places in florida that don't suck

the bubble room restaurant has great margaritas and it's only a short drive from where i grew up in ft. myers. if ever you find yourself near there with a date (or a new bride, like i did), get lunch there. then walk across the street to the beach for sunsets and smooching.

great place for lobster diving and spearfishing. i spent many summers there, as a kid. coco's cantina was a good place to eat jewfish sandwiches on cuban bread and hear music from gnarled, weather-beaten, toothless local fishermen. we saw way less cockroaches there than at monte's fish market, down the road. (coco's: 0, monte's: one large one my cousin kicked and stuck to a wall)

used to be my favorite surf spot in florida. there is some localism, but it's easy to avoid if you move down break a bit. i always sucked, anyway, so it didn't matter where i surfed as long as i was out in the water. nothing like getting dumped by your girlfriend the night before, spending a weekend at the campground, getting completely eaten by mosquitos, having little money for food, cause you spent it all on gas getting there, but still being completely content cause you got to surf from sunup to sundown with a handful of friends for three days, straight.

where they filmed a large part of "the truman show". the "new urban" pioneer project on florida's redneck riviera. while not remotely self-sustaining, the average home costs well into the millions (hard to buy those on an icecream or pizza shop salary), it's still really eff'n pretty. the beaches are nice and clean and the architecture is very pleasant.

it's the oldest city in america, has a cool old fort thingy and my surf-hippie cousin and his wife live there.

can only be gotten to by boat or ferry. not the best food or drinks in the area, but the quaint setting and overall remoteness of it, make it quite worth it. but, bring bug spray. the mosquitos can carry away small children. also, the entire ceiling of the bar is covered in dollar bills. people sign em and stick em up with tape, anything that falls, goes to charity.

another spot on the "redneck riviera" with great beaches. when i was 10 or 11, i caught an anchovy in a tidal pool, with my bare hands. i let it go after my dad told me what it was that i had caught. for some reason it's always stuck with me.

without question, the best place to look for shark's teeth. when i was a kid, you could literally, just sit in the sand, dig in a hand and start counting. i still have a few dozen. a couple really big ones.