The Gasparilla Inn & Club

There should be a law against travel writers writing about The Gasparilla Inn & Club. Publicizing this sedately attractive place could have a negative impact by attracting outside attention. Efforts should be made to keep things on Gasparilla Island as they are, which is just as you wish they still were at more of your favorite places.

Measured, mannered, managed, relaxed, pretty, uncluttered, un-glitzed, confident, respectful and respected. How has the Inn escaped the ravages of our generally ill-mannered, harried time?

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The Gasparilla Inn & Club invited gourmands and wine aficionados to its most anticipated culinary event of the season, the annual "Food and Wine Weekend." The "Food and Wine Weekend" offered guest the opportunity to learn the culinary techniques of top chefs, taste experts vintners' favorite new wines and experience the sumptuous cuisine of distinguished master Chef Peter Timmins, executive chef at the Greenbrier

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Like so many slivers of Old Florida sprinkled throughout the state, the Gasparilla Inn & Club was once a winter retreat for weathly northerners like John D. Rockefeller, whom you can easily picture nestled in a rocking chair on the grand porch. It has undergone several face-lifts since it opened in 1911, most recently in the formal dining room yet has always managed to preserve its luxurious appeal - with a nod to its past. Think of it as Old Florida polished to a mirror-worthy shine.

Gasparilla Inn is the star of Boca Grande, a laid-back, speck of a town on a thin stretch of island jutting in the the Gulf just south of Sarasota.

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Beyond the palm-lined icons of the PGA Tour, Florida golf offers a surpising array of styles and scenes. Here are five of the states finest overlooked resorts, beginning with a timeless Gulf Coast hideaway, the Gasparilla Inn.

Quiet now. Were going to let you in on a little secret. You may think that golfers have been exploring Florida for so long that there is nothing left to discover. You may think it impossible that the state could have a small, elegant hotel with a seaside Pete Dye golf course that you don't already know about.

Welcome to The Gasparilla Inn & Club. If you've never heard of of it, it's no accident. For decades, the inn's proprietors have rather liked it that way.

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Gene Marra sits on the dock behind his beachside Boca Grande restaurant, where the setting sun spills into the Gulf of Mexico and the smells of salty sea and fried grouper mix into a pungent stew, and reflects on the millionaires, the kings of industry and stars of stage who have walked through his doors.

It's nice to see Katie Couric or Jimmy Buffett come down to the South beach Bar & Grille for a quick nosh, but Marra, who's been coming to Boca for 25 years, is mostly unmoved by fame. He knows why this tiny town always seems to bring the big names.

"They will tell you, every last one of them," says Marra, general manager at the Gulf Boulevard fish house. "The reason Boca Grande is special is because it's quaint and it's private and it's elite. All at the same time."

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At The Gasparilla Inn & Club on Gasparilla Island off Fort Myers, Fla., the period from March into early April is crammedwith special activities such as beach cookouts, kayaking trips, teen nights, movie nights and scavenger hunts.

Jack Damioli, president and general manager of the resort, says, "March is our busiest time of year. We have a setting where multi-generations spend the end-of-year holidays and spring break with us. It's a tradition; they want their children to experience what they experienced."

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Backstory: Developed by the Boca Grande Land Co. for wealthy northern guests, the Gasparilla Inn opened in 1913 on sleepy Gasparilla Island, midway between Sarasota and Ft. Myers. (Former president George H.W. Bush brings his family to the island almost every christmas.) Tycoons, including J.P. Morgan, and Boston society flocked to the isolated hotel, arriving by boat or bridge from the mainland. Long popular for it's deep sea fishing, the 62-room hotel and 80 cottages are only 300 yards from the Gulf of Mexico, and the marine influence is evident throughout: A six-foot-long tarpon is mounted behind the front desk.

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Remember that old Irving Berlin tune Blue Skies?

It played over and over again in my head as I rode into this small town (population, 1,121) on Gasparilla Island.

Blue skies smiling at me…nothing but blue skies, do I see.

The sky was as crisp and blue as any I can remember. It helped that the sun was shining so brightly, the coconut palm fronds were so green and the buildings were neatly painted in lemon yellows and paper whites. There were no highrises, mega-malls, fast food restaurants or grocery chains.

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