Feb 08, 2010 - Matlacha

Matlacha

Matlacha is a small village just east of Pine Island. Technically it’s part of Pine Island, but it’s on its own little chunk of land. At one time it was quite a commercial fishing village, and there’s still some fishermen left, but now it’s mostly an eclectic collection of art galleries and boutiques, Mom & Pop motels and seafood restaurants, bait and tackle shops, and a couple of marinas. There are many cottages available for rent, some completely modern and remodeled, and some still in their original "Old Florida" state. The definition of "Old Florida" seems to fall somewhere in between refurbished retro funky and neglected nasty. So do your homework if you read that particular phrase in a potential rental property’s description. Beth and I stayed in one of the "Old Florida" cottages on the water for a few days several years ago, and were quite taken with the area. (The cottage we rented was on the retro funky end of the spectrum, very nice.) We were anxious for our friends to see the area, with its mix of locally created art and imported stuff from Haiti, Mexico, and Indonesia.

Beth in Matlacha

On Pine Island most of the population is at the south end at St. James City, where almost every home has canal access to the water. It’s a working-class sort of neighborhood, nice but not mansions. That’s also where most of the businesses are located. On the north end is Bokeelia, where several commercial fishing operations are based, and there’s a few higher end resort hotels, and some larger houses I’d call mansions. In between are palm trees. Lots and lots of them, of all types, grown commercially for export. You don’t realize just how many types of palm trees there are until you come here. They stretch out in long rows for miles. There’s also Calusa Indian mounds that date back 2000 years, site of frequent archaeological digs, and one of the county’s smallest post offices at Pineland.

They also grow mangoes, pineapples, citrus, lychees, papayas, carambolas, longans, and loquats. All I know for sure about those last three items is that they don’t spell check.

By the time we finished checking out the Matlacha area and then figured out how we were gonna shoehorn the piece Beth bought into our friend’s convertible (see photo), it was late afternoon. We had enough time to tour Pine Island, have a late lunch at Woody’s Waterfront Restaurant and Marina, and stop at the fish market on the way back through Matlacha. Yellowtail Snapper on the grill for dinner tomorrow.

This is going in the house, not the rPod.



Back Street, Matlacha



Back Street, Matlacha