Kathy, Maria, Lorrie and Anne are on a Fall SUP adventure in Florida. I’d say we are all moderately experienced boarders with some experience and a sense of adventure. We like to SUP for fun and are not very competitive. Kathy is our newest convert and she had one chance to user her new Creed board at home before this trip.
On Sunday evening we met at my house to pack up the car and made a last minute decision to only carry two boards on my Nissan Murrano instead of four. Especially when Lorrie arrived with news that Kirk Newkirk had a friend on Pine Island who sells Hobie boards and who offered to loan us a couple of boards. We spent an hour getting the two boards loaded just right and the car ready for our road trip. At Kathy’s suggestion we left the beach at o dark thirty. A good suggestion as the trip to Pine Island FL took about 11 hours. Florida is a very boring drive and doesn’t get interesting until you arrive at your waterfront destination.
We are staying for two nights at Tarpon Lodge, an old Florida style hotel right on Pine Island Sound. Our 2 BR cottage is called the Boathouse and is perfect. We are steps away from the boat dock – and the sunsets over the Sound. We arrived in time for sunset and a glass of wine on our porch. Kathy did some reconnaissance on weather forecast and where we should paddle on Tuesday.
The lodge is very nice with a dining room and porch overlooking a manicured lawn and boat docks. This is a picture of the cottage we stayed in – which doesn’t even do the place justice.
We had a lovely dinner at the restaurant at Tarpon Lodge. Food was excellent and red wine was half price for a bottle. Their mango/avocado salad was delicious. Also tried their fresh grouper fish bites.
Lorrie and I got up early on Monday so we could work for a couple of hours. Then Frank showed up with three Hobie boards for us to choose from. Lorrie is using a bright red Hobie 12.6 E series racing board and I’m on an 11 foot cruising board. There aren’t any beaches near here so you start off from the dock. It was high tide in the morning and a piece of cake!
After much discussion on whether we should try SUPn across the Sound all the way to Cabbage Key, we ended up taking a paddle up island towards Bokeelia. We stayed along the shore which was filled with Mangrove trees. The wildlife was amazing – sharks, rays, birds. We saw Spoonbilled Roseate – a big white bird with pink wings as well as great blue herons, ospreys, white egrets, and comorants.
It was a leisurely paddle about half way stopping every so often to eat and rest. The wind started to change about half way and when we came around to go into Little Bokeelia Bay we were fighting a strong wind and an outgoing tide. After just a few minutes of that stuff we decided to turn around and head back. Well it was an upwind paddle home. Staying by the lee of the mangroves was a little help but we were tired when we got home. Today’s paddle was about 3 hours, just right for our first day.
So we’ve rested, swam in the pool, checked our mail and are headed for a sunset/evening adventure.
Lorrie had caught up with our new friend Frank via texts – he invited us to his house for happy hour to be followed by a sunset boat ride on his pontoon boat and then music at Berts. What a fun evening it was from beginning to end.
Frank is a friend of Kirk Newkirk (Key Sailing on Pensacola Beach) – he is their Hobie sales rep. He’d just arrived late Monday night from a 10 day trip and was gracious enough to spend in his first evening back in town with four women from Pensacola Beach. We loved Kirk’s text to Frank. “I have some girl friends from Pensacola who would like to use your paddle boards. Don’t worry. They are smart though. Not the usual type I hang out with”. Too funny. I guess that means we could be trusted with his boards not to lose them in the sound.
Frank’s little bungalow is in Matlache near the drawbridge that connects Little Pine Island with Cape Coral. It was a funky little house painted in very bright colors, filled with eclectic artwork and a man’s toys – even an airstream as a guest bedroom. After getting the tour and having a drink we went to his houseboat to ride out into Matlache Pass. It was blowing but temps around here are perfect right now day and night. The sunset was lovely and we had fun sharing stories.
Matlache is a funky little fishing village on an island that has not become commercialized with high rises, fast food and strip malls. Pine Island is still very rural, very “old Florida” with a focus on the water, fishing and nature preserves.
After sunset we headed to Bert’s Bar and Grille, a well known Matlache hangout. We were pleasantly surprised at how good the 3 piece band was. The “Ronnie Don’t Call me Ronnie” band played some blues, jazz and rock music. Ron, the lead guitarist and vocalist is talented. We’ve been so good all week on our eating but we splurged a little at Berts – Build your own hamburger, fried smelt for appetizer, Landshark draft beers, fish tacos. All very good. Thanks Steve Headley for sending us to Berts.