Cheeca and the Islander Now Share an Owner. Here's What Locals Can Still Walk Into This Season
Johnny Morris was 16 when he caught his first tarpon on a fly. He was fishing Buchanan Bank with his best friend, his father and Capt. Sonny Eslinger, and the boat had left from Bud N' Mary's Marina. The Bass Pro Shops founder told that story in June, when the company announced it had bought Cheeca Lodge, as Keys Weekly reported. Four months later the company went back to the same stretch of oceanside. On October 14, Bass Pro and Schulte Hospitality Group said they were partnering to bring the Islander Resort at mile marker 82 under the same management as Cheeca.
The only dollar figure in the October announcement went to a museum. Bass Pro and its partners committed $500,000 to the Florida Keys History & Discovery Center, which sits on the Islander's grounds. Its calendar for the rest of this year is built around recipes, book clubs and Wednesday lectures, which are the kinds of things residents come back for.
Bass Pro's October 14 release lays out the combined footprint. Together the two resorts have almost a mile of private beachfront, five pools, six dining venues, a spa and Cheeca's Jack Nicklaus-designed par-3 golf course. The release also names World Wide Sportsman Store & Marina on the bayside as the "launch point" for guests of both resorts.
On the day-to-day side, the release says both resorts will keep normal operations through the transition while plans to "enhance and unite" them are developed. Joy Michelle Boyd, who already managed the Islander and is president of the Florida Keys Resort & Lodging Association chapter, will lead both properties. She reports to Debbie Bennett, president of Bass Pro's Nature-Based Hospitality Division. The release says the goal is to keep many key team members from both resorts. For now, then, the bartenders, front desks and dining rooms at both places are still running as they were.
The $500,000 commitment came from Bass Pro, Morris, Darryl Schulte and other donors to celebrate the announcement. The release ties that gift to Islamorada's sportfishing heritage, and it ties Bass Pro's broader pledge to the area's captains, marinas, resorts and restaurants.
The Discovery Center is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and closed Mondays. General admission is $15, $12.50 for visitors 55 and older, and $6 for students. Active military get in free, and EBT and WIC cardholders pay $3 through Museums for All. Memberships start at $75 and include free admission. Members now also get North American Reciprocal Museum benefits, which means free entry and discounts at more than 1,500 museums, gardens, zoos and historical societies elsewhere. That perk is useful for anyone who spends part of the summer up north.
The permanent galleries tell Islamorada's own story. Visitors can see Flagler's railway and the Overseas Highway built on its foundations, the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane, the first people of the Keys and the history of Indian Key, and the coral reef exhibit developed with Mote Marine Laboratory, which has three living aquariums. The Flats Fisheries & Seagrasses gallery was created with Bonefish & Tarpon Trust and includes the BTT Circle of Honor for conservationists, guides and anglers. Legends of the Line covers the guides who made the "Sport Fishing Capital of the World" name stick. Currents & Flows opened in April 2025 with the Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority and Florida Keys Electric Cooperative. It follows how fresh water and power got down the island chain, from rainwater cisterns to today's utility systems.
The museum's fall programming asks residents to contribute. The special exhibit on view now, Florida Keys Cuisine: From Soil to Sea, brings together historic recipes, archival materials, paintings, photography and ceramics to show how Keys families have cooked with what was grown, caught, traded and shared. Curator Dr. Heather Gonyeau is collecting recipes for it. She is asking for anything from a family casserole brought down from the Midwest to a Cuban dish passed between neighbors. Submissions can go on recipe cards at the exhibit or through the Center's cookbook page. A community cookbook is planned from those recipes, with sponsorships that run from a $100 name listing to $1,100 for the inside front cover. A $250 sponsored recipe is guaranteed a place in the book.
Here's what remains on the November newsletter's calendar from publication day on:
| Date | Time | Event | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday, Nov. 18 | 10:30 a.m. | Coffee with the Curator: Flavor and Family | Not listed |
| Thursday, Nov. 19 | 5:30 p.m. | Book Club: The Florida Sponge War by Rina Bousalis | Register with Tara Khan |
| Monday, Dec. 7 | 6 to 8 p.m. | Holiday Baking Party, Key lime desserts only | Free to attend, $10 per recipe entry |
| Wednesday, Dec. 9 | 6 p.m. | Lecture: Dr. Rina Bousalis on the Florida Sponge War | Fall series |
| Friday, March 5, 2027 | Evening | A Night at the Museum: Black & White Masquerade | Details to come |
The book club and the December lecture work as a pair. The group reads Bousalis's book on November 19, and the author comes to the Center three weeks later to talk about it. Coffee with the Curator meets on the third Wednesday of every month, so it continues after this season. The bake-off accepts pies, cakes, cookies, bars or anything else built around Key lime. Entry forms are on the Center's event portal. The Islander Resort sponsors the Center's 2026–2027 lecture season, and Tackle Center of Islamorada supported the November lecture.
The Islander and Cheeca have shared a story much longer than the Bass Pro announcement suggests. The Center lists two exhibits as coming soon. Presidential Anglers follows George H.W. Bush, whom Islamorada's George Hommell Jr. guided here in 1990 and who came back year after year for the Cheeca Lodge bonefish tournament. It also covers Herbert Hoover, who fished the Upper Keys with guide Calvin Albury for more than a decade. Hommell also co-founded World Wide Sportsman, the bayside store and marina that Bass Pro now runs. The other coming exhibit, Women in Fishing, will use historic photographs and artifacts to cover pioneering captains, guides, record-setting anglers and conservation leaders.
So Presidential Anglers will connect Cheeca's tournament history, the founding of World Wide Sportsman and a museum on the Islander's grounds, which are the three places Bass Pro's announcement now groups together.
The Islander sells a resident day pass, a discounted version of its day pass for Monroe County residents. It includes:
Guests must show valid ID proving Monroe County residency at check-in, or they won't be admitted and won't get a refund. Anyone under 18 needs an adult with them.
The Islander runs four food and drink spots. Coccoloba is the newest. The resort describes it as serving "resort guests, families, and locals" in the shade on "Islamorada's longest stretch of sand." Tides Beachside Bar has bar, pool and beach seating, Drift on the Beach cooks over open flames, and Sandy's Bar is the poolside cocktail stop. Tides also hosts the Islander Game Club, with trivia, Canasta or other games and local beer, and no reservation is needed.
Cheeca's dining page lists these hours. Atlantic's Edge serves breakfast from 7 to 11 a.m., lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and dinner from 5 to 10 p.m., with live music from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Mia Cucina makes Neapolitan-style pizza from 5 to 10 p.m. nightly, and Nikai serves sushi and sake over the same hours. The Tiki Bar is open from 11 a.m. to midnight, with food until 11 p.m. and the lobster mac and cheese on the menu, and 25 South pours from 11 a.m. until sunset. Bass Pro calls the 525-foot fishing pier historic, and the resort's FAQ lists fishing from it as a guest amenity included in the resort fee.
Across the highway and on the bay, World Wide Sportsman at 81576 Overseas Highway combines the store, the Islamorada Fish Company restaurant and a full-service marina. Put together, Bass Pro's holdings now cover the oceanside and the bayside between roughly mile markers 81.5 and 82. On a free Tuesday morning, the part of that stretch a resident can simply walk into for $15 is the museum at 82100 Overseas Highway.
I've lived in the Keys since 1982, and stories like Hommell guiding a sitting president are part of what makes Islamorada home. If you'd like to talk about how changes along this stretch of the Overseas Highway shape life on Upper Matecumbe, or you're thinking about what owning a home near it would look like, reach out to Alina Davis. Let's Connect.
Whether you're searching for your perfect Keys escape, investing in a vacation rental, or selling a slice of paradise you've loved for years, my goal is always the same: honest guidance, strong advocacy, and a seamless experience from start to finish. The Florida Keys isn't just real estate — it's a lifestyle, and I'm here to help you find your place in it. I would be honored to help you take that next step toward sun, water, and everything the Keys has to offer.
