NAPLES, Fla. - Naples City Dock closed for rebuilding May 1, which is projected to take eight to nine months. In the meantime, fishing captains and tour boat operators who call the dock home have had to relocate, and some are concerned that the move will cost them some business.
"It's a little stressful - it's our first day," said Susan Chaplin, owner of the tour boat "Sweet Liberty."
The sailing vessel is a popular way for tourists to enjoy the water and sights around Naples, but the first day of docking the 53-foot catamaran at the Naples Landings boat launch is proving to be a challenge.
"We've got some kinks to work out," Chaplin said. "Figuring out the parking situation and sharing with the other boat owners, and of course the people using the boat launch."
She and 13 other business owners miss their former home at the Naples City Dock, but the aged structure was literally rotting beneath them, and was overdue for redevelopment.
Fishing guide Mike Avinon said the dock looked old to him when he first began using it in the early 1990s.
"That was part of the charm of the dock," Avinon said. "But now it's gone from charm to, really just despair. It needs to be replaced."
Avinon is adapting to moving his boat "Findictive" away from the dock because it's small enough for a trailer. But bigger boats like "Sweet Liberty" get a lot of their business from walk-up customers.
"Probably 20 percent of my business was from walk-ups, from people strolling the Naples City Docks," Chaplin said. "So going into summer, I'm certainly going to be losing that, and even into the fall."
She's banking on the new $6.5 million state-of-the-art dock to be a must-see destination when it's finished.
"It's going to - we hope - draw new people people walking down the dock, which means new business for me and our company," Chaplin said.
"We can't wait until it's finished," she added. "It's just getting there to that next nine months that we hope everything goes smoothly."
Other businesses that use the city dock have temporarily relocated to Old Naples Seaport, Pelican Bend Marina and Bayview Park. The first phase of the new dock could be completed as early as December.
