Coastal Breeze News

Join us for a really unique “Olde Florida” treat. The Friends of Fakahatchee are hosting Coastal Cruises through the mysterious mangroves of the Ten Thousands Island. On the way, you will probably see dolphins cavorting with the tour boat. When you arrive at Fakahatchee Island, a naturalist will point out unusual plants on the path up the ancient shell mound to the old cemetery. On the return journey, the boat passes by a famous rookery where the birds will be settling down for the evening. We might think of “Fakahatchee” as a swamp with Ghost Orchids and Florida Panthers but to ... Read More »

Don’t know what to do with your energetic visitors? Send them on a Swamp Walk in the Fakahatchee. If they are relatively fit and don’t mind getting wet to the waist while wondering at the marvels of this primeval environment, they’ll have memories and photos to take home of a Florida far from concrete condos and shopping malls. The walk is led by naturalists who can point out the rare plants along the way and answer questions about this local state park which was saved from development in the 1970s. The Fakahatchee is called “the Amazon of North America” and ... Read More »

By Natalie Strom [email protected] Over a century ago, families traveled to Southwest Florida, pioneering the harsh environment and extreme temperature to forge a new life. Everglades City is one of the oldest settlements of these pioneer towns, along with Chokoloskee and Ochopee. Built on trading and raised on fishing, these quiet towns still hold allure to young families looking to make a go of it in the Glades. No stranger to the stories of the pioneer days, Jack Shealy is a third generation Ochopee native. His family has been in Southwest Florida even longer. “We settled down here in the ... Read More »

By Natalie Strom [email protected] The United States Postal Service has implemented a new system called the POST Plan to better align its service with customer demand. In order to do this, a review of nearly 14,000 Post Offices is taking place throughout the country and the Goodland Post Office is on that list. Those who have P.O. Boxes at the Goodland Post Office recently received a letter outlining possible changes to Postal service within the community. As the letter stated, “The Goodland Post Office was among the offices evaluated under the POST Plan criteria. The Postal Service is now soliciting ... Read More »

BUZZ FROM THE SWAMP  Patricia Huff  [email protected] Please join us in Everglades City on Saturday, June 30, for a fun-filled day to celebrate our country’s Independence Day. We like to start the festivities early before it gets too hot. There are lots of activities to keep you entertained so bring the whole family. Opening ceremony will begin at 9:30 AM. The theme of this year’s event is “Honoring our Veterans” with prizes for the best floats in the parade which will start at 10:00 AM. Last year, one of the floats was the boat built by Everglades youngsters during the CCSO ... Read More »

By Natalie Strom [email protected] “My idea of a garden is to spend more time looking at it and enjoying it than working in it. That’s the key. Gardening is fun. If you’re spending tons of money on water and maintenance, it takes the joy out of gardening, and that’s when people stop.” These words of wisdom come from Mike Malloy, also know as the Butterfly Guy, and sometimes, the Butterfly Lunatic. Malloy recently spoke at a Community Day event hosted by The City of Marco Island, The Beautification Committee and the Calusa Garden Club. During the event, Malloy discussed the ... Read More »

FOLLOW THE FISH  Capt. Pete Rapps  [email protected] Each summer giant Tarpon gather in huge schools in different areas around the state of Florida, as they have done for centuries before we even started to fish for them. They are on their annual spawning migration and arrive hungry and ready to eat. Tarpon are considered by many as the most incredible and ultimate game fish available. To experience a Tarpon’s violent head shaking and its raw strength as it leaps ten feet out of the water, is simply one of the most amazing adrenaline rushes out there! Although I am not headed ... Read More »

Do you remember the song “Oh what a night” by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, that’s what it was at San Marco church Bingo on Thursday night February 9. There were all kinds of winners that evening, never so many prizes have been given before in one night. The first picture shows Sally Matje a $500 instant Bingo pull tab winner with the lady in blue from the Columbiettes that sold her the ticket Barbara Prigge. There were many othersinstant Bingo pull tabs winners also, too numerous to mention. Picture 2shows Jean Cloutier from Chokoloskee the winner of the ... Read More »

COASTAL HISTORY  Craig Woodward  [email protected] The first full time minister in Southwest Florida was George W. Gatewood. Before Reverend Gatewood, at age 24, came to scout out the area in 1886, there had been traveling Protestant preachers who held periodic revivals as well as Roman Catholic priests, from Key West, who came to the Chokoloskee area to attend to the spiritual needs of the Santini family and other Catholics; but none of them actually resided here. In the late 1800s, Key West was the principal city of the area and a number of the Conchs were Methodists. “Conchs” being the name ... Read More »

FOLLOW THE FISH Capt. Pete Rapps [email protected] As January passes, we shall see some small changes in fishing. We were lucky not to be hit with many cold fronts in January. Hopefully the mild winter temperatures continue and the coldest temperatures of the winter will now be behind us. Water temperatures will continue to hover in the low 60’s. Morning air temperatures should average in the low 50’s, and warm up into the mid 70’s by the afternoon. Keep an eye on your tide charts because we have some extremely low tides around the next full and new moons. More specifically, ... Read More »

Follow the Fish Capt. Pete Rapps [email protected] The common snook (Centropomus undecimalis) are the most widely distributed species within the Centropomus genus, and have been reported as far north as New York (USA) and throughout the Gulf of Mexico. Common snook are abundant along the Atlantic coast of Florida from Cape Canaveral south through the Keys and Dry Tortugas, and north to Cedar Key on the gulf coast. Common snook occur infrequently along the coast of Texas to Galveston and then more or less continuously south to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Here in the 10,000 Islands, Snook are greatly sought ... Read More »

By Capt. Pete Rapps [email protected] December is here and with it comes some big changes to the fishery in the Everglades National Park. Some good and some not so good. We typically have our first major cold front hit us after the middle of the month. We already had a few minor cold fronts come through in November, but nothing too extreme like last November. Expect Gulf water temperatures to drop down into the mid 60’s later in the month. In December it is super important to keep a watchful eye on the tide charts. We have some more crazy low tides ... Read More »

Capt. Pete Rapps Fall is here in the 10,000 Islands and with cooler water temperatures and the change of seasons, comes the migration of the Sheepshead fish. These fish begin to arrive in big numbers about this time each year to spawn. They inhabit many of our near shore structures, oyster bars, and the deeper mangrove pockets in the back county river mouths. In addition to being called Sheepshead, they are sometimes referred to as the convict fish, Seabream Sheepshead, and Southern Sheepshead. They are distributed in the western Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, with the densest populations ... Read More »

Capt. Pete Rapps   I always look forward to November because it is one of my absolute favorite months here in the 10,000 Islands! The reasons are numerous and I could probably go on forever describing them, but some of the highlights are…. 1) The weather patterns are typically mild with little rain and light winds, 2) Many fish are following and feeding on the huge bait pods just off the near coastal beaches, 3) The daytime temperatures are comfortably hovering in the high 70’s to low 80’s, 4) Many migratory birds are actively arriving for the winter……. and the list ... Read More »

On Saturday, November 12, the Friends of the Museum of the Everglades will host a reception from 1:00 to 3:00 PM for Chokoloskee resident, Bruce Hitchcock, whose photographs are on exhibit with Tyler McDonald through December. Bruce was born in South Florida and came to the Everglades 35 years ago. For the past 20 years he has worked as a fishing and photography guide. He enjoys exploring the Everglades backcountry in his kayak and feels this gives him the perspective of seeing nature from the inside as one of its own. His photographs capture the passion he has for this ... Read More »

Craig Woodward  It was like an episode from PBS’s popular TV show – History Detectives, a local historical item with a large mystery behind it. The item: a very rare envelope with a most unique cancellation showing it was postmarked at Malco Florida and mailed in 1890 to a St. Clair Whitman of Cedar Keys, Florida. “Malco” was the official name of the first post office established on Marco Island October 20, 1888 at the request of Capt. W.D. “Bill” Collier (the builder of the Old Marco Inn). Capt. Collier, when asked why the name was “Malco,” said the post ... Read More »

Patricia Huff On Sunday morning, October 16, my husband and I bicycled to Chokoloskee and followed a rough sandy road to the Smallwood Store & Museum. Although it was just after ten in the morning, many visitors from outside Florida and from Europe were walking around taking photos and admiring the Museum artifacts indoors.  They were greeted by Alice Morrow from behind the counter.  She, as well as the other employees, has been out of work since April. The tourists had no idea that the road had been closed for six months; they were just visiting south Florida and had ... Read More »

Capt. Pete Rapps With all of that tropical storm activity that has been going on out there, it’s nice to see the change of seasons. It seemed as though summer would last forever. October is here and what a great month it is to fish the 10,000 Islands! Our day time air temperatures should now be averaging around 87 degrees, as water temps hover around 81 degrees. Usually right now, we will start to see some nice schools of large live bait like Pilchards and Thread Herring pour into the area. Last October the live bait came, but was not ... Read More »

Patricia Huff The court case requesting access to the Smallwood Store in Chokoloskee resumed on September 15, following the first hearing on September 8. Early in the morning, a large crowd of supporters for the Smallwood Store gathered in front of the Collier County Courthouse. Many came from the east coast of Florida where they said the closure of Mamie Street was highlighted in the media. They were astonished that a developer could rip up the only access road to the historic Smallwood Museum. Also participating in the rally were musicians Valerie Wisecracker, JRoberts and Tom Porter (of Goodland) who ... Read More »

Capt. Pete Rapps Well, there are so many techniques and ways to catch a Snook that the answer is not all that cut and dry. To really be able to effectively target Snook, you have to know their habits, eating patterns, tides, water temperatures, moon phase, and a few other things. They migrate and move around a lot so you have to know where they typically spend time during different times of the year. Since we are now in the middle to end of summer here in the 10,000 islands, I would recommend that you fish the outside points of the ... Read More »