Summer in December at Naples Pier, Florida

Saturday, December 29th was such a beautiful day that we decided to drive down to Fort Myers Beach and then go on to Naples. I hadn't photographed those piers in a while so it seemed like a great opportunity to do so before the winter sets in.

We decided to take the scenic route through Fort Myers and drove the length of McGregor Blvd, hereafter to be known by me as "Race Track Road." Wow, those Fort Myers folks are in a hurry! McGregor is well-known for the tall Royal Palms that line the boulevard. They are quite beautiful.

After grabbing a deli sandwich at Publix, we continued on toward Fort Myers Beach via San Carlos Blvd. We did not get far before coming to a dead stop in a dreadful line of traffic that clearly stretched to Fort Myers Beach (FMB). FMB is famous for its traffic congestion, and here we were on New Year's weekend with clear skies and temperatures in the mid 80's thinking we were going to drive to FMB at 2:30 in the afternoon. CRAZY!

I turned around and headed back to I-75. Half-an-hour later we were in Naples looking for a parking spot near the pier on 12th Street South. Parking was very tight and I'd never seen so many people at Naples beach. But within 5 minutes we found a spot within 3 blocks of the pier. I stuffed the meter with quarters and we dragged our gear out onto the beach. It was beautiful, as Naples always is.

Coconut palms, sea grapes, well-irrigated lawns and landscapes, and a very upscale, relaxed crowd make Naples beach a pure pleasure. But I still locked my car.We sat on the beach for a little while, just to relax before walking to the pier.

The pier stretches 700 feet into the Gulf, and has been sitting there in one form or another for over 100 years. Today it was very crowded. I got some great photos, many of which you can see on my web page about Naples, Florida beaches. I created a slide show about half way down that page. Also, I'm working on an article about southwest Florida piers which will appear on the VISITFLORIDA website, which I also blog for. I'll post a blog here when that article appears.

I measured the water temperature near the Naples Pier and found it to be 74 degrees, which is about 6 to 8 degrees warmer than the Gulf near St. Petersburg--which accounts for why there were so many people swimming at the beach in Naples.



As we sat on the beach in the warm December air with coconut palms as a backdrop, I couldn't help but observe that there were probably about 200 million Americans who would eagerly give a months pay to trade places with us;-)

Shark bites man in Naples, Florida

It's not officially summer beach season yet, but we've already had a shark bite on the southwest Florida coast. Newspaper headlines say an older man staying at the Edgewater Beach Resort in Naples was bitten on the thigh while swimming "about 100 yards" off the beach.

Most people aren't very good at estimating distances, but I'll tell you, 100 yards is a really long way out. And the water was murky.

According to the article, the man felt something bump his leg, but he couldn't see anything because the water was so murky. He swam to shore and noticed a semi-circular bite mark on his thigh. He walked up the beach to get help and was taken to the hospital. One article said he had a serious bite wound, another article said it was a non life-threatening injury.

It was also noted that since 1882 there have only been 8 shark bites recorded in Collier County.

So what's the moral of this story? It's the one you don't see that gets you. Just kidding...my advice has always been to swim near shore in clear water. Obviously the shark in this case let go as soon as it realized it didn't have a fish in its jaws. Being far out from shore in murky water is just a bit too chancy for me.