What lies beneath: Does Punta Gorda Isles hide a deep, dark secret?

COURTESY PHOTO

[ Note: Capt. Kirk is on leave for a while. In the meantime, enjoy a version of this classic from our archives.] There have been several thoughts as to the building and location of a community like Punta Gorda Isles. Opinions have varied as to why anyone would want to live in what was then a wet, muddy, mosquito infested mangrove swamp.

There was an underlying reason for putting up a front for a development of this undertaking. To understand the beginning, we must go back to the early 1950s.

Several well-known modern day local people were CIA operatives in the early ’50s. Like all agencies, the loyalty went far beyond retirement from “The Company.” Several CIA buddies that operated in the Asian countries in the early ’50s had gotten together and discussed joining forces in a civilian business.

In Florida, real estate was a big open market. This group of four had taken a course in real estate development from James Stone Hunt of the very successful and profitable Coral Ridge Properties. Al Johns and a close schoolmate friend, along with Bob Barbee and Bob Cole, got a contract for 550 acres of swampland in a place named Punta Gorda — purchased from Gerald Moody of Fort Myers and George Sanders, who owned Edison Mall. This deal was agreed upon on April 1, 1957, and finalized by the end of the year.

There was much planning among these four friends, as they knew the importance of secrecy and covert ops. Unknown to all: During the development planning for the PGI canals, meetings were held at the old Punta Gorda Hotel in secret rooms accessed by hidden hallways.

Before PGI could be divided and homes put up, the infrastructure needed to be completed. To accommodate the ease of exchanging military information without attracting undo attention of the many cars parked at certain people’s homes, tunnels were designed and built under a number of homes in PGI. These tunnels have been sealed for many years now. (If you have an older waterfront home, any newly poured concrete or patches in the foundation may well cover an entrance.)

These tunnels connected many of the early homes off places like Jamaica Way, Marion Avenue, Maria Court and many older side streets. There were four homes originally built along the basin at the PGI Yacht Club, and an entrance was discovered — but kept very quiet — after Hurricane Charley destroyed the old yacht club building and some homes in 2004.

W.T. Price of Coconut Grove Bank assisted with this canal/tunnel-digging project financially and by offering the use of equipment from his business, Price Dredging Co. There were more than 55 miles of canals designed, with a planned depth of 17 feet and a width of 100 feet. Some areas were only 8 feet deep, as the tunnels beneath them accounted for less scrutiny as they were dredged. The tunnels were named after close CIA operatives known to each other in the business who helped with the project and future covert ops: Johns Pass, Cole Pass, Barbee Pass, Wampus Cutoff, Crosland, Farr, Burchess, Westfall — and the list goes on.

A maid had discovered some of the hidden rooms with plans scattered about while working in the Punta Gorda Hotel one afternoon. Mysteriously, the hotel burned to the ground that night in 1959. This was international intrigue taking place here in a sleepy little fishing village. This was also the time period that the CIA was conducting covert training operations in the Charlotte Harbor area for the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba to defeat Castro. Coincidence?

Many of these tunnels still exist today in PGI, and there could be very sensitive information stored in them. The odd side note to all this was that this spoof of a development really did take off and become very successful. Waterfront sailboat lots sold for $5,000 back then, and a waterfront home was $32,000. The world changed and retired operatives became wealthy due to the land boom, the tunnels were sealed and all was forgotten — but history remembers what really went on with the original Punta Gorda Isles. The verification of this information is sealed in a vault in Washington, D.C. (or perhaps in the tunnels if anyone dares to look). Sinkholes? Seawall collapses? Tunnels? The truth is only available on one day each year, and that is the day after March 31. Once you pinpoint this date, you’ll be able to assess the credibility of this particular column.

Fair winds; calm seas. ¦

Capt. Dennis Kirk and his wife, Nancy, are avid mariners and outdoor enthusiasts currently living in North Port. Since the 1970s, their love of nature in Southwest Florida has allowed them to experience the dream of writing about their travels and adventures of sailing, fishing and flying.

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