Gasparilla Island has two lighthouses on it: Gasparilla Lighthouse & Port Boca Grande Lighthouse. I have visited the island twice now and I have yet to enter either one. Although Mother Nature is to blame, I feel there could have been an exception made on my last visit there.
Through Facebook I found out that the Gasparilla Lighthouse was going to open again for climbs after it had been damaged from hurricane Ian. I was thrilled by this news & asked Quin to take a trip down there with me so we could conquer another lighthouse together. We both made alternative arrangements with our clients and took off for an overnight trip. The 3.5 hour journey, one way, was too much for us to do in one day so we found a cute hotel on the island to stay in & then went out to eat. After dinner a violent lightning storm came rolling in with a soft rain. It was really a sight to see. We drove around the island to watch it and headed over to the lighthouse to see it glow in the light from the lightning bolts. I was enjoying the rain but wished that it would be gone by morning so we could climb the lighthouse.
Morning came and it was still soggy but dried up rather quickly. By the time breakfast was over the skies were blue and we made our way to the lighthouse. We were taking pictures and I was giggling with anticipation. We arrived at the door and it was locked. We could see someone at the top and we yelled for him. At first he tried to ignore us but if you have ever met either one of us, you know that is hard to do. We were told that due to the impending weather, they were unable to open the lighthouse. Now I can understand having safety in mind but the skies were blue and that weather was hours away. We told him that we drove over 3 hours to get there just to climb the lighthouse but he was not willing to let us up. I was not happy with his decision but there was nothing I could do about it.
Neither one of us liked the situation we were in and were not happy about it one bit. We were not going to let that ruin the rest of our day so we made a decision to make the most of the day ahead. We walked around the Boca Grande Lighthouse and down the beach before deciding to start our trek back home, with a couple of fun stops along the way, of course.
Barrier Island Parks Society: I would actually call them to see if or when they are offering tours.