By Sue Cocking, Guy Harvey Outpost staff writer scocking@guyharveyoutpost.com [Okeechobee, FL.–] About 9 million people in the U.S. own recreational vehicles– motorhomes, travel trailers, …
The Big Game Is On at the Big Game Club!
31 Jan 201112:54 AM
THE BIG GAME CLUB…THE BIG GAME…
BIG SCREENS…BIG PARTY!
Cross over to the legendary Big Game Club next weekend and watch two legendary teams square off for the biggest title in all of professional sports. Catch the game on any of the Club’s 8 flat screen TVs, and dive into our “Super Specials”:
* $11.95 BBQ Special at the Poolside Bar – your choice of chicken wings, ribs, or jerked pork, with peas and rice and corn on the cob.
* $4.00 Well Drinks
* $3.00 Kalik Gold and House Wines
* $2.00 Draft Kalik and Heineken
*$1.75 Chilled Mango and Banana Rum Shots
Two legendary teams, one legendary club and the biggest sporting event of the year – it’s a Super Party at the Bimini Big Game Club: 800-867-4764!
Pro team Member
Related Articles
Pro Team
Connect & Follow
Connect & Follow
General
Bon Appetit
Conservation Corner
Dive In
Got Photo
Get Hooked
Outdoor Adventure
SURF-UP
Travel Tips
![](mailto:?subject=Go RV-ing on the Lake O&body=<img class=" size-medium wp-image-3241 alignleft" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/lakeo3.jpg?w=300" alt="LakeO3" width="300" height="225" />By Sue Cocking, Guy Harvey Outpost staff writer
scocking@guyharveyoutpost.com
[Okeechobee, FL.--] About 9 million people in the U.S. own recreational vehicles-- motorhomes, travel trailers, truck campers, 'toy haulers', and others. And a lot of them make their way to Florida's Heartland -- Lake Okeechobee.
You can hardly skip a pebble on the lake's north end without hitting an RV park. They start filling up around Christmas time and stay pretty full through the end of March. That's because the appeal of the Big O region is many-faceted, extending way beyond the pleasant winter weather, according to RVers.
"A lot of activities at most of the campgrounds," said Michel Goulet of Quebec, Canada who plays guitar and accordion and bicycles with wife Martine.
The couple towed their 39-foot "5th wheel" RV with a pickup for three days from Canada to Okeechobee in mid December, planning to stay for several months. They could afford a hotel or a rental house, but prefer the RV lifestyle.
"It's like being at home," Michel said. "You have a little space."
Likewise for fellow Canadians John Duchesne and wife Mitch from Ontario. The couple--now retired-- began tent camping together nearly 40 years ago, then bought pop-up camper trailers and now have a 33-foot 5th wheel. They've been traveling to Okeechobee every winter for six years.
"We RV'd on both sides of Florida -- the east coast and the west coast. We found all of it was way too busy for us-- expensive, crazy," John Duchesne said. "If you look around here, it has a small town atmosphere. People are friendly, traffic is low and it's cowboys. I don't have a country-western bone in my body, but this has character. We feel secure here."
The Duchesnes plan to stay for 4 1/2 months, attending potluck dinners with their campground neighbors, hitting golf balls and riding motorcycles. John enjoys bass fishing on the big lake, but doesn't have a boat. He hopes to meet some fellow anglers to wet a line this winter.
Another Ontario resident who we'll call "Joel", 82, is spending his second winter season in Okeechobee with his wife in their 38-foot Winnebago motorhome-- the couple's sixth RV. When they play golf or go shopping, they use the mid-size sedan they towed here.
"Basically the freedom, " the retired auto dealer said of his preference for the RV lifestyle. "Parking where you like. Having your own rig, your own bed every night is pretty nice."
Tommy Miller from North Carolina and his wife drove their 45-foot motorhome to Okeechobee to help set up his mother-in-law in her winter residence. They planned to spend a week, then head home and return in February. But Miller said he'd like to become a permanent RVer.
"I'm tired of owning real estate and mowing my lawn," he said.
RVers and other visitors will have another destination soon on Lake Okeechobee. Guy Harvey Outpost RV Resort and Marina is slated to open in spring 2017 at the site of the Okee-Tantie Campground and Marina. The project-- to be developed in conjunction with Elite Resorts-- calls for 125 RV pads, 70 rental cabins, a waterfront lodge, expanded marina, boat barn, swimming pool, restaurant, tiki bar, and tackle shop.
It will provide a dizzying array of activities-- or not. As one Michigan couple, who've been spending winters at the lake for years, put it: "We come down here for the sunshine and warm weather. We used to own a boat and fish in the lake. Now we just like to relax."
**************
Sue Cocking chronicles the Guy Harvey Outpost travel and adventure experience in regular blog posts on GuyHarveyOutpostNews.com/. For 21 years, Cocking covered the full spectrum of outdoors adventure opportunities in South Florida and beyond for the Miami Herald, including fishing, diving, hunting, paddling camping, sailing and powerboat racing. She is a certified scuba diver and holder of an IGFA women's world fly fishing record for a 29-pound permit.
**********
Share your photos, videos and experiences with Guy Harvey Outpost by hash tagging #OutpostAttitude to all of your social media posts. https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/go-rv-ing-on-the-big-o/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=St. Pete Beach, Home of Guy Harvey Outpost’s TradeWinds Resort, Named #1 Beach in US&body=<a href="http://guyharveyoutpost.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/st_pete_beach.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1133" title="St. Pete Beach, FL" src="http://guyharveyoutpost.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/st_pete_beach.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="159" /></a>
Travelers have spoken and St. Pete Beach, FL - home of <a title="GHO at St. Pete Beach" href="http://guyharveyoutpostnews.com/2012/02/17/guy-harvey-outpost-to-open-st-pete-beach-resort/" target="_blank">Guy Harvey Outpost, a TradeWinds Resort</a> - was <a title="TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice 2012" href="http://www.tripadvisor.ca/TravelersChoice-Beaches-cDestinations-g191" target="_blank">voted the #1 beach in the U.S.</a> and the <a title="TripAdvisor Travellers' Coice 2012" href="http://www.tripadvisor.ca/TravelersChoice-Beaches-cDestinations-g1" target="_blank">#5 beach in the world</a>!
According to the <a title="TripAdvisor web site" href="http://www.tripadvisor.ca/" target="_blank">TripAdvisor</a> survey, St. Pete Beach is known for "sugary-white sand, dolphins frolicking just off shore and eight major barrier islands make St. Pete Beach a postcard-perfect seaside destination. Situated on a peninsula off Florida's west coast, it is an ideal place to experience the state's wild beauty and the magical golden rays of the Sunshine State".
St. Pete Beach was up against some pretty stiff competition, including several locations in Florida and Hawaii. But, in the end, the perfect combination of sand, sun & surf propelled St. Pete Beach to #1!
Here's the full list of the "Traveller's Choice 2012 Top 10 Beach Destinations in the U.S." as chosen by the users of TripAdvisor, the largest travel web site in the world -
1. St. Pete Beach
2. Miami Beach
3. Myrtle Beach
4. Virginia Beach
5. Honolulu
6. Daytona Beach
7. Ft. Lauderdale
8. Lahaina
9. San Diego
10. Key West
<a href="http://www.tradewindsresort.com/"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1142" title="Guy Harvey Outpost, a TradeWinds Beach Resort" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/ghotampa-logo12.jpg" alt="" width="356" height="334" /></a>
https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/st-pete-beach-home-of-guy-harvey-outposts-tradewinds-resort-named-1-beach-in-us/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Sword Fights in the Cayman Islands&body=About 12 years ago, Cayman Islands businessman Clarence Flowers-- an avid sport angler-- chartered Miami Beach captain Bouncer Smith for a South Florida swordfishing excursion. Smith shared his tactics and techniques with his customer and they caught a fish. Flowers told the captain about the nascent recreational swordfishery in his Caribbean home waters: a 600-pounder had actually beached itself in Grand Cayman Island's North Sound and recreational anglers were taking some hefty ones on hook-and-line. That fateful conversation led to the inaugural Cayman Swordfish Challenge in 2005.
The 11th Challenge just wrapped up last weekend with local angler Thom Guyton taking top honors for boating four swords--including the tournament's largest, a 108.2-pounder--and releasing one off Cayman Brac.
The contest also serves as an on-water laboratory for scientists seeking to learn as much as possible about this unsung, but robust recreational fishery.
"Better than ours-- especially the night fishing," Smith, a 50-year-veteran charter captain, said of Cayman Islands swordfishing. "The daytime I would say is on a par with here--maybe slightly better."
Fisheries scientist Travis Moore of Pompano Beach-based Gray FishTag Research was on the water for the two-day contest and implanted a 54-incher with a satellite tag before releasing it. The tag, anchored in the dorsal fin, will detach after a year and beam minute-to-minute data about the fish's movements to a satellite which downloads the data to Moore's computer. It is the ninth satellite tag to be implanted in Cayman Island swords by Moore and colleagues since 2011.
"What we're doing is to help develop this fishery for the Cayman Islands," Moore said. "The Cayman government may decide to use this data to regulate foreign fleets coming into their waters."
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/SwordTag2.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-4666" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/SwordTag2.jpg" alt="" width="1440" height="960" /></a>
Right now, both Moore and Smith say, there 's really no directed commercial fishery for swords in the Cayman Islands; the effort is primarily recreational with a few fish kept to eat or sold to local restaurants. But as word of the bounty gets out, the powerful and tasty billfish potentially could face heavy exploitation and would require careful management. The islands' record is a 392-pounder caught in 2012.
Moore says preliminary satellite tracking data shows the Cayman Islands serve as a "rest stop" for the tasty pelagics that hang out here roughly from November through May, then head north as waters warm.
"They're feeding in a perpendicular pattern to the Cayman Trench before going north," he said.
Recreational anglers target them in ways similar to their South Florida counterparts: deep-dropping squid, small tunas, bonitos or belly strips in 1,600 to 1,800 feet of water in daytime and either drifting or slow-trolling baits with planers 100 to 300 feet deep at night. Smith says all three of the Cayman Islands-- Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, and Little Cayman--are basically sea mounts surrounded by very deep waters where upwellings concentrate bait, and therefore swords could be found just about anywhere.
"You can fish so close to the islands that you can read the license plates on the cars," he said.
Moore relishes the opportunity to enjoy the sport and collect important information at the same time.
"The fishing there is really off the charts," he said. "Amazing." https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/sword-fights-in-the-cayman-islands/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Yo Ho Ho! and Multiple Bottles of Rum at the Blazing Mako&body=By Sue Cocking, Guy Harvey Outpost travel journalist
scocking@guyharveyoutpost.com
Flats, offshore and pier fishing; paddleboarding; art and "Conch-servation" exhibits-- all are great reasons to attend the Blazing Mako Tournament and Festival June 17-19 at the Islander, a Guy Harvey Outpost in Islamorada. But if you are 21 or older, be sure to stop by the Rum Village where you can taste some new and old renditions of the favorite spirit of the islands.
Papa's Pilar--a brand launched in South Florida in 2013--will present its dark and blonde rums (and possibly some samples of a special release) in the Rum Village. In partnership with author Ernest "Papa" Hemingway's descendants, the company named the spirits for the writer and the fishing boat in which he famously fished Cuba's offshore waters in the mid-20th century. The rums are sourced from the U.S., Caribbean, and Central America and aged and blended in a unique solara process using American oak bourbon barrels, port wine casks, and then finished in Spanish sherry casks.
Besides winning spirits industry awards, Papa's Pilar supports literacy and conservation: the Hemingway family donates 100 percent of its royalties to those causes.
Kyle Groth, the company's marketing chief, said being a sponsor of the Blazing Mako fishing seminar and back country tournament is a perfect fit because proceeds from the event benefit scholarships for marine science students at Nova Southeastern University through the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation.
"It's totally in line with what we stand for," Groth said. "The education, conservation, and preserving the rivers, the seas and the fisheries."
Groth said Papa's Pilar plans to expand its South Florida presence by opening a distillery and brand center in Key West--(Hemingway's former home)--later this year.
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Pilar.jpg"><img class="aligncenter wp-image-4089 size-full" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Pilar.jpg" alt="Pilar" width="1015" height="677" /></a>
Another even newer South Florida brand featured at the Rum Village is Black Coral Rum, produced by the father-and-son team of Clint and Ben Etheridge of Riviera Beach and sponsor of the Blazing Mako tournament awards ceremony.
A craft spirit made in small batches, Black Coral Rum uses locally-grown sugarcane --no artificial ingredients --and a special carbon filtration process involving coconut husks. The spirit is aged in charred oak barrels. It takes lots of time, according to Ben Etheridge.
"Rum wasn't built in a week," he said.
The company donates $1 from every bottle sold to local military veterans' organizations. It also sponsors treasure dives around Florida
At the Blazing Mako, you can sample either white or spiced varieties neat or in cocktails. And Black Coral will be the main ingredient of tournament honoree Stu Apte's signature Rum Dumb Boogie Punch.
Also appearing in the Rum Village are Tiburon Rum, Bahama Blue Rum & Vodka, Gubba Rum, Pussers Rum, Bayou Rum, Yolo Rum, Code Rum, Tortugas Rum Cakes; Florida Keys Brewing Co.; Saltwater Brewery; Tito's Handmade Vodka; and
For more information on the tournament and festival, visit <a href="https://guyharveyoutpost.com/fishing-tournament/blazing-mako/">www.blazingmako.com</a>.
***************
Sue Cocking chronicles the Guy Harvey Outpost travel and adventure experience in regular blog posts on GuyHarveyOutpostNews.com/. For 21 years, Cocking covered the full spectrum of outdoors adventure opportunities in South Florida and beyond for the Miami Herald, including fishing, diving, hunting, paddling, camping, sailing and powerboat racing. She is a certified scuba diver and holder of an IGFA women's world fly fishing record for a 29-pound permit.
**********
Share your photos, videos and experiences with Guy Harvey Outpost by hash tagging #OutpostAttitude to all of your social media posts.
https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/yo-ho-ho-and-multiple-bottles-of-rum-at-the-blazing-mako/){kind=link}
TRAVEL DESK : 800.513.5257
Connect & Follow