Skip to main content
Search Results for “rid

Boca Grande, made famous once again … this time for sharks

BY MARCY SHORTUSE AND JACK SHORT We’ve been famous before for having one of the most expensive zip codes, and for having some of the best beaches. We’ve got celebrity status for many reasons here on Gasparilla Island, and now we’ve got a new reason to be chatted up on the Today Show and in […]

STEM camp kids research with Guy Harvey

BY MIKE VASHER When was the last time you had the opportunity to be invited onboard a fishing vessel to get to meet and speak with one of the world’s most well-known artists, scientists, explorers, and conservationists, Dr. Guy Harvey? With a little perseverance, Capt. Sandy Melvin, owner of Gasparilla Outfitters and a director of […]

Beaconcam is up and running!

Remember back in the day when you used to be able to go to our website and watch the world go by in downtown Boca Grande? Those days are here again, my friends, because the Boca Beacon webcam is back in business. Right now we’re still aiming it right down Park Avenue facing Hudson’s Grocery, […]

Local teen almost serves up a trifecta of holes-in-one

BY MARCY SHORTUSE You’ll want to remember the name Gabriella Vetter. She’s only a teenager now, but give her a few years and she might be playing in the Masters’ Golf Tournament. You actually wouldn’t believe this story if you heard it out on the course or sitting at the clubhouse, but we can guarantee […]

Crawford takes top art honors, exhibits at YoungArts Invitational

Catrina Maria Crawford, granddaughter of Linda and Bob Edic from Boca Grande and daughter of Darlene Edic Crawford, recently graduated from Dreyfoos School of the Arts High School in West Palm Beach and will be attending Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Fla. Catrina was honored to be a national YoungArts Finalist (top 20 new […]

Go to the beach? This survey’s for you

To the Editor: If you visit Florida’s beaches, your feedback can help Mote Marine Lab scientists enhance their real-time Beach Conditions Reporting System (BCRS). Florida residents and visitors are invited to take a short survey about what kinds of beach information they want. To see Mote’s BCRS, visit mote.org/beaches. Mote’s BCRS provides twice-daily or daily […]

Profile: Joshua Karl

BY JACK SHORT Joshua Karl would have had to try pretty hard to end up in a place more different than Boca Grande. When he grew up here on the island, he went by Joshua Johnson, of the “harbor pilot” Johnsons. But as he prepares to turn 40, he does so as a designer in […]

All you need to know about Boca Grande’s 4th of July

This year, the 4th of July festivities will begin bright and early at 10 a.m. on Saturday, July 4, as all participants in the 3rd annual 4th of July golf cart and bicycle parade will congregate in the parking lot next to PJ’s Seagrille. Decorate as you will, just keep it festive and 4th of […]

Minimum wake expansion proposed by Charlotte MAC

BY JACK SHORT A proposed minimum-wake zone expansion that began as an effort by a small group of homeowners has passed its first major hurdle. The Charlotte County Marine Advisory Committee heard presentations over the last two months from the public representing homeowners in Boca Grande North and in houses along Gulf Shores Drive, as […]

Little information available about $1 million that would have gone to Gasparilla Island State Park

BY JACK SHORT An item stricken from the 2015-2016 Florida budget that would have sent $1 million to the Gasparilla Island State Park contained little information about how the money would have been used, other than that it was marked for “the assessment and evaluation” of lands for purchase inside the optimum park boundary. No […]