VAN LIFE: Off the Beaten Path at Boca Grande, Gasparilla Island (Florida Travel Vlog)
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- čas přidán 31. 07. 2024
- Ep. 95 - Gulf Coast Adventure Part 5: This episode, we’re exploring an overlooked Florida gem that’s off the beaten path. Boca Grande on Gasparilla Island is a place with no gas stations, an interesting history, lots of charm, natural beauty, and wildlife. We’re sharing how we do van life on a low budget and end the day with another beautiful Gulf Coast sunset.
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BEST THINGS TO DO IN FLORIDA from this video:
📍 BOCA GRANDE - Boca Grande is a small residential community on Gasparilla Island, Florida. It’s known for its historic downtown, sugar sand beaches, blue water, and world class fishing. The island gets its name from Jose Gaspar, a pirate who terrorized the coastal waters of West Florida during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The historic downtown is full of quaint old homes, churches and stores. There is a $6 toll to get on to the island but once there, parking is FREE!
📍 GASPARILLA ISLAND STATE PARK - A beautiful 127-acre park at the southern tip of the island along the Charlotte Harbor and Boca Grande Pass - featuring beautiful beaches, the Port Boca Grande Lighthouse, wildlife, and a prime fishing spot for tarpon. Entry is $3 or free with a Florida Park Pass.
📍 BOCA GRANDE BIKE PATH - When the railroad made its way to Boca Grande in the early 1900s, wealthy northerners arrived by train and Boca Grande began its life serving the rich and famous. Where the railroad tracks once ran, a paved bike and golf-cart path now extends the length of the island, 6.5 miles.
📍 WHIDDEN'S MARINA - Whidden’s Marina is on the National Register of Historic Places. It’s pretty much a Boca Grande institution - a very eclectic, disheveled institution. It’s been around since the early 1900’s and is still run by the Whidden family. It’s one of Boca Grande’s oldest marinas and was a well-known night spot, dance hall, and restaurant back in the day. Today, it houses a very eclectic shop and small maritime museum, offers bait and tackle, beer, snacks, gas, fishing charters, a menagerie of farm animals, and according to their website, great conversation!
📍 GASPARILLA ISLAND LIGHTHOUSE (also called North Range Light) - The 105’ tower was built in 1881 and began service just north of Lewes, Delaware. In 1927, the lighthouse was reassembled and installed on Gasparilla Island.
📍 PORT BOCA GRANDE LIGHTHOUSE - This lighthouse sits on the southern tip of Gasparilla Island. Built in 1890, it’s the oldest building on the island. It still actively aids boaters in navigation, marking the entrance to Boca Grande Pass. It’s also home to a museum that documents the interesting history of the island.
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👉 ABOUT US: We're Steve and Audra, DIYers from South Florida who share a passion for cheap travel, nature, wildlife, and adventure! We've been working on converting our 2019 Ford Transit high roof cargo van into a campervan and are sharing our build and adventures along the way - all while trying to do everything on the lowest budget possible! While building out our van, we've been traveling the country as much as possible with our adventure cat in training, Lady Gray Gray Gillespie Pinkerton. We invite you to follow along on our journey! If you have any questions, we’re happy to answer! Comment below or send us a message on Facebook or Instagram and we’ll respond as soon as possible. And please don’t forget to subscribe to our channel!
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VIDEO SEGMENTS:
00:00 Gulf Coast Adventure in our self-converted Ford Transit camper van
00:51 Van life morning after overnight at Home Depot
01:39 Driving to Boca Grande & weighing our van
02:47 Boca Grande on Gasparilla Island
03:18 Gasparilla Island State Park
04:40 Boca Grande bike trail
07:58 Whidden's Marina & Maritime Museum
12:40 Problems with solar & Ecoflow Delta power unit
13:44 Van life cooking
15:28 Boca Grande lighthouse & beach
10:09 Ending a day of van life
SOUND EFFECT CREDITS:
"Car Ignition, Exterior, A.wav" by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org
"Bamboo Swing, B12.wav" by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org
#vanlife #bestbeaches #cheaptravel #florida
Thanks for watching another video from our Gulf Coast Adventure series!
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Always enjoy your videos, been loving this Florida series stay safe. Lots of hugs 🐈🐈🐈🐈🐈🐈🐈🐈🐈🐈🐈🐈🐈🐈
We've got several more Florida videos in the works!!! We're so glad you're enjoying them! Thank you! ❤️😻
What a lovely little town. I am enjoying all the interesting facts you share. Keep up the travel vlogs, they are great.
Thank you, Sheila! Your comments are an encouragement - and thanks for sticking with us for so long since we started this journey!!! It was a neat little area, definitely with an interesting history. There were even more interesting tidbits to share but it's hard to work it all into a video. Glad you enjoy the random facts! Several more Florida videos are in the works.
What a charming place! Loved seeing it through your eyes. And that view from the back of the van... Perfection! I always relish those views as well. Another place to visit on our next trip 😊
Thanks, Yula! ❤ It was certainly a fun place to spend the day, and always a treat when you can actually enjoy the view from the van as well. I think you'll enjoy it there!
Great place! The crab was so cool! We have never had that problem with the Delta.
Glad it's working now!
Since we've only been doing van life part time, it's been more challenging to work out the kinks with the power. It's been really frustrating how much trouble we have had with the Delta though! We're glad you haven't had any of the same issues. Yeah, that crab was super cool! We've never seen one that big! And the area was pretty neat. Thanks, Lanny and Roxanne!!!!! ❤️🚐
Thanks!
Thank you, Frank, for your ongoing support!!!! 😃 We hope you enjoyed the video and that you didn't find the sound too disturbing on the hermit crab playback!
I've been to florida alot since childhood and have enjoyed memories from much of what you've shared to date, but never been here. It was lovely! Definitely my kind of place with not too many people and beautiful beaches. Loved this vid!! ❤️🚐🐾🌴🌊
We're glad we could introduce you to a new spot and that you enjoyed the video! 🙂❤️ One of the best things about traveling and checking out new places is how you can find such unique things about each place! It really was a neat little area. We hope you can get there sometime! We hope you have a fantastic week, Christina! 🚐
@@SteveAudra you guys as well ❤️
Never heard of Gasparilla Island before. It looks lovely!
We had never heard of it either!
was lovely - lonely now -
I definitely need to go back and explore that area when the weather is cooling down. I need to ride that bike trail for sure. Another great episode. Thanks 👍
There are so many Florida gems that we had no idea existed! This was definitely one of them! We hope your travels are going well. We'll be heading up through your area soon and are hoping to stop at Big Talbot.
@@SteveAudra Check out the BlackRock Beach at Big Talbot Island, it's also in my latest video, fascinating place, next to Boneyard Beach, or pretty much the same area
Thanks for that recommendation! We watched your video. Looks like a great spot!
I spent a couple of weeks with my remodeling crew working on a condo on the north end of the island. One of my Atlanta clients bought it and wanted it to be like new. A great video. looks like your having fun close to home
It sounds like you've had lots of opportunities to spend time in nice areas! Neat to know you've been to Boca Grande. Were you able to enjoy the area while you were there? There is so much in Florida to see. It's nice to do some exploring but save a bit on gas!
Oh would love to go out and do that fishing! I did a little deep sea fishing up in Maryland and loved it. Maybe I can get the kids to come down and do that next year for my 65th birthday. That looks like a really nice place.
It really was a neat little place! Apparently, it's pretty expensive to stay on the island but it's perfect for a day trip. Deep sea fishing is so fun. That would be awesome if you could do that to celebrate your 65th!!! We hope that happens. ❤️
@@SteveAudra I most certainly will let you know! I feel a trip to Florida again would be so fun
Thanks for recommending this episode. Yeah, I got to see your homemade screen in action. The screen is something I will work on for future travels. Have done two full-day trips but working out using the shade and the max air fan to make staying in the van doable in this heat. Also, trying to pin down all the inside rattles and movements to alleviate some of the noise. I'm going to get there but slowly. Planning to go to Tucson, AR, towards the last of August with my sister. Now that’s going to be an adventure.
You're welcome! It can be tough in the van with this heat. We also have a small fan that we blow toward us at night. Air flow is key! As we were building out the van and traveling, we would hear different squeaks and creaking. For the most part we now have that worked out, but every once in a while something will start making noise randomly. We hope your trip goes well. Please keep us posted!
Oh, and here's another past video that shows more of the screen: czcams.com/video/YqFPE-ZH8tQ/video.html
At about the 2 min mark. was the flash from a license plate reader? it may not have been planned but i loved the sync with the beat of the music (especially after the "rewind"). Great job with the video. i have it marked on google maps as a place to visit.
Thanks so much, Jeff! Steve actually added the flash and often purposely syncs the video with the beat of the music. It means so much that you notice. You seem to be the only one that notices some of those post-production details! We're so glad we could share a place with you that has inspired you to visit! Awesome!
Great video. Can't you plug in your solar generator to the panels while you are driving? Most units you can. My generator is due in this month so when we travel I plug our fridge into the cigarette lighter in the dash. I'd love to see a video on how you manage power.
Thanks, Michele! Our understanding is that we can charge our Delta power unit when we are driving, OR we can charge it with solar power, but we don't believe we can do both at the same time. Our friends, @Lanny and Roxanne AdVANtures said they had tried but it had not worked. What type of generator are you getting? We have been planning for quite some time to do a video about power but honestly, we're still trying to figure it out, so we don't know exactly what to share yet. It's a little challenging (at least when it comes to our fridge and running the inverter) since we're only doing van life part time right now. We're not at it long enough each trip to get a good grasp on what's going to work and not work so we keep troubleshooting and modifying how we do things! We've been pretty frustrated with the Delta. It seems more complicated than it needs to be. We are adding a couple more solar panels so hopefully that will help. Until we're able to do a video, please don't hesitate to ask more questions!