Two Visits to Cabbage Key Inn and Marina, Pine Island Sound, FL
South of Charlotte Harbor, lying east of Pine Island Wildlife Refuge and west of the ICW in Pine Island Sound, Cabbage Key has much to offer the cruiser, especially if you are interested in the unusual history of the island and its Inn.
We’ve stayed at Cabbage Key twice in the last six months. The first time was in January at the height of this winter’s cold snap. During that visit, we were transiting up to our new home port of St. Petersburg in our newly acquired Jefferson 46. When we pulled in about 1700, we were the only boat there. The dockmaster was very helpful, and the staff was wonderful. We ended up extending our overnight stay for three days to soak in the relaxing atmosphere. Each night, we were the only ones on the island, and had the entire staff catering to us. During the day, we put our kayak in the water and trekked over to Cayo Costa Island, and had the entire 6 mile stretch of sand to ourselves. This allowed us to escape the lunch crowd we had heard about, and enjoy the solitude.
Recently, we visited Cabbage Key again, this time over the 4th of July weekend. On this trip, we were on our Catalina 36 sail boat that we were taking up to All American Storage in Port Charlotte to be put on the hard for hurricane season. Once again, we had a wonderful time, although during the day, the place was a madhouse with anywhere from 20 ‘“ 30 small boats in for lunch and drinks. Because of the number of overnight guests in larger boats, we were put on the middle dock closest to the dockmaster’s office/store. I was a little concerned with depth as we draw 6 ft, but had absolutely no problem pulling all the way in. The dockmaster had me leave my stern beyond the end of the dock by about 6 ft, but I was still showing 6 ft on the depth sounder (about 7.5 ft of depth). After about 1800 each night, the small boats left, and we had the restaurant almost to ourselves. As usual the food and service were great. The only issue we had on this visit was that we were hit hard on three occasions by small boats as their (probably inebriated) captains attempted to get underway. In the future, I would not want to be on the middle dock for just this reason.
Overall, this is one of my favorite places on the western FL coast. It is easy to get in and out with approach and dockside depths of 7 ‘“ 10 ft, and it is easily transited even after dark. The kayaking is fantastic, the food is great, the staff friendly, and it is an easy shot out through Boca Grande Pass, into Charlotte Harbor, or down through Pine Island Sound.
Captain Glenn Zeider
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