Post Hurricane Ian - Fort Myers and Fort Myers Beach

Legacy Harbour Marina.  All three marinas in Fort Myers were destroyed in Hurricane Ian.

FORT MYERS

Ft. Myers' City Marina today.

Fort Myers, the City of Palms, has attracted snow birds for over a century, but Hurricane Ian

Flooded downtown during Ian.

 (2022) flooded city blocks along the Caloosahatchee River and knocked out a number of local businesses.  After two years, most have reopened, and we looked forward to visiting the city for the first time.  The Fort Myers City mooring field seemed like an inexpensive option right downtown, but Ian wiped it out.  Then we looked at nearby Legacy Harbour, which was also annihilated.  

Legacy Harbour Marina today.

We later learned that the Fort Myers City Marina has permits in process to double in size, 

while Legacy has just ordered its replacement docks.  In either case, availability is likely two years away.

Salty Paws at the Marina at Edison Ford

Our last option for Fort Myers was the Marina at Edison Ford, and luckily for us it had just reopened two weeks ago.  We booked for a full week to fully explore the city, meet local friends and await the arrival of a buddy boat with Jon and Liz, who will be joining us to cruise down and through the Florida Keys.  They recently crossed the Gulf of Mexico on their boat purchased in Alabama and are headed down the Florida West Coast to us.

Early on, we took an historical tour of the Fort Myers downtown.  One of the highlights was seeing this mosaic tile mural of 46 years of City history from 1858 to 1904.  It was funded as part of the Federal Government's construction of a new courthouse in the early 1960's.  Below is a blowup of each section of the mural along with what it depicts.

Beginning at the left is a steamship and a number of Seminoles with their chief representing another aspect of the Trail of Tears that forcibly removed Native Americans from Florida and other southeastern states to the mid-west for resettlement.

The center of the mural includes a depiction of Fort Myers in the background.  The Fort was actually a Union outpost during the latter part of the Civil War used to support ships blockading Florida

ports.  The Fort was defended by the 2nd U.S Colored Infantry, which was organized in 1863 but eliminated in 1866 after the war ended.

The right section of the mural celebrates the 1904 coming of the railroad to Fort Myers as well as its history as a cattle town.  Interestingly, the word "cracker," which is typically viewed as a

derogatory word for poor whites, is viewed acceptably by many in Fort Myers as an accurate depiction of its cattle roots.  It refers to the sound of whip used to drive cattle.

After the tour we had a great burger at Ford's Garage in the downtown.  Other great food stops were Pinchers at the Marina, where we ate with friends Bob and Wendy, and Cristof's, with friends Sue and Allan.

Molly next to the Edison pool, one of the
first private pools built in Florida.

The original Edison cottage is on the left.

The Marina at Edison Ford is adjacent to the Edison and Ford winter estates, now one of the biggest tourist attractions in the area.  The local story began in 1886 when Thomas Alva Edison visited the area and loved the winter climate.  The prolific inventor was already a successful businessman and purchased 13 acres of land on the Caloosahatchee River to build his winter estate.   He had a 1,200 ft dock built to receive building materials as the railroad did not yet reach Fort Myers.  His house was precut at a Maine mill and shipped via train and then boat to his new dock.  

The Ford Cottage next door to Edison's.

Henry Ford was a young employee of the Edison Illuminating Company, and when he finally met Edison, he was encouraged to continue his pursuit of a gasoline-powered vehicle and ultimately left to form the Ford Motor Company.  Edison was a great mentor to Ford, and ultimately the two became great friends.  In 1916 Ford purchased the cottage adjacent to Edison's estate.  Edison and Ford collaborated on many projects including the development of a domestic source for rubber.  Ultimately, their efforts were unsuccessful, but their work did result in the planting of what may be, perhaps, largest banyan tree outside of India!  

This is a banyan tree with multiple connecting roots.  My camera
could not capture anything close to the entire tree.  A statute of
Edison is amongst the roots.

Edison was well-cared for by his younger wife, Mina, as his health deteriorated.  She managed everything including the installation of gardens and construction of a separate study for Edison. It is hard to fathom that Edison received over 1,000 U.S. patents including at least one patent for 65 consecutive years. He died in October 1931 at the age of 84, and earlier that year had submitted his last patent application.  It was granted in 1933.

Edison with Cobb.  Picture is in the Edison Ford Museum on
the grounds of the estate, now owned by the City of Fort Myers

Our cart for groceries
and laundry.

One of the great local Edison stories is that he visited Connie Mack and the Philadelphia A's in 1927, just two years after they established Fort Myers as their spring training site..  Mack had just signed Ty Cobb for $75,000, and Edison grabbed a bat and motioned for Cobb to pitch to him.  The pitch came, and Edison allegedly hit the surprised Cobb with a hard line drive. When approached by a reporter, Cobb reportedly stated "I hope I hit that well at 80!"

FORT MYERS BEACH

FMB before Hurricane Ian

FMB after Hurricane Ian

As bad as Hurricane Ian was to Fort Myers, it was many times worse in Fort Myers Beach as the storm with 15-foot storm surge almost knocked Fort Myers Beach off the map.  I tried to get a better idea of the devastation by finding before and after Google Earth pictures.

The pictures are roughly the same area.  On the lower edge one can see a number of building that existed prior to Ian, but have disappeared after Ian.  Also, the white hew of the "after" picture reflects the amount of sand that washed up everywhere.

The beach was largely vacant because of the cold weather
and generally far fewer residents and visitors.

Our friends Sue and Allan live in Cape Coral and picked us up for a day trip to Fort Myers Beach.  I had known Fort Myers Beach from the stories I had been told - beautiful white-sand beaches, shrimp boats, its pier, casual development and numerous bungalows and small cottages, many of them in the same family for generations.  We found that the beach is as beautiful as ever, but only after spending millions of dollars to remove debris, sift the sand to remove foreign matter and truck in additional sand for sand that had washed away.

We looked for where we could bring our boat for a couple of nights on our way from Fort Myers to the Keys.  Moss Marina is open, while the Matanzas Marina has new docks but they are not yet open for use.  The City of Fort Myers has replaced and maintains over 50 moorings in Matanzas pass.  There is a dinghy dock and rest room and shower facilities.  We have reserved a mooring for two nights through Dockwa.

A number of restaurants have reopened, and there is a great deal of construction throughout the island.  Fort Myers Beach is slowly coming back, but it will be different as small bungalows are often being replaced by resort developments.

I was told that on new structures
the first floor must be 17 feet above
mean high tide.

Some boats have yet to be removed from where Ian left them.

The free dock off Bowditch State Park is condemned.

Moss Marina is open for business.