The Marcophile

When Jacquie and Curt Koon bought the Bayview Restaurant and the Esplanade bar last spring, they had a lot of ideas on changes for the place. Now those changes are becoming obvious. Full story »

It was a dark and stormy night, about 5 a.m. Tuesday, as “Fay” was reaching its peak of impact on Marco Island. Fire Chief Mike Murphy was driving on Collier Boulevard, just north of San Marco Road, talking on his cell phone with Deputy Chief Chris Byrne back at the EOC, the Emergency Operations Center. Full story »

Think about an accomplished person, someone who is leading an exciting life of adventure, achievement and even a dash of daring-do (also spelled “derring-do.”) Chances are that person is asked to write a book about his/her feats. Chances also are that the doer will hire a writer to bring the action to life in print. Full story »

An Air Force staff sergeant with family roots here on Marco Island has won another award for his work while on active duty in Iraq. He’s staff sergeant Nolan Endres, whose grandparents raised him on Marco. He attended Lely High School and was in the Junior ROTC program there. Full story »

A new slogan for Maria Elena’s Hair Design might well be, “Stop in for a manicure and, oh yeah, an engagement ring.” Recently it happened that way, sort of, at the salon, for islander Bonnie Schmidt, a hair care expert who works there with owner Maria Elena Pujol. Full story »

Remember a few years ago when the major topic of every gathering on Marco Island, from mass to Rotary to the Esplanade Bar, was real estate – who bought what or sold what for how much and what someone was about to buy next? Full story »

Aside from Herb Savage, Marco Island’s most noticed attention-getting device so far this year has been Sway. Full story »

The favorite critter companions to a lot of Marco Islanders, the burrowing owls, haven’t had much of a nesting season to crow (or hoot) about. The latest figures from the city’s environmental specialist, Nancy Richie, show that only 31 owl pairs produced chicks this year. By contrast, active pairs last year produced 45 chicks. Why? Full story »

Check out the photo of a “traffic” sign, several of which line the wide sidewalk area of Collier Boulevard. The signs are the city’s effort to explain that the wide walkways are to be shared by people using a variety of methods of getting from here to there. Full story »

Naples Zoo gets a big thumbs up from us for its support of our service men and women, the troops. Full story »

Keith Raygor is my kind of magician and many Marco Islanders know and love his work. He doesn’t wear sequins, top hats or patent leather shoes. Keith doesn’t saw exotic, eastern European beauties in half. He doesn’t wave magic wands or make pandas disappear. Full story »

This is a David and Goliath story of a local man versus “Big Telephone,” Embarq, our area’s land line phone company. Full story »

The conversation around the Esplanade bar was animated, but in one clutch of islanders, the animation had to do with underwater critters. Geoff Fahringer was chatting with Mary Zachrich and husband Chuck Schwindt about scuba diving and about their respective recent scuba trips to the Florida Keys and to Bonaire, a Dutch island off the coast of Venezuela. Full story »

Pretend you decide to buy the Bayview Restaurant at the Esplanade on Smokehouse Bay. You know that Vergina across the plaza has closed, so in spite of the beautiful waterfront setting, the location hasn’t exactly enjoyed spectacular success. So how do you make sure your place is financially successful? Full story »

Back in 1985 when Islander Dave Rice got a motor scooter, he was a curiosity to many motorists. “My friends say, ‘Dave, you look like a giant on a little centipede.’ They tease me but that’s part of the fun,” he said. Full story »