[Rhodes22-list] Punta Gorda/Port Charlotte

[DCLewis1 at aol.com]

Folks,
 
Back on Feb 9 I posted a request for input regarding sailing/retirement  
locales.  A number of people responded.  Several people suggested  Punta 
Gorda/Port Charlotte (PG/PC).
 
We visited PG/PC about 2 weeks ago on a swing down the east coast and I was  
surprised.
 
- There was 1 power boat in the PG marina, no sail boats.  For  practical 
purposes it was empty.
- I asked at the Chamber of Commerce (CoC)  about the lack of boats and was 
told the marina had been closed for 2  years.  It has to be dredged.  I was 
told the plan was to open it next  year - but the lady didn’t sound convinced of 
that.
- We went to PG Isle to  assess their beach and see the boating.  The beach 
was minimal and clearly  there was still a lot of debris from the hurricane 
that hit them 2 years  ago.
- While at the PG beach we saw one sail boat (~30') motor out of a  canal, 
appear to run aground, turn around, and motor back into it’s canal.   As I 
recall we saw no sail boats off shore out to the horizon.
- We drove  over to the PC beach.  Same story.  Somewhat bigger beach, but a 
lot  of debris in the water.  We saw 1 sail boat on the horizon.
- We asked  the PG CoC people about keeping a boat at PG.  They said that if 
you wanted  to do it NOW that you’d have to go out to the Burn’t Store Marina 
- which is  about 15 to 20 minutes out of PG.  The marina may be in the next  
county, it’s sure not in PG proper.
- The Burnt Store Marina looked to be  active, quite a number of boats and 
sailboats.
 
But my problem is PG/PC.  This is their high season, I’d expect to see  a lot 
of boats.  We saw basically none.  The PG marina is closed and  has been 
closed for a couple of years.
 
Was the PG/PC sailing ground basically wiped out by the hurricane that hit  
them?  It sure didn’t look active to me.  What have I missed?
 
Dave