Ft Myers Beach - Good Neighbor
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Ft Myers Beach - Good Neighbor
Salty Sam's & Parrot Key-Paradise by the Dock of the Bay
Discover the heart and soul of Fort Myers Beach's beloved waterfront destination as Ryan VanDenabeele, Marketing and Operations Director at Salty Sam's Marina, shares his fascinating journey and the marina's remarkable recovery story.
Ryan's path to paradise began far from Florida's sandy shores, in a small town south of Kansas City. Taking a leap of faith 24 years ago, he packed up everything and headed to Florida without a job or connections – a decision that would ultimately lead him to the helm of marketing operations at one of Fort Myers Beach's most iconic establishments. With his background in advertising and design, Ryan found his perfect match at Salty Sam's, where his passion for boats and ocean life converged with his professional expertise.
The conversation delves into the challenging aftermath of Hurricane Ian, which Ryan describes as creating a definitive "before and after" timeline for the entire community. Boats crashed into restaurants, infrastructure was devastated, and the recovery process has been painstaking. Yet through perseverance, the marina's docks have been rebuilt and approved, marking a significant milestone in returning to pre-hurricane operations. Ryan also reveals exciting news about Marina Cantina, their soon-to-open second restaurant featuring Florida and Mexican cuisine with spectacular marina views – the perfect addition to their "Live Salty" destination.
Beyond the postcard-perfect images shared on social media lies the reality of operating in a harsh marine environment, where constant maintenance ensures visitors enjoy seamless experiences. From the popular pirate cruises and dolphin tours to boat rentals that Ryan guarantees will be "the best day of your vacation," Salty Sam's offers something for everyone. The marina also fosters community through their famous state days, with Wisconsin Day alone drawing 3,000 visitors. Whether you're planning your first visit or looking to rediscover Fort Myers Beach, make Salty Sam's Marina part of your paradise experience – where the water, wildlife, and warm hospitality create memories that last a lifetime.
Salty Sam's Marina & Parrot Key Caribbean Grill
Ryan VanDenabeele
2500 Main St. Ft Myers Beach, FL 33931
239-463-3257
Ft Myers Beach-Good Neighbor
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Welcome to the Fort Myers Beach Good Neighbor podcast, where the sun's always shining and the stories are even brighter. Each episode we bring you closer to the neighbors, local legends and beachside businesses that make Fort Myers Beach the slice of paradise we all love. Pull up a beach chair, grab a drink and let's meet the people who make this island feel like home. We want to send out some island love to Eric Tibbs from Edward Jones State Insurance USA and Home Well Care Services Fort Myers. They are the businesses that allow us to share the soul. Welcome to the show. Welcome. Today we have Ryan https://www. saltysamsmarina. com/? fbclid=IwY2xjawLuLb9leHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETF5WTdvZ21XVGRsYzdQajNIAR4AkSJpBRm9ucNojVekeGDmY1GkD3KSHmUTzwVpK-VWI58IqkQj8hm1O9ttTg_aem_6pXZdlQvZJOSc4L0xriunA from Key Caribbean Grill. Welcome, how's it going?
Speaker 2:Awesome Pleasure to have you on the show and share your story with our listeners. So I guess, without further ado, let's jump right in. Why don't you share a little bit about what you do?
Speaker 3:I am the marketing and operations director here at Salty Sands Marina, so my job is to put butts in seats on the boat on the boats, I should say, and in the restaurants, and kind of make sure when things break get them fixed. That's basically what I do.
Speaker 2:That's an important job, right? So how did you get involved in all that? How did you get started in this?
Speaker 3:it goes back quite a long time. Um, I went to uh school for advertising and in graphic design and ended up in naples and uh did some graphic design work there but always had a love for the uh, the ocean and for boats and uh, I was at a marketing agency for about five, six years and I was kind of over that. And then I saw that Salty Sam's Marina was in need of a marketing director. So I was, I threw my hat in the ring and luckily I landed right here.
Speaker 2:And it sounds like you have a couple more hats to wear now too, right, I think. So Gotta love it, gotta love it. So let's talk about challenges, whether personally, professionally. Uh, there's been a lot of challenges in fort myers beach in the last couple of years, but uh, is there one that you know? Obviously the big one, but is there something that kind of stands out that we've come to overcome and we've made it through and now we see the light at the end of the tunnel?
Speaker 3:um, obviously the big one you're probably referring to is, uh, hurricane ian. I think everybody that's kind of like a line in the sand of uh, you know your timeline before ian and after ian. Um, I I would say you know theina just like everybody else around Fort Myers Beach. We're the same. I mean, we're just, you know, getting our feet back underneath us pretty much. Our docks just recently got basically done and approved, I'd say just about a month ago. So they've been in place for I'd say, six, seven months. But it's also a process to get them inspected and approved and the fire department has to come out and approve them. But that was the last big piece of the puzzle as far as getting the marina back up to basically pre-Eon condition. So we're really, really excited about just getting, I guess, back to normal and seeing where the future takes us.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, absolutely, and it's you know, it's exciting. I mean, a lot is going to change from what we know and we remember, but I think we're heading in the right direction. So are there any maybe myths or misconceptions surrounding what you do that we could possibly clear up for our listeners today?
Speaker 3:A misconception that I don't know. I would have to say that I think, being a destination like Fort Myers Beach and I think Salty Sam's, is a family destination, with the pirate ship and rental boats and restaurants and waterfront dining and all that it's, it's selling paradise, you know. So it's. It's not exactly. You know rocket science. You know you just show people how beautiful the waterways are and the beaches are and you know you show some crazy pirates dancing around on a boat and it kind of sells itself.
Speaker 3:But there is a lot of work that goes into it. While all the pictures we post, everything looks, you know, really shiny and happy and all this, it does take a lot of work to get everything to look nice and to work correctly. Being in a marine environment, it's a very harsh environment on equipment, so things are constantly, constantly breaking, so we're constantly fixing that and so we want the customers to not see any of that stuff, and so we want the customers to not see any of that stuff. So maybe the misconception could be that oh, it's easy to do the pirate cruises and rental boats, where actually there's a lot of work and a lot of maintenance that goes on behind the scenes.
Speaker 2:You know, and it is, it's not just fun and games, right, there is a lot of work that goes to prepare and make it a great experience for everybody. Speaking of experiences, are there anything new, anything in the pipeline, anything coming that people can look forward to?
Speaker 3:would be our second restaurant here on property called Marina Cantina. So a lot of people in Fort Myers Beach would probably know it as a few different names in the past. Most recently it was the Shrimp Dock Bar and Grill. Before that it was Bootleggers and before that it was the Big Game Club, which a lot of people knew. The hurricane you know really, really beat it up. We had boats inside the restaurant basically sitting at the bar.
Speaker 3:So it took a lot of work to get that restaurant back up and running. But you know it is ready to go. I believe everything's been checked out. We might have one more inspection from the fire department to go. But the restaurant's honestly been done for about a year but due to inspections and permitting and now we want to kind of wait till the season starts up a little bit later in the year. We don't want to open it up right during the slow time of year. So that's why it's kind of been delayed and delayed, and delayed. But I would say the biggest thing you know in a pipeline is definitely getting the new Marina Cantina ready to go. It's going to have some excellent kind of Florida and Mexican food, some of the best views of the Marina and all the boats, boats going by, so we can't wait to open that up you're speaking my language.
Speaker 2:Tacos and tequila perfect that's right, that's right, we love it. So you mentioned your start in the marketing avenue business. Are you from southwest florida originally?
Speaker 3:No, I'm originally from a small town south of Kansas City, so I grew up, born and raised up there, went to a small college in southeast Kansas called Pittsburgh State Go Gorillas. Um, I just packed up everything I had and moved to Florida. Didn't have a job, didn't know a single person down here besides the one guy I talked into coming with me, and so that was, you know, 25, 24 years ago now.
Speaker 3:So you know I kind of grew up in Kansas but I think moving down here was one of the best decisions I ever made, Absolutely.
Speaker 2:I kind of did a similar thing. I moved down here with two guys from school and six months later they moved back. I said see you later, I'm staying.
Speaker 3:That's right, I'm staying.
Speaker 2:Absolutely so. What do you enjoy doing outside of work when you get a free moment of time?
Speaker 3:You know, it seems like I can't get enough of the water. I work on the water and on the weekends my wife and I we take our boat out and we go find some restaurants to dock up at and we go find some sandbars to relax on. And there are days when we go out Saturday and Sunday, which happens a lot. We really like to go out on the boat. I start to add up the number of days that I've been a Salty Sam's because we keep our boat here as well. So even on my off days I'm coming to the marina and making sure everything's kind of going as scheduled. But I mean there might be 25, 30 days in a row where I'm here at salty sam's, whether I'm working or going out on our boat yeah, you live the life.
Speaker 2:You live the life. See who would want to, right? So anybody that's maybe visiting, or visiting for the first time, is there something that they have to do? Obviously the pirate cruise, but is there something on the menu they need to try?
Speaker 3:Yeah, obviously the pirate ship gets a lot of attention. We always say it's the number one attraction on Fort Myers Beach besides the beaches themselves. So that's a lot of fun for both adults and kids. It has adult-only cruises and kids' cruises. The other thing that I would say a must-do is definitely rent a boat. You know, there's nothing like our waterways around Fort Myers Beach, sanibel, pine Island Sound. I really call it a boater's paradise. And if you're just visiting for a weekend or a week, um, definitely spend one of those days running a boat exploring the waterways, island hopping. I almost guarantee you it will be the best day of your vacation. Just get out there and see the dolphins and manatee.
Speaker 2:They're all out there and grabbing a boat is a great way to do that, and that's exactly. It's the best way to see the paradise we all know and love down here. How would people go about contacting you if they wanted to learn more?
Speaker 3:I mean, the best place would be to, you know, go to our website, salands marina. That has, um, everything they they want to know as far as boat storage, rental boats, uh, fishing charters, uh the cruises on the pirate ship and sites here. Uh, that's a great place to kind of land and then you know wherever your interests uh take you. You can kind of find a different web page for that. Um. Obviously the pirate ship has their own website. Sightseer, which is our dolphin boat, has their own website and it's just kind of a we always say like a live salty destination here. So if they want to check out Salty Sands Marina, they can kind of find out whatever interests them from there.
Speaker 2:And Salty Sands and Parakeetsets. You've been around for quite a while, right they have.
Speaker 3:I believe, um, the current owners of the property took over in 1999 and I believe, uh, parakeet opened up in 2000. So, um, they've been here for 25 years and we're definitely, I feel, like a staple of Fort Myers beach and the community. But, yeah, it's, it's a great community to be a part of. Especially after the storms you get to see how everybody kind of comes together and supports each other. It was, it was neat seeing everybody help each other during you know some of the worst times you could go through. But, uh, it's a nice like tight-knit community and we're happy to be a a little part of that and and you do a lot of events to to encourage the community.
Speaker 2:I know you do wisconsin day. Obviously, being from wisconsin, I gotta come see that. I think you do ohio day as well, too, right we do um, we do wisconsin day and ohio.
Speaker 3:Those are the two biggest days on the property. Wisconsin is the number one.
Speaker 2:We like to drink a little.
Speaker 3:Man, it's a big day. There's probably 3,000 people at Parrot Key and Salty Sam's during Wisconsin Day, and then Ohio. You know there's a lot of Ohio people here but it's not as many as Wisconsin. That's usually about 2,000 people. And as soon as we get Marina Cantina open, we do have about another 10 to 12 state days that we do. They're a little bit smaller. They don't get the crowds as Wisconsin and Ohio. So we do them at this restaurant next door, marina Cantina, and we do those on Saturdays to get a little bit bigger of a crowd. But it's we'll do. You know, indiana Day, illinois Day, all these different states that have a decent following down here. I talked the the owners into doing a Kansas City Day because I know there's a lot of Kansas City people down here. But yeah, so the state days, it's a pretty good, pretty good. It usually takes about two months to get through all the state days when we're doing all of them. So it's a pretty good time of year.
Speaker 2:I love it. I love it. Thanks for doing all that. It's a great time. If you haven't checked it out, you definitely need to check it out. So any last words for our listeners today uh, not really just.
Speaker 3:Uh, if you, if they're looking for a little slice of paradise, come, come down with Salty Sam's. There's a little bit of something for everybody down here, whether it's getting on the water, waterfront dining. We have a really nice ship store with Fort Myers Beach apparel, nautical home decor, stuff like that and you'll probably see a couple of pirates walking around. You can always say hi to them too.
Speaker 2:Nothing wrong with that, Ryan. It's been a pleasure getting to know you. Thank you for being such a good neighbor and stay salty, and we'll see you at the beach soon.
Speaker 3:Thanks for having me Appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Thanks for tuning in to the Fort Myers Beach Good Neighbor Podcast, where community meets paradise. If you love what you heard, share it with a friend and keep the good vibes going Until next time. Stay sunny, stay salty and keep being a good neighbor. Also, to nominate your favorite neighbors, local legends, heroes or island businesses to be on the show, go to cabo waboji m. com. That's cabo waboji m. com, or call 239-427-4100. We want to send out some island love to eric tibbs from edward jones state insurance usa and home well care services fort myers. They are the businesses that allow us to share the soul of our community with every listener, from local stories to the positive vibe of island life. Here's to celebrating all that makes Fort Myers Beach the slice of paradise we all need.