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Florida issues tarpon best practices for the 2024 season

When fishing for tarpon this season, be sure to use best fishing practices to keep silver kings reigning. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission consulted a number of external partners, including charter captains and Salt Strong and Bonefish & Tarpon Trust, to create a comprehensive list of best fishing practices to guide anglers looking […]

Town hall addresses Lee/Charlotte cooperation

Charlotte County elected officials and representatives gathered at the community center on Wednesday, April 17 for a townhall meeting to discuss topics of concern submitted by Gasparilla Island citizens and organizations. The main topic of concern was a lack of mutual aid between Charlotte and Lee counties emergency response services.  “This is really an opportunity […]

New phase of summer restoration for Mercabo Cove approved

Tidal shelf planted with red mangroves; view will be softenend to hide seawall BY THE GASPARILLA ISLAND CONSERVATION & IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION The Gasparilla Island Conservation and Improvement Association Board of Directors recently approved a new phase of restoration for Mercabo Cove. This phase will build upon previous efforts to improve water quality, enhance habitat, reduce […]

Post office responds to complaints

The last months have been marked by a number of new complaints to the Boca Beacon about missing packages and returned mail at the Boca Grande Post Office. Lecia Hall, a public relations representative for the U.S.P.S. for Florida has provided the Beacon with more information regarding postal complaints. “Local management will continue to work […]

O.J. Simpson was Rotonda Superstar in 1975 

The death of O.J. Simpson on April 10 in Las Vegas brought back a time when the NFL star came to Rotonda for ABC’s The Superstars. We look back at the era. Above, O.J. and Howard Cosell at the 1974 Superstars. He told host Keith Jackson after the tire obstacle race win in 1975: “The […]

Remembering Rob Wells of Cabbage Key

Robert Wells Jr., the founder of the modern Cabbage Key and the Tarpon Lodge, died Tuesday. Wells, and his wife Phyllis, purchased Cabbage Key in 1976, after he left a job as director of admissions at High Point College in North Carolina. Today, son Ken Wells manages Cabbage Key and son Rob Wells III manages […]

Gaza aid worker caught his first fish here

Jacob Alexander Flickinger, a 33-year-old humanitarian food aid worker for the charity World Central Kitchen, was killed April 1, 2024 while delivering food aid in Gaza. He is the nephew of island resident Lynn Seibert and has spent many seasons here on Gasparilla Island growing up with family and cousins. “He loved Florida,” Seibert said. […]

World Central aid worker called trustworthy mentor, guide

Quebec Parliament recognized his work BY LYNN SEIBERT The world lost a beautiful soul on April 1, 2024 when my beloved nephew Jacob Alexander Flickinger, 33 years old, was tragically killed in Gaza while delivering humanitarian food aid with the World Central Kitchen. He was killed along with six other WCK teammates who made the […]

Waiting for dinner …

Last year, Florida Power & Light placed an osprey platform at the south end of the island, near Belcher. This year, there’s a baby osprey, seen this week.                             Photo by Dusty