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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