South Seas Marina open

[madhatter1]

Just the marina. They have grills, power, water, access to the beach, and golf cart rentals (to go into town). No pool. Bubble room and a few others are open. They say every week more places are opening up. $2 foot plus electric for now. We are adding this into our trip this month and should be there end of May. Expecting to see vegetation that will take years to come back and a lot of damaged property. We will make the best of it and spend, spend to help out.

 

[JuiceClark]

Nice.

We stayed a night or two there almost every month until the storm. The kids could run wild in safety and it was always our first step to go anywhere else...would leave on Friday after work and get there in only an hour from my house.

So, we'll go stay a night just to check it out and see who's still there. Maybe we'll see you out there. There were always such nice people around the marina.

 

[madhatter1]

We are scheduled in Tuesday the 30th for 3 nights. Going to take the dinghy to the beach on North Captiva.

 

[JuiceClark]

We are scheduled in Tuesday the 30th for 3 nights. Going to take the dinghy to the beach on North Captiva.

Aw man, I have to work during the week! My career certainly gets in the way of life.

 

[madhatter1]

Play hooky!

 

[JuiceClark]

Play hooky!

Ha - I would play a lot of hooky if I didn't have half a million in storm damage to pay! Ian sure did a number on me. $20k insurance premiums on the house and I have to sue the hell out of them to get a nickel, for a 100 year storm.

We'll try to run out there for a night this weekend and I'll make a report on the status of South Seas.

 

[madhatter1]

Thanks for the scouting trip. Have fun, I know you need it. We will be in Cabbage Key tomorrow afternoon.

 

[madhatter1]

Cabbage Key looks great. New docks but most don’t have power yet. We got lucky and are plugged in!

 

[JuiceClark]

I never made it. My daughter got called-back for an audition in a show and the fam voted to cancel.

I can't even get away for a night! Ridiculous. Anyway, looking forward to your report!

 

[madhatter1]

We are in Fort Myers beach now. So many buildings gone. Staying at Moss marine. $4 a foot and we have to run on the generator. Diesel is $6.50 a gallon. Stopped pumping at 100 gallons. They used to have reasonable prices but the guy says everything around is on hurricane pricing. Don’t know if it’s justified or not. Many places are self insured. This place really got boned bad. It was originally coming directly to our area. I’ll gladly pay the premium passing through and be glad Mad Beach is still intact.

One thing is apparent looking around. The newer construction homes fared very well. After seeing all this I’m glad I built a poured concrete (ICF) house with a structural garage level floor. The extra money I spent in 2006 is chump change today.

 

[JuiceClark]

I'm about 3 miles N of you, as a crow flies. The storm was a lot worse than many realize and the back side was stronger than the front.The surge was 15' at your location.https://youtu.be/al8yTiCVfro

 

[rwaldrop13]

We were liveboards at Legacy Harbor here in Fort Myers. Legacy, Municipal, and Edison-Ford marinas are all just gone. Like our boat. Legacy is up for sale as-is, Edison-Ford just awarded contract for rebuild, and City of Fort Myers sold out and leased the municipal marina to one of the big marina companies. Consensus there is say goodbye to Municipal, for anything other than transients and large yachts, along with fuel services. The city of Fort Myers is still rebuilding, just like Fort Myers Beach, Sanibel, Captiva, Pine Island etc. I'm glad y'all are able to get into South Seas, and that they reopened.

 

[debdaigle2]

South Seas was such a beautiful place with so much to offer. It seems that it was recovered from being hit by Charley back in 2004, and then this. Hope it comes back to life as it was soon

 

[madhatter1]

Here now. Very peaceful. I'll give a full report Monday when we are home. Juice, worth the trip. You are so close.

 

[madhatter1]

So I had time to talk to the guys working here. They are hoping to be up and running with a food truck and bar truck to start in a month or so. Shooting for October for a good portion back online. Repair of hotels is a nightmare for them due to permit issues, supplies, and labor. Many contractors not willing to go way out on the island when there is so much local work in Cape Coral and Ft Myers. Folks at South Seas get that but not butt hurt. It is what it is and they seem optimistic.

We used our electric scooters to get to town. Being Thursday the restaurant we wanted to have lunch at was closed. So we went further down to Tween waters and ate at the pool bar. So while they are fixing it up if you plan to stop here be prepared with your boat stocked, enjoy the beach, and figure a way into town if needed. At only $2 a foot its a bargain. Tree tops have grown back and they are working on everything so each day is better.

 

[madhatter1]

Anyone interested in a west coast FL roundup at South Seas later this year? Early November? Things should be much better then. Great dock configuration for a group meet. They say that are going to have specials to bring boats into the marina again.