In early October 2024, Trasi Sharp and Liza Clouse wrapped the doors in plastic.
The kitchen equipment received the same treatment, plus the added bonus of being raised off the floor.
Flex Seal, sandbags, and tape soon followed everywhere else.
“We tried everything,” Sharp said. “Pretty much everything we could, we did. But we still got three feet of mud in here during (Hurricane) Milton.”
Yet for the owners of Over Easy Café on Sanibel, that storm paled in comparison to Hurricane Ian’s wrath on Sept. 28, 2022.
“I still have nightmares over it,” Sharp said. “For months after, I wanted to move.”
Welcome to the world of restaurant owners from Captiva to Naples who could lose everything in the blink of a hurricane eye.
Three hurricanes in two years have altered Southwest Florida’s landscape for good, dining scene included. Damage to island and Gulf-side restaurants has been extensive.
Some, like The Cottage, Plaka on the Beach, La Ola and Bert’s Bar, just washed away. Others, including The Mucky Duck, are still fighting their way back. Sweet Melissa’s, Hooked and Fresh Catch are among those to find off-island homes.
“Obviously, beachfront is great,” said Franco Russo, who moved Junkanoo and Fresh Catch to the bay side of Fort Myers Beach after Ian destroyed his beachside restaurants. “At the time, I would have rebuilt if I could. Now I don’t know if I would.”
Dozens have come back over the last two-plus years. Some returned quickly, while others (think Blue Giraffe, Sanibel Sprout and Lazy Flamingo on Sanibel and Keylime Bistro on Captiva) have just recently reopened.
As hurricane season slowly churns along, we chatted with a handful of watching and waiting island and waterfront restaurant owners about staying or relocating, lessons learned and community.
For Dawn and Mike Miller, the latter is a huge motivator.
The Whale, Fort Myers Beach
“I’ve loved Fort Myers Beach since I was a kid,” said Dawn, who co-own this iconic Ian-destroyed beach bar and restaurant just across from the beach on the north side of Estero Boulevard with husband Mike. “My parents would bring me down in the ’70s. But since living on the island, the sense of community and all its love was something I had never felt before.”
The Millers moved to Fort Myers Beach in 2018 and bought The Whale (previously The Beached Whale and the original Mermaid Club before that) in June 2022. Three months later, Ian hit.
“I stayed through the hurricane,” Mike said. “I walked down to see (The Whale) was pretty much destroyed. I would have been happy selling it.”
But not Dawn.
“I didn’t want to buy it at all (at first),” she said. “But I fell in love with The Whale. It became a passion for me. I’m all in.”
They both are now. Expected to open in mid-September with a grand opening in mid-October, the new, completely rebuilt Whale will be three floors instead of 1½ like the old one.
An Ohio State-themed Buckeye bar area is planned for the first floor, a floor-to-ceiling glassed-in dining room and bar occupies the second, and a huge tiki-covered sports bar with outstanding views makes up the third.
And unlike the original building dating back to the late 1940s, this one “will be hurricane proof.”
“We went above and beyond to make sure this building will never come down,” Mike said. “There are 103 pilings that are 45 feet deep. We can lose 10 feet of sand under the building and it will still be standing.”
First floor synthetic decking, concrete and epoxy flooring in the kitchen and around the bar and power sources on the second floor are part of the plan too.
“I’m very confident in this new building,” Mike said. “I don’t have a choice.”
On May 31, the Millers threw a Jobu Fest at Sandy Bottom’s (previously the Tuckaway Café), which they purchased a year after The Whale. It’s their island-themed take on a scene from the film “Major League,” where a player pays tribute to a wild-haired, cigar-clenching doll he believes can help him hit curveballs.
“We needed to do something for our island,” Dawn said. “So we held it to ward off hurricanes.”
More than 400 people showed up to the festive event, complete with ceremonial conch shell, rum tributes, live music and more.
“It was a great night,” Dawn said. “I love this community.”
Keylime Bistro, Captiva
Sandy Stilwell Youngquist is a huge part of her Captiva community.
After all, the CEO and owner of Stilwell Enterprises & Restaurant Group has had island restaurants for decades, beginning with this cheerily inviting breakfast, lunch and dinner spot in the center of Historic Captiva Island Inn Village. Originally opened in 2002, it not only has the distinction of being Stilwell Youngquist’s first restaurant, but was the last to reopen after Ian.
“It was almost ready when Milton hit,” she said. “We just about started over again.”
Cantina Captiva opened first, in the form of a food truck, a few months after Ian. Her award-winning, family-friendly RC Otter’s Island Eats was next, about 10 months after the storm, followed by Sunshine Seafood four months later.
All three were then flooded and closed after Helene and Milton.
“It’s very concerning,” Stilwell Youngquist, author of the recently released book “Resilient Spirit,” said. “Keylime is close to the ground. A couple of times (before Ian), there would be a puddle of water under the door. But we never had flooding like that. Helene was a little water, but Milton was a lot. And Ian was the worst.”
Less than two months into hurricane season, the threat of an impending storm is constantly looming.
“It is a great anxiety,” she continued. “It’s on our minds all the time. I hope we get a reprieve and don’t have any major storms hit us.”
During all the rebuilds and remodels, she has taken precautions.
“Notice the flooring,” Stilwell Youngquist said. “All tile. The walls have tile up quite a bit in case it floods. We went with more hurricane-resistant siding. All the furniture is something we can hose off. It used to be wood. I’ve done this dance so many times. I’ve learned.”
With Keylime Bistro’s June 27 grand opening behind her, Stilwell Youngquist is working on the final pieces of her Ian-damaged ventures — Captiva Island Inn and Latte Da.
“We had to tear down 10 cottages,” she said. “We can start as soon as we get the permits.”
In the meantime, she’s looking into different flood and storm protection programs and “everything else that’s available so we’re prepared.”
“I’ve learned to have really good insurance and hopefully cash in reserves,” she said. “If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be in business. Instead of expanding, you have to prepare for uncertain times. And have a really good backup plan.”
Turtle Club, Naples
Mick Moore’s plan includes flood panels and sandbags.
This waterfront wonder on Vanderbilt Beach was pummeled during Ian and remained closed for 19 months.
Enter the flood panels.
Moore, a partner whose family owns Vanderbilt Beach Resort, told then Naples Daily News food & dining reporter Diana Biederman that he purchased four-foot-high panels to protect against future flooding.
Sludge had entered the restaurant during Ian through the beachside door and window. The panels, to prevent that from reoccurring, bolt to the doors and side of the building’s opening.
“We put them up for Hurricane Helene and they did very well in keeping the water out, we just had a bit of damp carpet,” Moore told Biederman.
But with Helene came a new issue — sand. The pressure from it bowed the flood panel on the beach side door.
Enter the sandbags.
Moore contacted a Fort Myers company that has a sandbag system.
“They’re all linked together; you pull them out like an accordion, and they’re 50-foot sections,” he told Biederman. “Then you fill them with a machine because it isn’t practical to do it by hand.”
He used a Bobcat purchased after Ian to complete that task.
While the sandbag system comes in 4- and 8-foot options, Moore chose the 4-foot one and stationed the bags around the patio with Milton on the way.
“We believe that’s what allowed us to suffer only minimal damage because the force of the waves was largely broken by the sandbags,” Moore told the Daily News. “While some water did come over those sandbags, the flood panels essentially stopped it.”
Turtle Club was closed for only a couple of weeks this time around.
“Those sandbags helped us so much that when we reopen on (Oct. 21), we’re keeping them there until at least mid-November until we feel it is safe if we need to do this again,” he said at the time.
The Mucky Duck, Captiva
Andreas Bieri knows all about sand. Take a four-minute walk down Andy Rosse Lane from Keylime Bistro, and you’ll find his beloved beachfront restaurant and bar under construction.
“It was not really the surge (from Helene and Milton) that was the problem,” he said. “It was the sand that pushed everything in. We had 4-to-5 feet of sand around the property.”
He’s determined to rebuild — steps away from the Gulf, exactly where it has always been, without changing a thing.
“I took a chance 50 years ago when we started,” said Bieri, a Swiss restaurateur who purchased an interest in The Mucky Duck in 1980. “We are very fortunate to live here. I think through everything, we’ve been very lucky. We are just going to go on as always.”
And that’s very good news. For the last two years, The Mucky Duck has been named one of the best beach bars in the South by Southern Living. It’s known far and wide for its laid-back feel, good food, cold beer (there isn’t a full liquor license and Bieri is just fine with that), and spectacular sunset views.
Built in 1976 in what once was the old Gulf View Inn, Lee County designated The Mucky Duck as historic in 1993.
“Since it has the historic status, we have to do it exactly how it used to be,” Bieri said. “Which is good. It isn’t the same if we moved it back or put it on stilts. That changes everything. Customers want the same. That’s important.”
And oh, do customers love it.
“The response we got on Facebook about our place (after the hurricanes) was from all over the world,” he continued. “Our employees love working here. Even my wife said, ‘You can’t stop. You have to (rebuild.)’ So we’re doing it again. That’s basically it.”
The rebuild is coming along and “by late fall, it should be ready.”
“I see progress,” he said. “I see a light at the end of the tunnel. We are very fortunate.”
Street Eatz, Pine Island
One look and Reid Freeman knew he wasn’t so fortunate. A friend staying on Fort Myers Beach during Hurricane Ian texted him a photo of his family’s Smokin’ Oyster Brewery (SOB) just before phone service went out.
“The water was up to the roofline,” Freeman said. “I knew it was gone from there.”
He opened a food truck shortly after the storm and his family would go on to sell SOB (which has since reopened).
Freeman left the island where he grew up and settled on another one.
“I decided to go to Pine Island that February,” he said. “In April, I opened this.”
This would be Street Eatz & Ale, just before the four-way stop at Pine Island Center.
“I’ve known a couple of restaurant owners out here,” he said, “and growing up, I fished here and knew some kids. My dad always toyed with maybe opening SOB 2 on Pine Island. It’s always been stuck in my head.”
The community welcomed him from the get-go.
“With Bert’s gone, we’ve kind of become the local bar,” he said. “The locals and old timers from Matlacha, Bokeelia come and hang out. Talk and drink a couple of beers.”
Freeman is all-in too.
“Pine Island is home,” he said. “I bought a house here. I have a restaurant. I’m going to have a kid out here (a baby boy due in August). The storm flooded me out and I ended up here, a little to the north.”
Where he doesn’t worry about hurricanes anymore.
“My dad told me something very smart a while ago,” Freeman said. “He said, ‘Never buy a home on the same island you have a business on. That way you don’t lose two at once.’ (Pine Island) is different. This spot has never flooded. Unless you’re on one of the tips. That’s playing with fire.”
That being said, Freeman admitted he would go back to Fort Myers Beach if he could.
“I was raised there,” he said. “But hurricanes bring money and development. Money moves in and investors buy property. It pushes out old locals who can’t afford to rebuild or who don’t have it in them anymore.”
Pho Pine Island, Matlacha
Duong Ton isn’t rebuilding for another reason.
Just to the east over on Matlacha, his Island Pho & Grill’s tattered shell still stands along Pine Island Road despite several walls being blown out by Ian.
“It isn’t worth the risk to rebuild anymore,” he said. “I lost everything. A day after the hurricane, I came back and everything was gone.”
Duong left the area three months after Ian due to health reasons and returned almost two years later.
Then in April, he opened a Vietnamese food truck behind his friend’s building near Little Pine Island Bridge.
And while he won’t rebuild, he plans to turn his friend’s building into a café with seating and “make the trailer bigger, get more equipment, like an outdoor kitchen.”
That way, it can be taken off the island when a storm threatens.
“I want to do more,” he said. “Make the customers more comfortable… It’s a small step, but I’m happy to be back. Happy to see the faces back here.”
Even if it’s not inside his restaurant.
Bert’s, Matlacha
A stone’s throw from the abandoned Island Pho, this waterfront gem was destroyed by Ian, too. Only instead of leaving dilapidated walls behind, the bar & grill’s entire building washed away, exposing a network of pilings in its wake.
“The area of Matlacha, on both sides of the road, was one of the only ones in the county to lose land,” said Jay Johnson, whose father Bernard purchased Bert’s in 1999.
Nonetheless, the Johnsons are hoping to rebuild.
“We’re in the process of going through the permits and taking one step at a time,” Jay, who owns Bubba’s Roadhouse & Saloon in Cape Coral, said. “It’s a multi-stage problem. We’re trying to work through permits at the county, state and federal levels because it’s on the water.”
Jay said he’s asked about the historic bar returning every single day.
“We’re going to try to stay right where we are,” he said. “It’s not going to be done this year. It’s hard to fully understand how long the process takes. I didn’t think we’d only be this far at this time.”
Bert’s, on the mainland side of Matlacha Pass Bridge, holds a special place in the heart of the community with its long and colorful past. From a one-building candy store in the 1930s to an eight-room hotel in 1941, it was a favorite with soldiers stationed at Page Field during World War II. The bar was named Mother’s after the war, then the Tri Dilly Inn in the 1970s and Harry’s Barge Inn after that.
Bert Clubb purchased it in the mid-1980s and renamed it Bert’s. He later sold it to a longtime employee, who in turn, sold it to Bernard 25 years ago.
“It belongs to the community,” Bernard said. “I’m just the caretaker of it.”
And the Johnsons have every intention of continuing to do just that.
“A lot has to happen,” Jay said, “But I still have faith. That’s the only way to live. You’ve gotta believe.”
Over Easy Café
Back on Sanibel, it would have been easy for Trasi Sharp to lose faith.
After evacuating for Hurricanes Charley (2004) and Irma (2017), Sharp and Liza Clouse, their two Great Danes and one French bulldog, plus Sharp’s then-89-year-old mom, stayed on the island for Ian.
“The house across the street hit our house,” Sharp said. “People’s cars came over our house.”
They couldn’t escape to their neighbor’s home because the surge was too powerful.
And even though their house is raised five feet, “We still had to go up into the air handler.”
All — including a 200-pound Great Dane — were air-lifted out. Friends and family learned they survived when a photo of them all crammed into a Black Hawk was televised on CNN.
“When I think of that day, it makes me sick,” Sharp said.
In addition to their home, their Island Paws pet store and Over Easy Café were also severely damaged.
They closed the pet store to focus on their popular breakfast and lunch joint, which finally reopened 20 months after Ian.
“After all we went through, we came back,” Sharp said. “I love (Over Easy) and the community too much to walk away.”
Six months later, Helene and Milton hit.
“We got flooded on both,” Sharp said.
Instead of giving up, they — along with the other shops in the center where Periwinkle Way ends at Tarpon Bay Road — are moving.
“We flooded three times in two years,” Sharp said. “(The new spot) is up about five feet higher, so we’re trying again. Hopefully, third time’s the charm.”
June 15 was the final day in the plaza they called home for 20 years.
They moved into The Village Shops, less than half a mile away.
“What happened with Ian, I feel like it won’t happen again for a long time,” Sharp said. “We have a tight community out here. We’re family. We want to give it another try. This community is really trying to rebuild.”
Robyn George is a food and dining reporter for The News-Press. Connect at rhgeorge@fortmyer.gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: ‘I still have nightmares’: Florida restaurant owners navigate another hurricane season
Reporting by Robyn George, Fort Myers News-Press / Fort Myers News-Press
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