• Pine Island Continued •

Go North from Pine Island Center toward Bokeelia (about eight miles) till you reach Charlotte Harbor. The paved bicycle path continues north along the edge of Stringfellow Road, offering a safe place to bike or walk. Again, while traveling to the north you will find some small businesses, art galleries, a few churches, fresh seafood restaurants, but mostly you will see agriculture with unique specialties. This is where the surrounding area gets most of its Coconut Palms, Christmas Palms, and so many different varieties of plants. There are growers of hybrid hibiscus, organic vegetable growers, growers of all kinds of, mango, lychee and other tropical fruit. You can

buy some of the products at produce stands or right off the trees at their nurseries. Pine Island mangoes are known throughout Florida and Pine Islands palms are shipped worldwide. Stop in one of the nurseries along the way to take home one of the palms or tropical fruit trees or to learn more about them.
----Once you arrive in the Bokeelia area you can spend some time enjoying the view overlooking the waters of Charlotte Harbor. Most often you can see across the clear waters to Cape Haze and Boca Grande Pass where the Gulf meets the Harbor. Drive, bicycle or walk through Bokeelia rich in pirate history. There was once 3 large Spanish canons at the mouth of Bokeelia, which guarded Bokeelia. Enjoy the scenery of nice homes, nicely landscaped yards, vacation residences, art galleries, marinas, etc. Take a walk along the beautiful pier where you can drop your fishing line or just enjoy the quite atmosphere. Enjoy a freshly caught Grouper dinner and watch the sun set. Plan a day cruise to Cayo Costa State Park with its seven miles of beach.  Pine Island is the “Beachless Island”, but we do offer ways to get to our outer Islands where you can swim or look for sand dollars and shells. Take a cruise to Cabbage Key for lunch where you have to leave money on the wall! Stay at one of the fine condominiums, motels or cottages in Bokeelia for a relaxing couple of days or longer. Go boating on your own; rent a kayak or canoe or hire a Captain to take you or your group fishing or just boating. Plan a trip in February or March for "Music on Pine Island" which offers a series of concerts in beautiful Fritts Park, featuring classical, pop and jazz.

----Travel North from Pine Island Center and take a left onto Pineland Road. Follow the winding road and you will arrive at Pineland. At the first curve on the right side of the road you will see a small reddish residence which at one time housed a church, then a school for the early pioneers on Pine Island. There is also an old cemetery on these same grounds, but it is not open to the public. Further on down this same road is one of the smallest post offices in Florida. Stop in and say hello to the postmistress, her family was one of Pine Island’s first families. This same post office is where most of the Pineland residents and get their mail. It is also the mail holding house for the outer islands. Boat charters pickup the mail from this office and deliver it to the outer islands.
---- Leave the post office and travel Pineland Road west. Looking to the right you will notice the land elevation rises. These are our only Hills but there are not really just hills, but Calusa Indian mounds. You will also notice houses have been cut and built right in the sides of these mounds. The Calusa Indians controlled areas from Marco Island north to the present city of Sarasota and some areas all the way to what is now West Palm Beach. They developed a remarkable system of man-made canals, some of, which are still visible in Pineland and in the Pine Island Ridge area just east of Pineland. There is a small park on your left with an historical marker. To the right of this maker is the Randell Plantation. The Randell family came to Pine Island and fell in love with the area they bought 80 plus acres and built their home on the water. This is where Pat and Don Randell lived for many years. They loved Pineland so much that at their time of passing they donated most of the property, which contains the Indian mounds and burial grounds to University of Florida. The university subsequently set up an educational and archaeological site called “The Randell Research Center”. Walk the way of the Calusa Indian to the top of the mounds and get an birds eye view of Pineland and the open waters. See what the Indians saw. If it is close to dusk then wait for the most beautiful sunset you will ever see. Make sure to bring your camera. Across the street you will observe some dazzling old tall Jamaican coconut palms planted many years ago in front of the 1926 historic Tarpon Lodge Building.
----Finally, you drive into Alden Pines, Pine Island’s only golf course community with beautiful homes, backing up to the golf course and it is open to the public or just walk the trails because you have just entered another nature lover’s paradise sharing your space with Osprey, Eagle, Turtles, even an Alligator or two, so keep your shoes on.
----If you have driven or ridden your bike the distance of the Island then you have experienced something you will not soon forget.. You have experienced the treasures and memories that Pine Island prides itself on sharing with its visitors. When you are ready for no traffic lights, no high rises, no streetlights that obliterate the stars, no loud theme parks, just Nature at its best, and we call it “PINE ISLAND”.