Paris Pictures from January 19th

The rebounder - assembled

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Hike to the playground...

Trip to Geoge and Ellie's

Can you tell that the water was just a bt on the cold side ;-).

Cape Romano

Paddle to Cape Romano and back through the island. Shoulders are a
little sore - but we made good time. We put in around 10AM and pulled
out just before 4PM, with a couple of stops. Amazing how many shells
we found and the old homesite at the point was really interesting.

http://www.coastalbreezenews.com/2012/09/07/cape-romano-uncovered/

The domes that have slowly drifted apart and into the Gulf were once a
fully functioning home equipped with satellite television and even a
hot tub.
"Building it was the fun part for my dad, but he also loved the
seclusion of living on the island; fishing, shelling and watching the
weather." An independent oil producer, Lee retired at the age of 44
and, "he started doing these other things that he loved," continues
Maples. "He loved inventing things. He invented a heat source for
under the floors of our house and had an invention that would bring
logs in and drop them on the fireplace that came through the wall of
our den. Kids loved him. He was just fun to be around; a really
adventurous guy way before his time."

The futuristic look of the dome homes is incredibly fitting. In 1980,
Bob Lee began work on a home that would be completely self-sufficient;
a rather unusual idea during a time of excess in the United States.
Lee spent the years of 1978 and 1979 purchasing lots on Cape Romano
from four different owners in order to build his dream home. But
before he set to work on the property, he built a prototype on the
family's land in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
"It's still standing but nobody uses it because it had a moisture
problem. But he perfected that before he built the next one. We still
have that house and the forms that shaped the domes. He used these
giant metal forms that fit together like pieces of a basketball. There
was an inside layer and an outside layer and you would pour the
concrete between the two layers of the form to build the domes."ust
fun to be around; a really adventurous guy way before his time."

In order to get the necessary supplies to Cape Romano, Lee purchased a
barge which hauled everything including two concrete mixers, the metal
dome forms and fresh water to mix the cement with. "He took sand from
the island to a cement-testing lab in Skokie, Illinois and found it to
be the perfect aggregate, so he mixed the concrete from the sand of
the island," adds Maples.
But why domes? According to Lee's grandson, Mike Morgan, "My
grandfather designed it so that when the rain would hit the domes, all
the rainwater would wash down into a gutter system that he built
around the domes. That would all lead into a 23,000 gallon cistern
under the center dome. The water would run through filters and that's
what we would use for showers and dishwashing; things like that.

"The house was totally self-sustaining. He had several solar panels
for power along with backup generators if it was cloudy for several
days." The solar panels provided free electric to the 2,400 square
foot home which featured air conditioning, two hot water heaters,
ceiling fans, a refrigerator, a satellite dish, hot tub, gas barbecue
and two lighted wooden walkways; one leading to a lagoon, the other to
the ocean.
Finished in 1982, the Lee's and their family enjoyed the home for just
two years before selling it in 1984. They repossessed the dome home in
1987 when the current owner got into financial troubles. Bob and
Margaret remodeled the interior and kept the home until 1993, one year
after Hurricane Andrew. Morgan, who helped with repairs after the
storm, adds, "Andrew didn't do a ton of damage, really. The main
structure's design is very high wind resistant because there's no
sharp edges or flat surfaces for the wind to catch on. That was
another thought process that my grandfather had when he built them.
But the windows, obviously were not, so that was the main damage."

The inside had all the modern amenities and comforts of a regular home.
Both Maples and Morgan called Cape Romano their permanent residence in
the early 90's. "My daughter turned one while we were living there,"
adds Maples. Back then, "it was totally different. There were two
other homes; one on stilts and a pyramid-shaped house. They had
horses, dogs and turkeys. How they got a horse out there, I'll never
know!"

Over time, the shape of the island has changed, washing the other
homes into the water. Now, it seems, the dome home is next. "I
remember when it was actually an exhausting walk to the beach," says
Maples. "When Daddy started noticing that the island was going to have
what he called the "teardrop effect," he told the man who purchased
the home that they had to put a seawall in. At that time, you could do
that. Now you would probably have all kinds of trouble doing that."

The current owners of the property know this all too well. Purchased
in 2005, by the John Tosto family of Naples, plans were to renovate
the home, making it functional once again. Up against the Department
of Environmental Protection and the Collier County Code Enforcement
Board, the family was told the domes must be removed from the island
in 2007. Two years later, fines were issued to the family by Collier
County due to lack of removal of the domes.