October 2025
I recently created multiple digital publications for the state, and I’m still considering if it’s better to have one for each region of the state or one covering the whole state. For now there’s the printed Lee area edition, then a digital for the Lee area which extends into Collier with 54-pages. Then one 80-page digital magazine covering the state of Florida.
A complaint about digital magazines is how difficult it is to read with zooming and panning, but our pages are “clickable” which lead to articles formatted to read easily on portable devices without zooming or panning, and other pages like events or advertisers are links to websites.
Most articles are 2-minute reads. Online I can have a 2,000 word article all on one page with a title and an image since it's a link. If there’s an error, I can fix it in seconds, upload the corrected page, and it updates all links in real time. That’s handy for us publishers who make lots of mistakes…
The transition from print to digital is happening faster than expected. I’ve gotten notes from as far away as Panama City, (well, actually Calloway Point, but I doubt you’d know where that is,) about how refreshing our content is as opposed to most boating and fishing magazines. Thank you for supporting us David!
I also created a couple of facebook groups for those interested- one explores Florida’s backroads, towns & hidden gems. Some recently featured places are the famous Blowing Rocks in Jupiter, the Navy Seal Museum in Ft. Pierce, Turtle Mound near Cape Canaveral, and the Vizcaya Museum in Coconut Grove. These are all one-minute quick reads and all very interesting. The other group features seafood recipes and restaurants around the state.
We’ve also added to our event listing by including all of the larger seafood festivals, boat races, nautical events and boat shows around the state. Our monthly free newsletter send out links to the latest magazines plus upcoming nautical events in Florida.
A couple months ago I got caught up in a sales pitch for a Time-Share. I complained and was offered a one-bedroom 8th floor suite overlooking the ocean in Ormond Beach for free for 4 days if I attend a 2-hour talk about their program. Yea, I took it….. It’s this month and afterwards I’m headed to the Opal in Key West for a few days, where I’d much rather be.
I’ve made dozens of week-long trips to Key West and usually stay at a different place each time to explore, but my favorite place to stay by far is the Opal Resort. They have their own covered parking garage where my car stays the whole time since it’s near the downtown action, plus I always bring my bike.
Biking around Key West at 4am is a personal Key West history tour and each ride offers something different. I just turn on various streets and alleys and find new things every day. I usually don’t drink or party while there, for me it’s all about the feeling of freedom Key West offers.
I took the Key West Express once, but I prefer to drive. I leave Bokeelia at 1am, cross the 42 bridges, and hit the docks in time for the best Cuban coffee you can find, other than in Cuba.
One of the Lee County magazine’s most popular items of interest over the years has been a map of every boat-access restaurant in that part of the state. I found 56, and there’s probably a couple more. I was curious as to how many restaurants in the state offered dockage so I mapped all of them on a Google-Map. As of late August that map had 645 restaurants and over 40,000 views. There’s a link to it on our website homepage.
The Keys was an exception to restaurants with boat dockage. Most people in the Keys are driving a rental car as opposed to a boat so we mapped restaurants that offer a waterfront view whether they have docks or not.
On the cover this month is a Chittum Skiff, one of the most respected boats of its kind in the world. As a teen in Key Largo I worked for Hal Chittum in Islamorada making custom fishing rods.
When Hal opened a store in Bayside (Miami shopping center) he had me wear a 1960’s deep-diving scuba suit acting like a mannequin greeting people at the door. As people entered, my job was to pivot, which was unexpected, and it scared every one of them. The glass mask had fogged up so people didn’t know there was a person in the suit. It was so heavy, and I was a bit underweight at the time, so I only lasted about 15 minutes, but I sure scared the heck out of a few people.
I ran into Hal Chittum at the Stuart Boat Show a couple years ago. We talked about how great it was to be in the Keys in the early 80’s when there were few red-lights and much less concrete & pollution. Change and progress is inevitable anywhere, but sometimes it’s sad to see. The main roads are full, but the canals and side-roads are just as they were 50 years ago so it's still worth a visit.
My office has tracked the larger statewide events like nautical markets, boat shows and seafood festivals. One of our webpages is used exclusively for this with a list of each, what month they are held, with links to their websites. Included are even events like the sand-castle Sculpture contest in Siesta Key and much larger events like the 50,000+ attendee Everglades Seafood Festival.
Our website has been completely rebuilt, it’s much more simple and practical: links to the magazines, information about the company, a page dedicated to Florida’s coastal events, and current featured articles. I also have a page with information about each of Florida’s named coasts for new residents to learn about other parts of the state.
For years we’ve had photos sent from around the world of people holding our printed edition. Last month writers Bob Moro and Mark Rackay both sent a photo reading the Nautical Mile while traveling, Bob photo was his friend Mike Lareau at the Black Point Inn in Scarborough in Maine, and Mark Rackay was at the Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. I’ve got almost 200 images from around the world.
October offers a lot of good fishing in Florida. I often hear seasonal residents comment about how the “bite” is never as good as what they see in photos. Well that’s because you’re here in the cooler months. If you’re a seasonal and want to get into some good fishing, come spend a week in late summer with an active guide and you’ll see what all the fuss is about.
Stay hydrated, and get out on the water!
Jim Griffiths
Publisher, Nautical Mile
