Kathy and I are fortunate to have returned to the Southwest Florida area to enjoy the sunshine and reunite with friends. Hurricane Ian devastated Legacy Harbour Marina in Ft. Myers where we slipped our boat for 30 plus years. This year we rented a home for three months on a canal in Cape Coral.
Wood structures on Ft. Myers Beach, with few exceptions, are gone. There is more sand than buildings, leaving people homeless, businesses without customers, and a large amount of insurance claims piling up. The tourist industry is devastated.
Legacy Harbour and City Marina in Ft. Myers were a total loss. Legacy Harbour is underway to rebuild on the same footprint. This project will begin before the year is over. The marina of 131 slips was almost totally destroyed by Hurricane Ian with a 12-foot surge driven by a 150-mph wind. The surge lasted four and a half hours. There were 76 boats in the marina at the time, and 67 were destroyed.
The harbor master, Eric Ravenschlag, continues his duties while the marina is being rebuilt. The loss of customers who became close friends, along with their pets, has emotionally affected his daily life.
Eric said some people who were formerly at Legacy Harbour have purchased boats and are now in other marinas or in homes on the canal. Now, two and a half years later, he is still waiting for his home insurance roof claim to be paid.
Out motor yacht, the Front Page, continues to have life after being salvaged and sold. We have learned that she is high and dry in the mangroves at Cayo Costa State Park. We received a call from an upstate New York woman wintering at Pine Island. While walking on the beach at Cayo Costa, she found a notebook with personal information about us that came off the Front Page. She thought we should know about it so she contacted us in Cape Coral. We met her on Pine Island at Bokeelia where she handed over the notebook and we had a lovely visit as we thanked her for being a Good Samaritan.
We visited Sanibel Island where recovery from three hurricanes is currently underway. The mangroves had a lot of damage and the dead ones along the roads have been cleared. A group is planting new mangroves in the damaged areas. Sand from the Gulf, which has been washed up over roads, parking lots and lawns, is placed in huge piles. Many businesses are still closed. Rental property is still available, but many rental facilities are closed for repair, now two and a half years later.
Most people think it will be another five to ten years before the area is restored from hurricane damage. Ten years of garbage was created in 24 hours by Hurricane Ian. Overall, the economic impact of Hurricane Ian is estimated to be the largest for the area in 500 years.
Friendships really count. We were invited to dinner by friends Joanne and Jim Benson, originally from Oklahoma. We have boated with them in Florida and the Bahamas. When we arrived at the restaurant, we were seated at a table for seven. They told us we should try to guess who else was coming. We were not successful in guessing, but were pleasantly surprised when Bill and Cathy Swanson from White Bear Lake arrived. They lived across the street from us at the corner of Fourth and Johnson Streets. The Bensons and Swansons had met at their church in Ft. Myers.
Gene Johnson is publisher emeritus of Press Publications.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.