Cabbage Key and Fort Meyers

On January 4th, we finally got going again after the holidays. It felt good to be out on the water and underway.

Cabbage Key Lodge

Our first stop was Cabbage Key, a tiny island accessible only by boat, just north of Captiva Island. It was created over the eons by the Calusa Indians who built up the mangrove swamp with shells. Basically, the island is a giant shell mound - 38' above sea level, making it one of the highest points of Florida.

Nature walk through mangroves on Cabbage Key

On the island, there's  funky, little resort with a few lodge rooms, several cottages, no tennis court, no cable TV, feint cell phone reception and a restaurant that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner 365 days a year. When you make a reservation, they tell you that "people come here to get professionally bored." It is purportedly, the place that inspired Jimmy Buffett to write, "Cheeseburger In Paradise."

The walls and ceilings of the bar and restaurant, are completely covered with layers of one-dollar bills, each signed by the individual who taped it to the wall or ceiling. The tradition started years ago when a commercial fisherman, flush with cash, taped a few bills to the wall, ensuring he would have enough money to return for more libations.

Dollar bills taped on every inch of the walls & ceiling

Water tower Cabbage Key

The place is a zoo during the day due to the many tour and rental boats that stream in for lunch, but by dinner time, the place is serene and lovely.





After Cabbage Key, we cruised south to Fort Meyers where we reunited with our friends, Hiromi, Mike and dog, Sydney from "Off Leash," whom we had last seen at Thanksgiving.

At a rooftop martini bar in Ft Meyers

One of the big tourist things to do in Fort Meyers, is to visit the Thomas Edison and Henry Ford winter estates. Turns out, that Henry once worked for Tom, and although Henry was quite a bit younger, they became fast friends. In fact, Henry liked Tom so much, that he bought the place next door to Tom's in Fort Meyers.

Tom's house

Henry's house

The two families vacationed together, planted many exotic trees and plants on the two properties, swam in Edison's swimming pool (one of the first ever built - 1910) and cruised around in  Edison's electric launch and Ford's Model T and later models.

In Henry's garage

One of the weird trees - this one's a Mysore Fig Tree

Concerned about America's dependence on foreign rubber, Tom and Henry and their pal, Harvey Firestone, formed the "Edison Botanic
Research Corporation" in 1927. Under Edison's leadership, in the lab build on his property, they eventually discovered a source in the Goldenrod plant (who knew?).







The plant was never used for large scale rubber production, but Edison's 1,090 patent was a specialized grinding process for extracting rubber from plants.

The botanical lab

This was yet another, in a string of fascinating places we have visited on this incredible voyage.