The Life & Times of a Naples Taxi Driver

Pine Island is the largest island in West Florida and offers a laidback living standard reminiscent of a rural fishing village. This, however, does not mean that it’s devoid of modern amenities. You will find contemporary designs and architecture with modern living standards.

A delicate balance has been struck between nature and humans on this island.  There are four communities on the island with each having its unique look and flavor.

Matlacha was a fishing village before development started, and has retained its charm and flavor. St. James City has turned into a major residential area with modern housing.  Bokeelia serves as the main fishing hub of the locals. Pine Island City is the main commercial area with plenty of retailers, entertainment, and dining options. The island is linked to the mainland Florida where a highway connects it with Cape Coral. Fort Myers is nearby and Naples is at half an hours drive.

Matlacha is the place to be if you are a lover of art. The fishing village has embraced the budding art scene with new galleries popping up and designer outlets being established. It is also place to some of the trendiest restaurants on the island.

Seafood remains the hot favorite, cooked with authentic Floridian cuisine styles. Pine Island Center is the hub of commercial activity. A museum has also been setup to introduce you to the past and present of the place, with exotic artifacts and displays. Tennis courts, swimming pool, library, school, and other facilities are also available.

Bokeelia is home to fruit plantations and palm groves. It also hosts an 18-hole golf course with a generous clubhouse. Fishing piers and modern marina adds to the charm of the place. The area is undergoing rapid development with retail store and restaurant openings.

The laidback environment of the place, and its unspoiled location, offers you an opportunity to head out jogging or simply take a stroll among the forests and lagoons. Fishing remains the most popular pastime with many exotic varieties roaming the warm waters of the Gulf.

St. James City remains the main center for accommodation and dwelling in the island. You will find most homes with a canal access to the Gulf of Mexico. Boathouses are aplenty and most houses also feature boat decks. Waterfront homes remain the most popular type of accommodation in Pine Island.

You can purchase a three bedroom waterfront house with your personal boat deck and deep access for an average price of $180,000. Design variations are available in house design with different types of floor plans and layouts. Swimming pools are present in some homes, and you will always have the option to add your own.

Pine Island does not offer the same luxuries as you will find in Bonita Bay or Fort Myers. It, however, is excellent for buying a house if you like to live a trouble-free life away from the hustle and bustle of metropolitan areas. The place also offers good investment opportunities as it is opening up to modern luxury living standards with new developments in the works.

Naples man wins $150K poker jackpot at greyhound monitor

1:52 P.M. — John Monti, 61, of Naples, won a jackpot worth more than $150,000 in the Naples-Fort Myers Greyhound Observe.

Monti, a standard on the Bonita Spring’s poker space, received the Massive Slick Royal Flush Jackpot on Wednesday, Oct. 20.

To win the jackpot, players have to have a royal flush with the king and ace in their hand.

“It came on the flop,” Monti stated Wednesday. “It just happened. I tried to stay as calm as I could till the hand was over.”

But with any big jackpot comes some really tense moments.

“After I gained, they had to count all the cards,” Monti mentioned. “They needed to make certain they had been playing with a full deck and that all 52 cards were there.”

Monti says track and poker area officials seemed pleased that he gained.

“I believe they liked the fact that I’m a typical — that I come here to play a good deal and that I’m not a person who comes in once, wins and then isn’t noticed for 3 months.”

Monti, a retiree, said he had no immediate plans to spend his winnings.

“It’s not like it was a million bucks,” he mentioned. “It’ll arrive in handy. Possibly I’ll acquire a automobile.”

NAPLES — The Naples Tub and Tennis Golf iron is closing its doors.

CLB officials knowledgeable proprietors and associates throughout a meeting in the golf club earlier right now, said Robin Frederick, president with the Naples Bathtub and Tennis Club Commons, the community’s property owners association.

The tennis club has 1 challenging tennis court furthermore to your 37 clay courts. But it really is not just about tennis at the 20-acre clb. According to the club’s site customers also have access to a fitness center, a casual dining restaurant and spa services.

The golf club also has a 33,000-square-foot club home plus a pro shop.

Frederick stated householders had been notified before this yr “there was some financial instability” for the golf iron. House owners ended up operating behind the scenes, Frederick mentioned, “to do what they could do to keep the membership.”

That didn’t work, and Frederick says neighbourhood associates had been told this morning that the golf iron would be closing.

“It’s a really sad factor,” she mentioned. “The membership will be the central life for several of your people who have lived here. It’s their social circle, and it might be significantly missed.”

David Siede, a golf iron and neighborhood member, stated that although rumors of problems have spread by means of the neighbourhood in recent months, the announcement nonetheless caught him off guard.

“It was a little surprising,” he says. “I thought perhaps they would have had somebody interested in acquiring it. It was shocking to see it closed like that.”

Frederick said she was knowledgeable the tennis courts can be closed Friday, but Siede says he believed the courts would be open for one more 30 days.

A spokesperson for the Naples Bath and Tennis Membership was not instantly readily available for comment.

The neighborhood was developed inside 1970s, and is property to both the club as well as a residential community. Residents, each Frederick and Siede said, do not have to have to belong to your club, as could be the case in quite a few communities that have an athletic membership around the premises.

Siede said the fact that group users didn’t need to have to belong for the club was a flaw within the method.

“That’s the weakness from the situation: The key point is once they constructed this clb, what they had to possess within the by-laws was (home proprietors) have to have at the least a social membership,” Siede mentioned.

“If we had that, we’d have at the least 520 users (inside the neighborhood) and 200 from outside. That’s the weakness inside the structure.

Since the community’s development plan was adopted in 1973, the 154-acre complex has hosted many tennis tournaments and partnerred with Academia Sanchez-Casal, a youth tennis and academic training program.

That partnership ended before this 12 months, Frederick said.

Collier County commissioners in January approved a request to allow the homeowners to develop a 48-room hotel to the club’s home. The club is about 20-acres big, community associates mentioned.