Posted on 07/22/2008 8:12:02 PM PDT by Lorianne
A fisherman turned drug smuggler turned retired old salt, Floyd Brown claims he can find his way back here – one of the last Florida frontiers – without a compass from anywhere in the Gulf of Mexico. It's a skill, he says, he put to use more than once when he ferried bales of marijuana from Latin America to the Shark River in the 1970s.
A direct descendant of the 19th century pirates who first settled here in these 10,000 islands, Brown is like many residents in Everglades City. Together they've managed to engineer a modern day coup in Florida: keeping out the crush of condos and chain stores.
What's unusual about Everglades City is that it has been less interested in acquiring money and influence than in maintaining the pirate's mentality, says James Kaserman, co-author of "Pirates of Southwest Florida: Fact and Legend"
The area's pirate mind-set remained alive and well until the early 1980s. Then, in 1983, federal law enforcement – with help from the Coast Guard and the Navy SEALs – blockaded Everglades City for three days, arresting nearly every adult male on smuggling charges.
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
That's called "Californication" in my parts.
A few years back,I spent a day down in Everglades City.
A definitely interesting place!
I tried to visit Everglades City. After about five minutes the mosquitoes carried me off. Never made it back. Shame. Looked like it was a neat town.
I road on a airboat there a few years ago.
hello , its a huge drug trade spot and extremely dangerous.
“Everglades City (pop. about 700) is not too far from the glitz of Marco Island and Naples. Yet the area is still too rustic and mosquito-ridden – as well as beachless – for many people.”
I notice the only picture they have is an airboat.
So no malls, no chain stores, wonderfully free from evil corporations. Obviously no one wants to or can afford to live there but the mosquitos.
I have been down there twice years ago. As I recall about the only thing there is a big white house/hotel where we would have lunch, then walk around the area a bit enjoying the place. Cool place - almost expect to see the ghost of Ernest Hemingway out in a wicker rocker on the screened in porch.
That place is called the Rod and Gun club on the banks of the Barron river.
I fly in to Everglades city every few months for either a great breakfast or a fantastic fresh fish lunch.
I’ve been going there for 35 years to go fishing. A few years ago my wife son and I were set up on an outgoing tide or an island at the mouth of the Barron and Gulf and between the three of us we were catching a fish a minute. After three hours I had to sit for a beer as I was just too tired.
Snook, Lady fish, grouper, snapper, bone fish, shark, and some crap fish all from a small island.
Also if you fly in they have 4 bicycles you can borrow and ride around the city which is quite small and can be riden in about 30 minutes.
Like going back in time about 40 years.
Thanks! That’s right! And yes - it is like going back in time. One of its attractions.
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