Good review of some of the many dining options while visiting SALTY SOUTHEAST CRUISERS’ NET SPONSOR, Fort Myers Beach!

Fort Myers Beach – Several. My favorite may be the restarant just before the bridge on your stbd side as you enter (Nervous Nellies). You cna grab a slip there. If you go inside, take the north route (hang a left) and eat at the touristy Doc Fords. If you take a right, you can eat at Mantanzas, but not as good I think as Doc Fords. Doc Fords closes down for the summer sometimes, FYI, but Mantanzas does not. You can also tie up there (better buy a drink) and take a walk to the SOB (Smoking Oysters Brewery). Pretty good and usually a live band. There are many others places there if you want to chat about it, but if you tie up around there, you are in the FMB strip and open to lots of stuff and touristy walks. If you have a dink, forget tying up and just grab a ball in the mooring field. The public dinghy dock is on the S side under the bridge.
Brian

Fort Myers Beach is blessed with a large number of waterfront restaurants. In the winter they are crowded but accessible and fairly inexpensive. The above mentioned restaurants are great but don’t forget Bonita Bills just beyond Sky bridge on Port side. Good food reasonably priced with dinghy dock, no booze. Dock Fords is good but Matanzas is as well. Big Game Waterfront Grill and Parrot Key Caribbean Grill are in Salty Sam’s Marina. Lot of dockage and fuel plus ships store and several attractions for visiting g-kids. Many others as well. Good moorings. Anchoring around back side of islands. Cruiser friendly with mutual respect!
Ed

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Fort Myers Beach on Dwellable

Here’s a new one. All the discussion concerning Fort Myers Beach usually seems to center around their popular mooring field, or one of their several marinas and/or repair yards. This is the first we’ve heard about free dockage near a restaurant on these waters.
Can anyone supply a more precise, on-the-water location for the Nervous Nellie’s dock. If so, then please click the “Comment on This Posting/Marina/Anchorage/Bridge” link below, and share your information.

If you go to Ft. Myers Beach, there is a wall to tie up to at Nervous Nellies and if you have dinner there they will let you stay overnight. Easy access to the delivery. West Marine is not too far maybe ten miles if someone is available to drive you. Maybe call them ask them the question.
Good Luck,
David

And, as usual, a fellow cruiser responds with the needed information. Many thanks Captain Hellman!

Directions to Nervous Nellies
By Car or Boat
Parking for patrons of Nellie’s and Ugly’s is free, whether you arrive by car or boat.
Dock your yacht with the dock attendant’s
assistance at
Nellie’s Snug Harbour Marina. The GPS coordinates are 26’27’23.41’ N ‘¢ 81’57’15.18’ W.
Tracy Hellman

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Salty Sams Marina is the most upstream facility on Estero Bay. It lies along the bay’s northern shores on San Carlos Island.

If you want to be close to the beach, select Salty Sam’s Marina(239-463-7333) in Ft Myers Beach….very protected also and good for a short or long term stay.
Regards,
Tom Jones
m/v Marbles

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What a great, one paragraph review of Naples City Pier and the many attractions available within walking distance. This is indeed a great place to coil one’s lines, BUT be sure to call ahead and make dockage reservations as transient space is at a premium!

Naples is our home port. The city docks are an excellent location. You would be within walking distance of 5th Ave. And 3rd Street for shopping and restaurants. A great foodie type grocery store and hardware store are a short bike ride away. West Marine and Enterprise just a couple miles away. By the time you walk down 5th you are only a few blocks from the beach. Our favorite restaurant (Bleu Provence and their new wine store) is within walking distance.
Naples is a MUST stop.
Betty and Rusty Hughes

Docked there earlier this year on our trip from Ft Myers to Islamorada, very nice stop, friendly people and the trolly ride is well worth the history and the opulence that exists there.
Dennis McMurtry

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Good words below from Captain Tom about Salty Sams Marina in Fort Myers Beach. This facility is found on the northern banks of the Fort Myers Beach channel, northeast of unlighted daybeacon #28. Note also the brief comment about the Fort Myers Beach Mooring Field. These good folks are a SALTY SOUTHEAST CRUISERS’ NET SPONSOR!

In Ft Myers Beach a great stop is Salty Sam’s-239-463-7333…..floating docks, fuel, wifi, fun restaurant with great food and entertainment at times. From the north proceed under the Mantanza’s bridge, turn to port and follow the channel past the shrimp boats to the marina. You can dinghy to 4 other restaurants from there, and there is a dinghy dock under the Mantanza’s bridge on the west side if you want to go to the beach. The Mooring Buoys are also reasonably priced and controlled by the Manatanza’s Inn Marina. You can reach them on VHF 16.
Regards,
Tom Jones
m/v Marbles

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Our sincere thanks to Captains Gary and Mickey Wiggins for providing the input below concerning the Fort Myers Beach Mooring Field. They are responding to an earlier posting here on the Cruisers’ Net (linked below) by Captain Nicole which was mildly critical of this facility.
Let us be clear about this. All of us here at the Cruisers’ Net think the Fort Myers Beach mooring field is a superb facility. In fact, with the city’s “Cruisers’ Appreciation Day,” it wouldn’t be going too far to hold Fort Myers Beach up as an example of how a field should be managed. Sure, everything isn’t perfect, but as soon as you find the 100% perfect place, be sure to let me know!

Cruising News:
Fort Myers Beach Mooring Field
We have been staying at the Fort Myers Beach Mooring Field for several years. Cruiser Nicole made some good points but I would like to expand and refute some of her points. It’s my understanding that the City of Ft. Myers Beach owns the mooring field, the pump out boat and the dinghy dock. Matanzas Inn manages the mooring rental and provides laundry and bath facilities.
– It is true that the mooring balls need attention as far as cleaning and numbers are concerned. Right before we left, at the end of March, the Harbor Master was taking new mooring balls out to the maintenance pontoon boat so hopefully the problem of the missing 18 balls, the cleaning and fresh numbers will be addressed.
– The `nuisanced indifference’ comment about the staff was a bit harsh. There are a lot of new employees this year and they are trying to learn their job. Jerry, the manager has been very accommodating, helpful and friendly to us as have the other members of the staff. The boater’s were allowed to have meet & greets whenever we asked as long as there wasn’t a space conflict. We had them on the grassed area where the picnic tables are behind the office. This was a great way to meet other boaters and enjoy time together.
– Several places that we’ve been have no VHF access and you need to phone in. Our cruising guide informed us of this.
– They do keep a list in the office for pump out. You can either be put on the list or you can contact the Fort Myers Beach Harbormaster for pump out. He does work Monday through Friday and we have been pumped out many mornings. He works mornings and afternoons. We understand that if you need more than one pump out in a week, there’s no extra charge as there is in other mooring fields.
– Trash cans are extremely close to the dinghy dock for small bags and there is a dumpster for larger bags near the shower and laundry rooms. There aren’t any signs directing you but I’ve never seen such signs anywhere.
– The dinghy dock is crowded but we have always been able to find a place to park. The comment about a dinghy being under the dock, inflated, had nothing to do with the dinghy dock. We are the ones who tied up his motor but his dinghy had a slow leak in it, which had nothing to do with the current or dock.
– The sign about the Hotel Guests BBQ was probably amended when boaters asked about it.
– On March 26th there was a Boater’s Appreciation Day Party with hot dogs, hamburger, pizza, beer, wine, and soft drinks provided just for the boaters. They also had raffles for many very nice prizes. We’ve been present for at least three of these boater appreciation events. This year as in other years City Officials were present, along with folks from the Anchorage Advisory Committee asking for suggestions for improving the mooring field. In years past they have listened to and heeded our advice.
– It is my understanding that Salty Sam’s was the first manager of the mooring field and that job was taken from them and given to Matanzas. There must have been a reason.
– The bathroom sign saying `your mother doesn’t work here’ came about when people were being inconsiderate and leaving the bathrooms a mess. They are busy bathrooms and we felt that was a way to remind people to clean up after themselves because housekeeping can’t clean between showers.
The people of FMB are friendly and they are very welcoming to boaters. It is a great place to stay with many activities and a beautiful beach, a variety of restaurants and close access to grocery, PO, Hardware and West Marine. We would hate for one person’s gripes to dampen or give a negative impression of the FMB Mooring Field.
Sincerely,
Gary & Mickey Wiggins
M/V Little Mick

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As you enter Fort Myers Beach from Mantanzas Pass, Moss Marine is the first facility that will come abeam on the southern shore.

We’re staying here now as mooring field is full. Marina facilities and people are very nice. A little difficult to enter when windy. Price was $2/foot with electric included,
Steve McRoberts

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Fort Myers Beach is a valued SALTY SOUTHEAST CRUISERS’ NET SPONSOR, and all of us here at the Cruisers’ Net recommend a visit to this beachside community. We have chosen to present Captain Nicole’s note below in spite of these feelings, as her remarks seem well thought-through, and given in the spirit of constructive criticism. You will also note that Nicole’s problems are not with the community of Fort Myers Beach or really the mooring field itself, but rather the management of the field by nearby Mantanzas Inn.

Review of Fort Myers Beach Mooring Field (mixed review).
Fort Myers Beach is kind of an interesting mooring field situation as the field is not administered by the city but is run by a local place, The Matanzas Inn. Outwardly the field is nice (very strong current, the ball did a number on our hull when the current was opposed to the wind), though be careful, the #s on the balls are largely not legible’¦ if you get your ball number wrong the Lee County Sheriff will pay you a visit to find out why you have not paid and he was not super friendly about it until we got it all straightened out. Also, if you end up in the 2nd field it’s a LONG ride in to the dinghy dock.
The good: Showers are adequate, temperature controlled for hot and cold, clean and hot. Laundry room is clean with a small book exchange. ($1.75 wash/ $1.75 dry). Pump-out guy is SUPER friendly and helpful but only available M-F afternoons if it’s not raining. They have a floating dinghy dock that is less than a ¼ mile to the beach. FMB is VERY dog friendly and most of the beach allows dogs. Mooring field is also within a no wake zone that is largely abided by.
The bad: it’s more about the Matanzas Inn’¦ The act and treat cruisers with a kind of nuisanced indifference.
– Don’t bother calling them on VHF upon arrival, they do not respond (or haven’t the three times we have visited now). You will likely get NO VHF response for mooring assignment.
-They don’t keep a list in the office at Matanzas Inn for pump out, you must call when the pump out guy is there and actually speak to him which is kind of a crap shoot or you have to catch him out in the field.
-No trash cans available anywhere near dinghy dock. No signage at all as to where the dumpster is located either. Ask another cruiser, as you will never find it on your own and it’s a bit of hike to get to it and there are no dock carts.
-dinghy dock is CROWDED. With the current, be very careful how you tie up your dinghy. It is a floating dock but with the current and wakes from the channel we saw one dinghy mashed up under the dock deflated, fortunately another cruiser tied off their engine so it was not submerged but I can assure you they were not happy when they returned to find their dinghy like that.
It just really feels like the Matanzas Inn does not want to run the field and treats cruisers kind of accordingly. The put up kind of obnoxious signs in the bathroom about `your mother does not work here, clean up!’ to the signs in the office talking about the great guest welcome BBQ that they then write on with sharpie saying `hotel guests only’’¦ I get it, we are not staying at the hotel and we wouldn’t have tried to attend the BBQ but the signage is kind of obnoxious. They also have about a million signs say `no pets allowed anywhere on the property’. Considering that the dinghy dock is on the property, I chose to ignore this and no one bothered me about it which is good.
They just seem to go out of their way to not make things any easier or more friendly for the cruisers they are tasked to serve. Salty Sam’s Marina used to run the field apparently and I would think they are better equipped to do so now than an Inn. (Salty Sam’s by the way is very friendly, has ice and pump out. They are located on the starboard side heading towards the bridge from the 2nd mooring field next to the pirate ship.)
All and all Fort Myers Beach is a very nice town to visit, it just kind of leaves a bad taste in your mouth when you feel as though you are almost not welcomed to some extent. I would definitely recommend staying in FMB, there are a lot of great cruisers there and it’s a neat town, I just think it would benefit the town to have someone who actually wants to run the mooring field run it.
Nicole

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Glad to see the most positive review below of SALTY SOUTHEAST CRUISERS’ NET SPONSOR, Fort Myers Beach!

My wife and I visited FMB last march 3/10. We had cruised there 22 years ago and we GLAD to see town moorings, and less derelicts , although it seems they still had a couple of leftovers? We enjoyed the town and the beach and many of the local restaurants and stores. The Harbormaster `bubba’ runs the pump out boat and was a great help and a great source for information. However the LARGE HARD encrusted mooring balls did a number on my new alwgrip hull paint job!$#!$#!!?. If you are not able to pull the entire ball out of the water, BEWARE.!!
Stephen Arkwright

We had no problems with the mooring rubbing on our boat fortunately. The showers are pretty low rent ‘“ like an old motel room. You step into a bathtub to shower. The shrimp are great across the way at Tico. Fresh & very reasonably priced. Bonita Bill’s is the only saving grace in this very honky tonk beach town. It’s a veru dog-friendly bar/restaurant. But watch out for the resident cat, Splash. He roams at will. Fort Myers Beach is a fine stop over if you’re going north on the west coast of Florida or heading south to the keys. Small grocery store about a 2 mole walk on the beach.
Linda Hughes

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