Finally Floating

After several years, Bay Water Boat Club gets its new dock.



View from top deck of 31 ft. pontoon at Bay Water Boat Club.

View from top deck of 31 ft. pontoon at Bay Water Boat Club.

A year and a half ago, the Botana family felt like they might never see their dock completed.

“We got a call from the Army Corps of Engineers,” says Adam Botana, “They said, unfortunately someone has to take over on this and we have to review your permits and everything.”

That was months’ worth of work down the drain.

“It was [because of] a maternity leave, I think,” says Botana. “But they did move us through as quickly as they could after that,” he adds. Despite the long wait, the new dock at the Bay Water Boat Club is in. Last month, the two-year-long process was completed, adding 150 feet of floating dock space. Previously, if several club members all arrived back at the docks at one time, there was a bit of shuffling to try and maneuver all the boats into slips along the shoreline.

The Botana family, Omar, Sherry, Derrick and Adam on one of their boats at Bay Water Boat Club.

The Botana family, Omar, Sherry, Derrick and Adam on one of their boats at Bay Water Boat Club.

The Bay Water Boat Club is a second-generation Bonita family business with 36 boats and 231 members. Ten years ago, the Botana family started out as just a rental business. They soon realized, however, that a club where seasonal residents could come and go as they pleased was a better bet. “We started the club eight years ago with one member and eight boats,” says Botana.

If you’ve never heard of a boat club, the concept is simple: For a set membership fee, you can take out a boat whenever you wish— although you do have to reserve it in advance. It’s like renting a car—you never have to worry about maintenance or securing the boat if a hurricane makes its way in our direction. “Most of our members are here four to six months of the year and they have a boat up north,” says Botana. He adds that members like not having to buy a second boat just to cruise around the area’s waterways.

Interestingly, the Botana’s property—which sits just off of Bonita Beach Road, is one of the few properties in history to actually benefit from the government building a road on it. In the 1920s, when Bonita Beach Road was built, the county took the property lines of everyone who owned land they needed for the road, and simply extended them outward to make up for the land they were losing. For the Botana’s, that meant that their property lines shifted into the water. While that might seem like a bad thing, it’s actually a very good thing. “We own the waterway,” says Botana. “Most places they have to lease the area their dock occupies from the state or county. We own ours. My grandfather was smart when he bought this property.”

The Botana’s business growth has been very impressive. The vast majority of their time in business has been during down economic years—and yet, they’ve grown beyond what they ever imagined. “I don’t think our members ever thought we’d grow this much—or that we’d ever get the dock done,’

Botana. But the family has a history in business, albeit kind of an unorthodox one. For many years the Botana family ran concession services for NASCAR as well as working with carnivals and traveling fairs. “We’re carnies!” Botana jokes. Working in these on-the-road jobs instilled a work ethic that has made the family incredibly successful. “It’s just a get-it-done mentality. If something needs to be taken care of, we do it right away,” he says. Of course, that made waiting on the dock’s permitting all that much more stressful. “We weren’t really used to things not getting done quickly.”

But now that the dock is in, it looks like it should be smooth sailing from here.


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