It’s difficult to get your bearings when you first see the old Fishery property without the shops, the fish house, the restaurant and the charter fishing buildings that used to be there. The only things left to remind you at this point are the concrete platform the restaurant once stood upon, the old docks and the last two Albritton houses still standing on the southernmost tip. The view is breathtaking, with the alcove and docks for Gasparilla Marina on your left and the old railroad trestle over to the right. The old memories are still there, but new memories are to be made.

“Joe will be conducting activities for our guest families during season,” he said, “and when The Inn is closed for the summer, he will be conducting a camp for employees’ children. We needed a family program: It’s one of the things that was missing here. We had kids’ activities, but not as much for families. Kids are coming more and more throughout the entire season, not just for spring break, and Joe is a perfect fit. He spent more than two decades with Lee County and we know how well he deals with kids through our own experiences with him, and watching how he interacts with our own kids and how much they love him. So many families have built relationships with Joe on island, so we knew it would work out very well.”

Concrete artificial reefs have been used for many years, including at the environmental restoration of the Mercabo Cove at the northern end of Gasparilla Island. The new aspect of such reefballs is the inclusion of cremated remains. This allows people to have a final resting place that can help in the effort to restore marine enviroments and establish new habitat for fish and other sea life.