FORT MYERS BEACH, Fla. — Fort Myers Beach is slowly getting back to normal. Another sign of recovery is a marina planning to reopen on the beach Thursday.
The Moss Marina is on track of being the first marina to reopen since hurricane Ian.
Tuesday, all you could hear at the marina were forklifts, shovels and other tools. You could also see men rolling up their sleeves trying to get the marina back to what it used to be.
The general manager of the marina, Gary Foco gave fox 4's Briana Brownlee a tour of the property to show the progress days before the reopen.
Foco evacuated during the hurricane, but what when he returned after the storm was gut wrenching.
“I couldn’t even take a video, that is how much I was in shock," Foco said. “Our team at moss Mariana has done a lot of work for the last three years and it got taken away in eight hours.”
Not wanting to dwell on the devastation, and knowing the daunting task ahead of him—Foco and he team worked for weeks cleaning and repairing the property. He said him and the owner had a key goal in mind.
“He [The owner] told me we got to open up, we got to be the first ones to open up,” Foco said.
After rallying a team of contractors, it seems Foco and his crew are on their way to accomplishing that goal.
Foco said it came with an expensive price tag but it was all worth it. He added that the marina is for the community and was the motivation to reopen so quickly, especially with so many sunken boats in the area and with the limited supply of fuel for boats.
"The coast guard is one of our greatest resources out here on the water, so we had to get them going," Foco said.
The marina is will open Thursday and the grand reopening is Saturday December 10th. The public is encouraged to attend.
To see the progress of the marina, watch the video above.
