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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nWhen the Pointe was built in the late 1970\u2019s, Siesta Key was still a relatively sleepy barrier island, whose inhabitants included many local fishermen. Midnight Pass was still open to the Gulf and early residents of the Pointe could watch schools of shrimp swim past their lanais. Today they have been replaced by kayakers and paddle boarders enjoying the beautiful mangrove islands of the Neville Marine Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just before the Pointe\nwas developed as one of the premier properties on Siesta Key, Mercury Marine\nmaintained a testing facility for their engines where our gazebo island is\ntoday. Across from us in Blind Pass, Mote Marine studied the behaviour of sharks\nin huge underwater tanks, funded by the U.S. Navy and National Institutes of\nHealth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over the years, Siesta\nKey developed into the great tourist destination for which it is known today,\ndrawn partly by the beach that has been named as the best beach in the U.S. on\nmore than one occasion. Our little corner of the key has still managed to\nretain much of its original serenity by being surrounded by water on three\nsides, at the very most southern tip of the island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over the years, Siesta Key developed into the great tourist destination for which it is known today, drawn partly by the beach that has been named as the best beach in the U.S. on more than one occasion. Our little corner of the key has still managed to retain much of its original serenity by being surrounded by water on three sides, at the very most southern tip of the island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The advert for The Pointe \u2013 at least the billboard\nwe saw \u2013 promised \u201cA View That Goes on Forever,\u201d so we looked into it. It turned out that the South Building was\ncompleted in 1975 but construction on the North Building had been stopped in\n1976 when the developer ran out of money. \nAt that point the bank took over the project. We bought just in time as The Pointe was sold\nout before the start of 1978.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The neighborhood was in some ways more interesting\nin those early years. When Midnight Pass\nwas open, shrimp could be seen swimming in the water from our lanai. The\nPointe’s immediate neighbor to the north was Captain Brain Martel, a charter\nboat operator who took his customers through the Pass into the Gulf on\novernight fishing excursions. When he\nwas anchored at home he ran a small bar (which included snacks and bait) from\nhis shack. He would talk \u201cfishing\u201d for\nhours with anyone who would listen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the time Captain Curt’s Oyster Bar was located\ndown the road where the Turtle Beach Pub now stands. Captain Curt’s was owned by \u201cAl,\u201d a retired\nMichigan policeman. Al also owned\n\u201cAnchor Down,\u201d a certifiably seedy motel located just south of what is now the\nTurtle Beach Pavilion’s parking lot. (To\nits credit, Anchor Down did rent boats, the only business at the south end of\nthe key to do so.) One day sitting at\nhis bar, Al told Bill he was moving Captain Curt’s to Old Stickney Point Road\nbecause his landlord had raised the rent to $30,000 per year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “Ophelia’s” then was not Ophelia’s; it was\n“The Pirate’s Galley” complete with pirate sitting in an armchair\njust inside the door – a stuffed dummy dressed absolutely lifelike. (So lifelike that some patrons actually said\n“hello.”) About five years\nafter we started going there it changed hands and became “LaMare.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Pointe’s neighborhood today in some ways is much\nless colorful. The pass was closed in\n1982 making Captain Martel’s charter business less viable. His shack has been replaced by two upscale\nresidences on the east side of The\nPointe’s driveway. Closing the Pass also\nchanged the dynamics of Mote Marine’s operation and it shut down the shark\ntanks. Captain Curt’s Oyster Bar\ncontinues but is now a landmark business at the corner of Old Stickney Pointe\nRoad near the South Bridge. LaMare\nchanged hands again to become the Ophelia’s we know today; the Jim Neville\nMarine Preserve was established on the Bird Key Islands just across the water\nto the east of The Pointe. And, of\ncourse, more condos have been built south of Turtle Beach. <\/p>\n\n\n\n However some things remain as they were. The reasons we bought our place at The Pointe\nthirty three years ago continue. The\nview still goes on forever; the serenity of being surrounded by water on three\nsides plus the peace and quiet that comes with living at the end of a road\nremains unchanged. This, and the sense\nof community that is unique to The Pointe, keep us coming back every season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When the Pointe was built in the late 1970\u2019s, Siesta Key was still a relatively sleepy barrier island, whose inhabitants included many local fishermen. Midnight Pass was still open to the Gulf and early residents of the Pointe could watch schools of shrimp swim past their lanais. Today they have been replaced by kayakers and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"fullwidth.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-32","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepointeonsiestakey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/32","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepointeonsiestakey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepointeonsiestakey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepointeonsiestakey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepointeonsiestakey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thepointeonsiestakey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/32\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38,"href":"https:\/\/thepointeonsiestakey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/32\/revisions\/38"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepointeonsiestakey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/figure>\n\n\n\nHistory of The Pointe from one of the original owners<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n