Port of the Islands Marina, Florida

[frgeorgeh]

Does anyone have any experience at this marina? We will soon be living aboard in this part of Florida and are looking for a Marina.

My real concern for this spot is that it is so far south I am afraid of what the bugs will be like in the summertime!

We went to see Burnt Store Marina and were very impressed but, it is more expensive than Port of the Islands.

Thanks gang.

 

[bross32070]

I live near Port of the Islands and work in the area and have spoken to the Dockmaster. It is a very nice marina, but it is shallow. Your draft cannot be more than around 4 feet. As far as the bugs go, it is pretty buggy in the summertime.

 

[pilothouse king]

Bugs, in the middle of the Everglades? Who ever heard of such a thing? Of course it's not really not in or near any islands except the ones you passed way south as you thread your way up there. At least Everglades City or Goodland is near the Gulf if your looking for cheap and "character". Of course nobody in neither places are going to talk to you unless your related or can be vouched for that your not a Fed. The ones that will speak to you are undercover agents. Anybody contemplating moving to Florida really needs to read Tim Dorsey novels. The great thing about any of these Glades locations is your near Jones Loop Road so you can come meet the real characters from the books in person at Luckys.
Comparing Burnt Store Resort Marina to this place is like comparing Nordstroms to a 7 Eleven. A 7 Eleven in the Everglades that is.. I think there's one 20 miles nw of this marina. Best of all worlds, in the middle of nowhere yet close to the road so you can hear traffic.

Rare photo of Tim Dorsey (in socks), Lucky Cole (huge guy in black leather hat), a uniformed FED, and PK (me). Don't know who the short guy is pointing-but he was interesting.

 

[frgeorgeh]

Bugs, in the middle of the Everglades? Who ever heard of such a thing? Of course it's not really not in or near any islands except the ones you passed way south as you thread your way up there. At least Everglades City is near the Gulf if your looking for cheap.
Comparing Burnt Store to this place is like comparing Nordstroms to a Seven Eleven. A Seven Eleven in the Everglades that is.. I think there's one 25 miles due west of this marina. Best of all worlds, in the middle of nowhere yet close to the road so you can hear traffic.

HA! :lol: Well, here in TX we have some pretty big mosquitoes too. Yes, Burnt Store was real nice. The harbor Master gave us the tour.

Perhaps I need to narrow my thread down a bit. Is there a marina in the Punta Gorda, Ft. Meyers area - that allows live aboards - that any of you kind folks might recommend we also take a look at?

 

[HopCar]

Pilothouse, I love Dorsey's books! I've been to two of Dorsey's events at Lucky's place.
The Lesbian Biker Gang always shows up. It's wonderful. How does Lucky get women to pay him to take nude photos of them? Had a beer with Lucky once, nice guy.

A new Dorsey book is due out next month.

Oh yeah, Port of the Islands, haven't been there since they planted condos on the runway, but I remember the ride down that canal to the gulf was a long one. I quit fishing out of there when they made the canal an idle zone the whole way.

 

[seasalt007]

Punta Gorda City Marina in Laishley Park is reasonably priced. Fisherman's Village is more expensive. Both allow liveaboards.

Punta Gorda is a no fly zone for bugs except for the no seeums. They are related to the Texas Hide Behinds. They can't be seen either because they are always hiding behind another Hide Behind.

 

[Donsan]

Ah...the OP is concerned with bugs. Well, yeah, Florida has all kinds of bugs. Most areas have done a decent job of keeping quitas (aka mosquitos) under control at least from what they were like in my childhood days. The most contested political position in Indian River County is the Mosquito Control Commissioner and I can't remember if there are two or three positions. The pay must be great! That should tell you the attention quitas get in this state. Quitas are much worse and their bites are much more painful in the north like around Michigan.

IMHO, the far worse Florida bug is the Love Bug. Now the biological types will tell you they are great bugs as they hide in the bushes for about 45 weeks of the year and eat other bugs. But in the spring and fall, they have a mating season and swarm all over everything...boats included. You can tell love bugs by two of them attached tail to tail with the appearance of each trying to fly in the opposite direction. You can easily tell Love Bug season when you notice white cars (or any other color cars) with black faces, black headlights and windshields you can't see through. Now if you don't promptly remove Love Bug carcasses from your automobile, the chemical composition of their dried out blood has a nasty habit of permanently chemically bonding to the car's paint job. Believe me, no matter how hard you try you will not be able to keep these pests from finding a way into the interior your house, your car or your boat. Fortunately, they don't bite humans and more fortunately, if you go trawler speeds you won't find their carcasses imbedded in your gelcoat.

Other notable bugs are sand fleas, grass fleas, beach fleas, river fleas...hopefully by now you get the flea picture in Florida. And they do bite humans.

I won't mention flies as they are a problem in the summer everywhere.

As always, your bug count may vary accordingly to your Florida location. Since I always lived on the East Coast, I have no first hand experience with the Glades but suspect it is the worst of the worse bug conditions in the summer. And please, keep a lookout for komodo dragons, boa constrictors, pythons, iguanas and other invasive non bug species.

Trivia thread drift question of the day: Whatever happened to the walking catfish that invaded South Florida?

 

[Larry M]

...yeah, Florida has all kinds of bugs...

And don't forget the "blind" mosquitoes which are actually aquatic midges. When there is a hatch, you better have the doors and hatches closed and be careful breathing. Yikes! These were from last spring on a friends boat.

 

[seasalt007]

Just left Ft, Myers and the Midges are in full force. The best way to get them out of the interior and the bridge enclosure is a vacuum cleaner. We are now sitting 20 miles north at South Seas Island Resort and no Midges but I suspect that there is heavy spraying when everyone is asleep.

 

[frgeorgeh]

Trading old bugs for new. Oh well. The price we have to pay to move to paradise and break free of the dirt! Sounds like we'll need a larger shop vac and some more booze! All will be well.

Thanks all for the great posts!

 

[kraftee]

I've lived in pretty much every part of Florida in the 45 years since my family moved here. I can tell you that the "blind mosquitoes" are HORRIBLE in some areas of North Florida - and especially around Lake Okeechobee. We would get them 3 inches deep on the decks by morning during a bloom at the docks in Green Cove Springs. Love Bugs are thick in May and September - north of about Fort Pierce - and especially away from the coasts. However, for pretty much everything else, it seems to depend on what municipality you live in as to which bugs are under control - and which are not. At Lighthouse Point Yacht Club we NEVER see mosquitoes, flies, midges or most any other pests for that matter. But when we were 5 miles south of here in Pompano Beach, the mosquitoes were absolutely unbearable at certain times of the year!

 

[frgeorgeh]

At Lighthouse Point Yacht Club we NEVER see mosquitoes, flies, midges or most any other pests for that matter.

Thank you for the info. I looked up Lighthouse Point Yacht Club Marina. As a live aboard is it really $25.00 / ft for boats over 36'?!?!!? What other charges do you have to pay? I am guessing the electric for a live aboard would be metered and not $10 to $20 per day as shown on the web page?

This would be a great location as my Son is in Deerfield beach but, at those prices I would just could not afford it.

 

[pilothouse king]

Thank you for the info. I looked up Lighthouse Point Yacht Club Marina. As a live aboard is it really $25.00 / ft for boats over 36'?!?!!? What other charges do you have to pay? I am guessing the electric for a live aboard would be metered and not $10 to $20 per day as shown on the web page?

This would be a great location as my Son is in Deerfield beach but, at those prices I would just could not afford it.

Lighthouse Point Yacht Club Marina is NICE!!!!!!!! You get what you pay for. The "Serge, Coleman and Blake" factors are extremely low there. To quote a line from one of my favorite movies: "elevate your tastes in trolls man".

 

[kraftee]

Yes, PHK is correct; it is VERY nice. Definitely pricey at $27/foot for non-members and $25/foot for members. But this is the price level for all three of Pompano's marinas (LHP Marina, LHP Yacht Club, and the Sands), and for my money, the Yacht Club is by far the safest, nicest, prettiest - and has the best marina manager in Zack Rice (check the ActiveCaptain reviews.) There are about a dozen full-time liveaboards with another handful of seasonals. The only other charge is for electric. It is metered and averages about $125 per month for us. Unfortunately, Zack told me the other day that he currently has a waiting list, but if you are interested, give him a call anyway.

ERIC

 

[frgeorgeh]

Yes, PHK is correct; it is VERY nice.
ERIC

Yes. Sounds wonderful but out of our range I am afraid. Guess we will stick to gulf side and just make the drive over to Ft Lauderdale to see the kids.

No matter. So very grateful we will soon be live aboards!

 

[kraftee]

Best of luck and I am sure you will find a great spot to live on the left coast of Florida. The cruising there is indeed wonderful!


ERIC

 

[Pgitug]

Burnt Store Marina is located in a large housing development that has a 24hour guarded entry. So the crime is next to nothing. The marina has the cheapest fuel in the entire area. And the depth at low tide is 6.5' or more depending on your spot. No wakes and well protected from the wind. The docks are fixed but they are in good repair. I live twelve miles away in Punta Gorda. We travel to Burnt Store Marina several times a year for both fuel and lunch.

 

[frgeorgeh]

We checked out Burnt Store. Very niceMarina and nice folks there too

 

[Capecodder]

Have you looked at Marinatown in north Fort Myers?

 

[frgeorgeh]

Have you looked at Marinatown in north Fort Myers?

We haven't. We will take a look at it when we get over that a way.

Can u tel us anything about it?

 

[Capecodder]

I have been here for a few days. Loctation of a Liveaboard Marina in North Fort Myers Florida It's a long single bulkhead marina. Low numbers slips are very quiet higher number slips are close to the Five yes 5 on site restaurants. Live entertainment at most everyday. Cheap fun happy hours.

Short fingers on most slips. Rate are $12.00 a month, $5.00 in slip pumpout.

 

[Helmut]

Does anyone have any experience at this marina? We will soon be living aboard in this part of Florida and are looking for a Marina.

My real concern for this spot is that it is so far south I am afraid of what the bugs will be like in the summertime!

We went to see Burnt Store Marina and were very impressed but, it is more expensive than Port of the Islands.

Thanks gang.

I have a 38 calforina would like to hook up

 

[ljk]

The place I used to bareboat trawlers was in Marinatown. They since have moved, but I liked Marinatown. Noisy sometimes, as you say, but to me it was always a "comfortable" placce to be. Not highe end, not glitzy, but nice. I sort of get the same feeling as when I am at Fisherman's Village in Punta Gorda. Although at FV the docks are newer and nicer than at Marinatown.

 

[Guitar Picker]

I know that whenI am pulling out at Laishley marina (Punta Gorda) there are some liveaboards there.
I do not know what they charge but it is within walking distance to everything except a grocery store.

 

[scurvy-yard-dog]

I've been to two of Dorsey's events at Lucky's place.
The Lesbian Biker Gang always shows up. It's wonderful. How does Lucky get women to pay him to take nude photos of them?

I stopped in Everglades City on a trip back from Marco Island to South Beach. It was quaint.

BTW... I have models who pay me to photograph them nude.