Written by Garland Pollard on . Posted in Breaking News, News, Sports & Outdoors.
Caterpillars earlier this month denuded many of the leaves of the historic banyan trees on Banyan Street, thought it appears that the trees are beginning to recover as of this week. Visitor Colleen Flynn noticed the issue on a recent visit and contacted the Boca Beacon. “We were last here for a couple of weeks […]
Written by Staff Report on . Posted in Featured News, News, Sports & Outdoors.
Locals have alerted the Boca Beacon to a number of possibly derelict boats off of Gasparilla Island. In recent weeks, at the north end in Charlotte County, there have been two abandoned boats, and even a motor yacht taking on water. At the north end of the island, near the fishing pier, is a New […]
Written by Delores Savas on . Posted in Columns, Opinion, Sports & Outdoors.
“As crude a weapon as the cave man’s club, the chemical barrage has been hurled against the fabric of life – a fabric on the one hand delicate and destructible, on the other miraculously tough and resilient, and capable of striking back in unexpected ways. These extraordinary capacities of life have been ignored by the […]
Written by VAN HUBBARD on . Posted in Columns, Community, Opinion, Sports & Outdoors.
BY CAPT. VAN HUBBARD Editor’s Note: Van Hubbard’s column Hook, Line and Sinker appeared in the Beacon beginning in 1988. We are delighted to welcome him back. I’m returning to the Boca Beacon because I realize how important Boca Grande is to my career and life. I first traveled to Boca Grande because it offered […]
Written by Sheila Evans on . Posted in Community, News.
Running for a local office on Gasparilla Island is sometimes more complicated than one might expect. Because there are two counties on the island, if an elected board, like the Gasparilla Island Bridge Authority, serves both Charlotte and Lee County residents, a candidate for one of those boards must be “qualified” by the Florida Division […]
Written by Garland Pollard on . Posted in Featured News, Profiles.
Among the yearly regulars at the Boca Grande Club is Dr. Constantine Mavroudis, one of the nation’s top pediatric cardiac surgeons. Born an American citizen in his ancestral home of Thasos, he has just written a memoir of his journey from World War II-era Greece to his current position, as chief of pediatric cardiac surgery […]
Written by Boca Grande Health Clinic on . Posted in Featured News, Health & Wellness, News.
By MARK DRISCOLL As the pace slows down on the Island, the Boca Grande Health Clinic wraps up an extraordinarily busy season marked by record-setting patient engagements. • Patient Visits: We reached a total of 5,394 patient visits from October 2023 to April 2024, a 32 percent increase over last season. • Busiest Month: March […]
Written by Anna Ridilla on . Posted in Columns, Sports & Outdoors.
Last Wednesday evening, May 8, Boca Grande Outfitters hosted a fly tying social above the store. As someone who has never fly fished, let alone tied a fly, I was the obvious choice to go represent the Beacon. I am from Colorado, where fly fishing is very popular and there are plenty of places to […]
Written by Anna Ridilla on . Posted in Breaking News, News.
The newly rebuilt South Beach Bar & Grille has temporary power, and they hope to have the building turned over to them by mid-June, said co-owner Bart DeStefano. “We’re going to go as fast as we can once the contractors turn over the building to us,” DeStefano said. They are hoping to open the Boca […]
Written by Garland Pollard on . Posted in Breaking News, Editorial, Opinion.
This week, the Boca Grande Quarantine Station house went on the market (see pages 16-17). One feature of the house is a working, wooden cistern. During Hurricane Ian, the tank was disconnected from gutters, but it is still in place, with an actual hose spigot at the bottom. It functions not only as a practical […]