America’s Boating Club visits new Coast Guard station
On Nov. 6, 36 members from the America’s Boating Club of Sanibel-Captiva visited the new U.S. Coast Guard Station on Fort Myers Beach. Boatswain Melissa Neal hosted the group’s tour.
The three-story facility was constructed nearly three years after the Coast Guard dismantled its San Carlos Drive station, which had stood for 41 years on San Carlos Island. The new $30 million structure includes a communications center, armory, maintenance bay, mess hall, training rooms and fitness center.
Coast Guard members, who accompanied the club on the tour, called it a “huge upgrade.”
The new station also provides the Coast Guard with its own pier. Docked at the pier are an 87-foot cutter named Crocodile, a 45-foot-long response boat, and two 29-foot-long response boats.
The group learned that Fort Myers Beach unit covers Lee County south to Collier County, the Ten Thousand Islands in the Everglades, and as far north as the Gasparilla Sound. Its duties include search and rescue operations and inspections of commercial and recreational vessels within the unit’s area.
After the tour, the club enjoyed lunch at the Doc Ford’s Rum Bar & Grille on the beach.
The America’s Boating Club of Sanibel-Captiva is dedicated to promoting boating safety and education. Members are also provided with opportunities for social activities on land and water. It meets on the third Tuesday of each month at Sanibel Congregational United Church of Christ.
For membership information, contact Administrative Officer Kelly Seaman at admin@sancapboating.club.
For more information about the club, visit www.sancapboating.club.
To reach AMERICA'S BOATING CLUB OF SANIBEL-CAPTIVA, please email