by: Capt. Jim Kalvin
Last issue, I discussed the fabulous project that was launched when the Dean Family donated a piece of property to the Marine Industries Association of Collier County Foundation. Since the announcement went public, stories have been coming in from friends I hadn’t seen or talked to in years. It is the Dean’s wish and that of the MIACC Foundation that we can manage this parcel of land in a way that will allow youth organizations and families the opportunity to see what our area was like 30, 40, 50 & 60 years ago. We intend to establish a primitive camping facility on the land to allow youngsters, who may otherwise never get the chance, to experience the same things that many of us and our children got the chance to enjoy growing up. We want them to be able to generate the experiences and be able to tell the tales as we have, as our children have, and as our grandchildren are having now.
Like the time when Jameson saw satellites with his naked eyes in the night sky for the first time. It was on the beach about half-way down the island on a clear moonless night and he was about 5 yrs. old. One of my favorite pictures is Shannon sitting on my Dad’s lap in front of the fire pit on the island as he was telling us stories of his days in the Navy aboard the USS Enterprise. We were all so young.
Then there was the time that Stuart Miller and I were camping on the beach side – but his dad’s boat was tied up on the waterway side. We thought it would be a great idea to bring the boat around to the Gulf to get our shark line farther out beyond the sandbar. We tried to navigate Little Marco Pass at about 10 P.M. only to wind-up stranded on the sandbar on an out-going tide. We got destroyed by mosquitoes until the tide turned as all of our supplies were on the beach – including the “skeeter dope”.
I remember our various camps from time to time – at various locations on the island. Some better than others based upon the “first-come first-served” honor system, but we made them our own, enjoyed the trip for everything that it was worth, and left nothing behind but charcoal and footprints – because that is how we were raised. We told more stories and lies than a House of Representatives sub-committee, learned responsibility for ourselves (no cell phones or I-pads), and found out that pouring rain doesn’t always keep the bugs away.
We had days in the sun and under the stars, caught our fair share of sharks, snook, redfish, and every other finned fish on our coast. We cleaned and ate them all as we fried them over a drift-wood fire in our boy-scout utensil-holder frying pans that we’d bought at W.T Grant World.
Though space prohibits sharing more of those old stories in this edition, trust me – they are there! Some are fit for print, some are not. But they are memories of a time on the waters of Collier County that can now be passed on to future generations.
Stay tuned and look for up-dates on the progress of the endeavor. You can contact the Marine Industries Association of Collier County Foundation for ways to support this Project. All donations to the Foundation are tax-deductible. Go to https://www.miacc.org/foundation/
Capt. Jim Kalvin is a Florida Native, a USCG Licensed 100 Ton Master, and a local Marine Contractor. He can be reached at 239-280-6054, or by e-mail to james.kalvin61@gmail.com. Kalvin & Calvin Marine Construction, Inc. can be viewed at kcmcfl.com
