our car assured us that would be much easier than finding a spot in the other lot (across the bridge) right at dinner time.
Our meal was absolutely wonderful and since they also served Hazifys, we were happy campers! Blackened Mahi with garlic mashed potatoes was a great choice and Jim had the blackened Snapper. We splurged on a piece of Key Lime pie with two forks and were very pleased with the great views out the huge garage doors of the calm bay and fantastic pastel sky.
I wouldn’t mind living in any one of the houses across the bay and traveling by boat to have dinner here. The dock just off a row of tables just outside those garage doors provides a great parking spot – with no need to tip the valet.
The Bling of Matlacha
Today we took a stroll around our hotel and enjoyed some of the bling on this colorful island. I would love to see how it looked before Ian’s wrath, but today it is what it is. And it was beautiful!
Community Park
We made our way to the park, and we realized just how much it had warmed up over the last couple of days! It was wonderful basking in the warm sunshine and chatting with a few guys who were fishing on the jetty. As we walked into the park we noticed our osprey nesting pole from this side of the canal! We have a much better view from our lanai – and we have free beverages!
