Tag: Whidden’s Marina

A love for animals, including Chico the Monkey

Above, has Barbara looking as Chico checks Isabelle’s hair. BY KAREN GRACE Sam Whidden is remembered as a man who when he found an injured animal, especially a bird, he would nurse it and...

Where Time Stands Still: A Century of Family, Fishing & Memories

BY BETSY JOINER Whidden’s Marina is the longest-running family-owned business on Gasparilla Island. Its story began with founder Sam Whidden in the early 1920s, his home and the marina building...

Where Boca Grande’s past remains, right here in the present

World War I veteran created a legacy on Gasparilla Island Above, the Red Gill Fish House, c 1935 BY KAREN GRACE, BOCA GRANDEHISTORICAL SOCIETY Wini Smart begins her book, “Whidden’s and...

Why Whidden’s matters: The landscape of Florida’s seaside

A notable place is not just a physical building. It is a building connected to a community and a group of people. Whidden’s Marina is a rare location, as most of the other institutions like it...

Celebrate a century

The Boca Beacon is celebrating the centennial of Whidden’s in a special edition August 28. The edition will include a history of the marina, as well as recollections. We are asking...

Red Gill Invitational set for Saturday at Whidden’s

This Saturday, June 13 is the 2026 Red Gill Invitational Tarpon Tournament. The tournament, hosted by William Woodroffe, raises money for the Gasparilla Island Maritime Museum, helping to...

Howl at the Moon draws tarpon fever

BY BETSY F. JOINER, GASPARILLA ISLAND MARITIME MUSEUM It’s that time of year. “Tarpon Fever” is running hot and highly contagious! At Whidden’s Dock, where the Gasparilla Island Maritime...

Event at Whidden’s launches the 2026 official Tarpon Season

The Boca Grande Fishing Guides Association held a kickoff party for the tarpon season in Boca Grande at Whidden’s Marina. The Saturday, April 18, party included locals and visitors, about 200 in...

Tarpon Season Kick-off Party Saturday

The Boca Grande Fishing Guides Association is hosting the first annual Tarpon Season Kick-off Party on Saturday, April 18. The event is from 5 to 7 p.m. at Whidden’s Marina, 190 1st St. East....

Eldred’s, Whidden’s, Fishery and the marina market

Currently, there are three major marina projects on the table on Gasparilla Island and in Cape Haze, and there are no listed buyers or partners yet. The most notable is Eldred’s, which has been...