Smuggler’s Cove Resort and Marina, Islamorada, FL

Smuggler’s Cove Resort and Marina, a 12-room waterfront boutique hotel and full-service marina in Islamorada, completed a three-month $500,000 property renovation. From fully revamped guest rooms and new food and beverage offerings to a new unique “Hook ‘N’ Cook” experience, Smuggler’s Cove reopened in December 2014 with an enhanced guest experience.

Framed by the turquoise waters of the marina and Atlantic Ocean, all of the hotel’s 12 guest rooms, which include 11 double-bed rooms and one suite, now feature new bedding and furnishings, island-inspired décor, flat screen TVs, Eco Botanics amenities, and a kitchenette complete with a mini fridge, microwave, coffee maker and kitchenware. The hotel’s spacious one-bedroom suite also offers guests a pull-out couch, two closets and a separate bathroom with dual sinks. Additional featured amenities include complimentary Wi-Fi access, daily housekeeping and optional rollaway beds. With just 12 rooms in total, Smuggler’s Cove is ideal for takeover weddings and small-scale corporate retreats.

Open to the public, the hotel also reveals new food and beverage offerings including the Honey Hole, Wheel House and Buoy Bar. This charming Florida Keys setting is ideal for hosting a destination wedding. Additional new food and beverage offerings include room service and complimentary daily breakfast coming soon.

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In total, Smuggler’s Cove is home to a full-service 80-slip deep marina that is able to accommodate boats up to 60 feet in length. Forty slips are available at the hotel, Wheel House and Buoy Bar, inclusive of “Charter Row,” which features a daily presentation of the day’s fresh catches from the hotel’s six fishing charters. Just steps from guests’ doors, the hotel also offers an exciting array of outdoor activities, including scuba diving, snorkeling, eco tours, and boat rentals. In addition, the hotel will have helicopter rides around the island and provide helicopter charters from Miami to Islamorada for daily excursions. Through an exclusive partnership with renowned Keys’ charter experts the Spaulding family, Smuggler’s Cove provides guests one of the best charter sport fishing experiences in Islamorada with its on-site charter boats featuring live cameras and real-time fishing reports broadcasted directly to the hotel. Located just across the channel from the hotel and restaurants, Smuggler’s Cove Marina has another 40 slips and features the largest deep-water fuel station in Islamorada. Its one-stop ship store provides immediate ocean and bay access carrying live and frozen bait, ice, tackle, food, beverages, and more convenient options.

Contact:
Smuggler’s Cove
85500 Overseas Highway,
Islamorada, FL 33036
(MM 85.5 BAYSIDE) • (305) 664-5564
smugglerscoveislamorada.com

Liz Pasch, Southern Exposure May 2015

Ladies, Let’s Go Fishing University

Ladies, Let’s Go Fishing University

Ladies fishing tournaments are plentiful and popular and bring everyone into the excitement of tournament fishing. But a Ladies, Let’s Go Fishing University is a bit different.

They provide a unique opportunity for female anglers to team up with professional fishing experts for dedicated fishing instruction. Ladies can experience one-on-one access to award-winning fishing captains in the prime fishing grounds around Florida.

From Betty Bauman, the event founder: “The main events start out with a Friday evening social so we can recognize the sponsors, and the ladies get a chance to meet the others. Saturday mornings are the sit-down classes, which are very heavily laden with conservation because the best time to learn conservation is when an angler is new and impressionable. And then we serve lunch. After lunch we have hands-on fishing techniques, for instance, I show stand up fighting techniques.

We have tables for knot tying, lure usage, lure rigging, other fishing skills, sometimes we have how to handle the dock lines; they’re all a little bit different. And then we have spin-casting, net-casting, fly-casting, boat-handling trailer, backing, and landing, we have them gaff grapefruits. On Sunday we have the optional charter fishing, we give them choices, sometimes it’s the choice of a drift boat, a sport fishing boat or an inshore boat depending on the area that they’re in—different parts of the states have a different kind of fishing.”

Tavernier on Key Largo is the site October 19-21 where more than seven hours of inshore and off‑shore instruction on bait, equipment, technique, timing, and species knowledge will be held on Saturday with all day fishing fun on Sunday. Sign up early because past attendees typically return year after year to relive the fun and excitement.

ladiesletsgofishing.com

By Bob Arrington, Southern Boating September 2018

More from the Southeast Seaboard:

Pirate Parties

3rd Annual Cheeca Lodge Backcountry Fishing Tournament

November 13th-15th marks the 3rd Annual Cheeca Lodge Backcountry Fishing Tournament at mile marker 82 on Islamorada’s Oceanside. This prestigious fishing event lures anglers from around the world to compete for individual and team prizes for the release of snook, redfish, bonefish, tarpon, and permit with tackle divisions that include fly, artificial and general. The fishing headquarters is World Wide Sportsman, just half a mile from Cheeca Lodge & Spa.

This tournament’s new format hosts a Welcome Reception and Cocktail Party November 13th in the Sunrise Ballroom and Terrace at 5:30PM with the rules meeting at 7:00PM mandatory for all guides. The tournament begins the 14th with an extravagant All-American BBQ on Cheeca’s beach, and an awards ceremony and banquet on the 15th to conclude the event. “This new format allows our guides to get home early on Saturday evening, and allows our anglers to have a full day Sunday to relax or travel home,” says Tournament Director Julie Olsen.

 

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The entry fee of $2,000 per angler includes entry into each of the three social events for the individual, a guest, and the angler’s guide and guest, plus breakfast and lunch each day. The event’s goal is to raise funds for the locally based Guides Trust Foundation, which assists Florida Keys fishing guides and awards scholarships to local students. For information or donation forms, visit guidestrustfoundation.org. Contact Julie Olsen for questions or entry forms. (305) 517-4449; jolsen@cheeca.com; cheeca.com/all-american

By Christine Carpenter, Southern Boating October 2014

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