Estero Bay

Estero Bay seems like a nice little beach town where everyone knows everyone and is laid back beyond everything else. What they may not know is that Estero Bay was the original home to the Caloosa Indians. Sadly, when European explorers came to the island, they were either killed or died from the disease the white men brought with them to the island.

Last week, my class took a field trip to Estero Bay. There, we met Jo Hughes, a lady who lives and grew up on Estero Bay. Jo lived there before electricity, air conditioning, and mosquito control. We were lucky enough for her to share her experiences and perspectives of her life on Fort Myers Beach.

Meeting Jo was a very insightful experience. She told us how there used to be no electric on the island. They didn't get electric until about 1938. She said however, that "how could a child care when right outside the front door is 15 feet of clear blue green water". She told how they used to play in the ocean all day and back then you could see right through to the bottom. There was a tiny school with three grades which all of the children attended. Over the years, the schools would change buildings and eventually grow. Still today, Estero Bay has one of the smallest schools in Florida. Back then they didn't have proper mosquito control either. Jo showed us their use of method to keep the insects away. She held up a bunch of palm fronds and showed us how she used it to brush them off her body.

Jo has experienced a lot of changes since her childhood. For instance, what used to be a tiny island, has grown into something bigger. It is now a tourist spot with lots of traffic and hotels on the beach. She laughed as she stated that you will still never see a friendly driver than one who lives on the island.
The water that was once clear and blue green, is now brown and unclear. This is a result of pollution that can't filter out of the river into the bay. People used to make their living fishing in the bay, but now commercial fishers have moved in and started their own businesses.

After speaking with Jo, we walked on the mangrove preserve boardwalk. I was able to witness many small canals allowing water into the mangroves. I learned what a seedling for a mangrove looks like and how it virtually plants itself into the ground and how there are three different types of mangroves.