Post Irma -- Snappers Is Back

Like so many others, we watched with great interest as Irma approached Florida early in September of 2017. There were several reasons it was important to us, the main one being our son and his family living near Miami. As they first boarded up their home and headed for Fort Meyers, we began to relax. And then Irma turned and headed straight for the west coast of Florida. We heaved a sigh of relief when our son returned to the Miami area and found shelter out of the evacuation zone with other friends there.

Then Irma headed directly for the Florida keys. More specifically right for the area where we spend our winters. The good news, I said to Bob, is that we don't own the condo. The bad news is that we may have to spend the winter up north.

Irma approached with a vengeance, hitting the area just south of Key Largo the hardest.As we watched people prepare, a CNN report featured our favorite restaurant for Sunday brunch which sits on the ocean side of Key Largo and right on the water's edge. The CNN reporter interviewed the owner and the people gathered at the Snappers outdoor bar as they awaited the storm and speculated about what its impact might be.

When we arrived in January of 2018, Irma had left her mark. Debris was still littering the median strip of the Overseas Highway especially as you drove further south into the keys. There was a large area near Marathon that appeared to have been cleared by a giant bulldozer. What happened to Snappers we wondered?

Our first Sunday we found that Snappers was indeed open but they were using a food truck to prepare food. With no kitchen, there was no dishwasher so all the silverware and dishes were disposable. The boardwalk in front of the restaurant where there was outdoor seating had survived but the inside of the restaurant itself had been totally destroyed. A waitress told us the inside had been filled with seaweed and debris from the ocean.

Fast forward to our first Sunday of this season. We came down a bit early--just before Christmas. To our surprise, the front door was open and we walked into a brand new interior. It's quite updated and a bit more modern looking than the rustic old interior but they had just started working out of their new kitchen a few days before and we ate off of real china and silverware. We still chose to eat outside. After all, that's what we come to Florida for in the winter--the weather.

We look forward to visiting Snappers often especially as they expand to their full menu again. So glad to see how resilient people can be.