Miller’s Dockside: Part 4 in the Boat for Food Blog Series- A Culinary Adventure around Useppa Island!

We must be in a rut. Here we are again, heading north to Boca Grande for lunch. Plenty of fine places to visit south of here, but there is only so much time for boating and eating. We’ll get to the southern eateries soon enough.

From Useppa, we go north up the ICW, across Charlotte Harbor. The Tarpon fleet is long gone, the fish scattered up into the harbor and the numerous canals in Cape Coral, Englewood, Cape Haze and Punta Gorda.Today we enter the Boca Grande Canal and take a sharp left to the Boca Grande Marina, home to two restaurants: Millers Dockside and the Eagle Grill. You won’t confuse the two. This trip we did the Dockside, the Eagle will come later.

 When boating for food, convenient dockage is important, and the marina provides a complimentary tie- up for lunch patrons. It is just a few steps into the restaurant, as well as the ships store. Dock master and attendants are ready and cheerful.

The Dockside means just that, you are right next to the dock. We watch as fishing guides come in and release their live bait, gas-up or meet fresh customers, all 10-15 feet from our table. Boats come and go, with fisherman shopping in the ships store and waiting for a table. We are seated quickly and our server promptly showed up.

 

The menu is really eclectic for a casual venue, with everything from Boca Dogs and Burgers (think soda fountain fare), quesadillas to shrimp and grits, fresh tuna nachos and Duck Dim Sum. International fare, who would have guessed? As usual, I go for the health food-dogs and fries with a beer. There are salads on the menu, of course, and Mary had one-of course.

Another day boating for food from Useppa Island, what a tough day!

REAL ISLAND LIVING: What's it Like to Live On a Real Island?

We get this question all the time and wanted to share a part of an article written by one of our own Useppa Island residents, Gretchen F. Coyle.  This article was originally publishing the July/August issue of Time of the Islands. 

What’s it like to live on a real island?  No!!  Not islands like Boca Grande and Sanibel where Robb and Stuckey and Home Depot trucks cruise down palm-lined roads, daily…
 

Real islands, with no bridges or causeways to them, attract an ingenious, independent sort of residents.  They are creative, making their own fun, and more than able to amuse themselves.  Artists and writers enjoy the tranquility; readers relax on a porch easy chair.  There is a Bridge Club, a Book Club, an Historical Society, our Croquet Club and Tennis.  Craft ideas are traded among island residents while others tinker in their well-equipped workshops.  Boats are a constant source of conversation and consternation, not to mention upkeep. And, someone is always up for a spontaneous sail.
 

 

Out islands in Lee and Charlotte counties – like Cabbage Key, Three Sisters, North Captiva, Cayo Costa, Little Gasparilla, Mondongo, Burgess, Palm Island and Useppa – are accessible only by boat, small planes, seaplane, or helicopter.  These are places where “schlepping” is commonplace.  In fact the only way to get anything to these islands is by boat.
 

It is said that everything brought to Useppa is “touched”, at least 14 times, from the stores’ shelves to our shelves.  Multiply the above by everything that goes into any island home and there you have what we on the island call “schlepping”.  And, Useppans don’t buy just one of anything.  If one box of Kleenex is needed, buy three.  The same goes for Mayo and other basic essentials.  Toilet paper and paper towels… how about a case at a time?  You see, you can’t run down to the corner convenience store every time you are out of something.  We keep an extra refrigerator and big freezer for our overflow, especially handy at holiday time when our home overflows with family.
 
Most island residents are meticulously organized with lists kept for everything from grocery store to Lowe’s.  Mainland excursions – dictated sometimes by necessity, others for cultural or social functions - are multi-faceted with a number of errands crowded into a short time.  Do we run out of things? Sure do.  Borrowing a teaspoon of cumin or two tablespoons of cream of tartar from a neighbor is a regular occurrence. It's all part of true island life and we wouldn't trade a thing for it!

Adieu! Adieu! We bid the Shooks residents Adieu!!

They are gone.....

For the last couple of months, we have been greeting new families and welcoming them to our Useppa Family.  This month, we are saying goodbye to a Useppa family that has been part of Useppa Island, almost since it's inception.... Charles and Rhonda Shook. 

                Things will not be the same!

They have graced our Island with their community spirit, gastronomical delights, angling expertise, green thumbs, seamanship, exceptional sense of humor, strategic croquet

 and just being wonderful neighbors, always there with a good word, a bowl of chicken gumbo, help with a boat or a hand in the kitchen.

Sooo...McColgans and the Trinos gave them a little farewell party...  a send-off we hope they'll remember!

Now....OFF THEY GO, back home to Mississippi

Though saddened by their departure, we give them a fond Adieu...wish them the very best, telling them,

"You damn well better come back!!

We love you!!"