Coastal Breeze News

By Danielle Dodder As part of the Ten Thousand Islands, the National Park Service aptly refers to this area as “a labyrinth of water and mangroves.” Add approximately 5,000 area boats out at any given time to enjoy this natural beauty, and it’s not a big surprise that Collier is one of the top ten counties in Florida for boating accidents, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission. The FWC adds that inexperience, inattention and speed were top causes of these accidents. “There are many reasons to understand safe boating around Marco Island,” points out Laura Carney of the ... Read More »

By Craig Woodward The former Coconut Island was a traditional place to raft up your boat, along with your friends’ boats, on a lazy Sunday afternoon and have a cookout on the beach while everyone swam and simply relaxed. It was a beautiful location – just north of the future Hideaway Beach, due east of Isles of Capri, situated in the mouth of the Marco River and the view to the west was of the Gulf of Mexico and the setting sun. Hurricane Donna created Coconut Island in 1960 when the south tip of Cannon Island was cut off; over ... Read More »

By Natalie Strom  [email protected]  The Caxambas boat ramp on Marco Island played host to a team of rescue workers from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission and The Lowry Zoo of Tampa on July 30. “Caxy,” a manatee injured due to a boat collision in April, was released back into the wild amid a crowd of onlookers who took photographs and even had a chance to pet the manatee before she made her way back to sea. After receiving a report of an injured manatee near Caxambas Bay on the FWC’s Manatee Hotline, rescuers began the arduous task of reinning ... Read More »