Is change good or isn’t it?
To the editor:
When things seem boring around the Beach, things change.
But is change good or isn’t it? I am old and set in my ways but I accept change for the better. For instance, look at the development going on around the north end of Estero Island. So much has changed or removed that I suffer a mild panic attack every time I top the Sky Bridge.
My old brain asks where are we! It doesn’t recognize anything south of the bridge. Too many places are missing to mention them all. So I’ll only bemoan the loss of Dusseldorf’s and the Gold Exchange. Where can you go, outside of October Fest to get a real German beer? Dusseldorf’s isn’t there anymore. I loved their great German sausage, too!
I used to enjoy taking my son into the Gold Exchange to see the gold, of course. They also displayed relics from shipwrecks. I’d tell my young son about how the Spanish treasure ships fought weather and tide. The Peninsula of Flowers posed danger around every turn. And those poor souls that wrecked on the Keys or blown onshore by tropical storms. He especially liked the stories about Ponce de Leon.
Ponce told his sailors and conquistadors that he was looking for the fountain of youth. He actually only wanted Indian slaves for his plantations in Cuba and the Bahamas. He also desired to lay claim to Florida for the Spanish crown. Poor Ponce met the “Fierce People.”
The Calusa Indians weren’t impressed by his lies. Or the “Convert or Die” philosophy of the Spanish priests. Ponce de Leon retreated, with his defeated expedition, back to Cuba. The Calusa arrow in his thigh killed him. No one is slinging real arrows on the north end of Crescent Beach these days but there are many virtual ones.
Lawsuits are brought and settled. Then another one pops up. Opponents of the “Margaritaville” complex continue to try and stop the development. But in America, “Money will win out!” Many Fort Myers Beach residents are like the Calusas, skeptical to say the least. Southwest Florida residents on both sides of the Sky Bridge, will cry out if the promises of smooth flowing traffic and low impact don’t come true.
Behind Estero Island is San Carlos Island. Once a part of the mainland, the 1926 ‘Cane opened Hurricane Pass. Real “Beachers” are quick to point out that the tiny island is not part of Fort Myers Beach. These islands have little in common apart from the connecting bridges and a Zip code. Yet everyone else includes that poor step child in the description of Fort Myers Beach.
Despite its deliberate exclusion from the 1990s FMB land use plan, San Carlos Island residents believe their island is better. Fort Myers Beach has “gentrified away” all the good old character. San Carlos island still has shrimp fleets, working boatyards, fish houses and marinas, mobile homes and a rich cross section of characters. Not to mention the many great waterfront restaurant and bars. Even if change has affected them, too.
It used to be they tried harder, not being on the Beach. Some still do, others don’t.
Gone is the Fishmonger replaced by the Shark bar but it recently closed, too! The Big Game Waterfront Sports bar became Bootleggers, then the Shrimp Dock. Now it is closes for the summer. The Channel Mark was Tim’s Place. Then Luna Rosa, Nauti Turtle, Boot Kicken’s and now the Nauti Parrot which, by the way, recently renamed half the place “The Rainbow Room” in honor the LGBT community?
Bonita Bills remains one of the least changed and most loved “dive bars” around (in the best way). Dixie Fish is now a restaurant and bar. The old Bridge Restaurant has been Doc Fords for a long time. Parrot Key Caribbean Grill is a local and tourist’s favorite. The Moose Lodge and American Legion round out the plethora of great places. San Carlos Island wasn’t included in the City of Fort Myers Beach. They still are in the Lee County government system. Some resident once complained about the lack of city government on San Carlos Island. They had nowhere to send their self important, busy bodies to recreate. And no, they don’t have a beach of their own!
Ed Donlin
Fort Myers Beach