Before heading to our winter spot in Ocean Resorts at Vero Beach, we decided to check out a place which was recommended to us by our friends, Mary Jane and Dave Mulaski. We traveled around Florida with them last winter. They have spent time at Nettles Island and thought we would like it as much as they do.
They were right. Nettles Island is great! It’s a very large RV park where all the sites are privately owned. Pictured is one of the canals in the park. Homeowners on the canal have private boat docks behind their homes.
Many have homes built on them and some remain as RV sites.
Nettles Island has 2 tennis courts, a putt putt, a marina, 2 large pools (one which is located right on the beach), shuffle board, horseshoes, bingo, bridge, poker and much more.
All activities are open to all owners and renters.
We made instant friends when we played in the open tennis round robin held daily from 7am to 9am. We were welcomed very warmly into the group. Tennis abilities varied greatly as did ages. It is very exciting to see people in the 80’s playing tennis and riding their bicycles. We will be just as active when we get “old”.
We were fortunate to have picked an RV site right across from Bill and Louise VanTongeren, long time residents of Nettles Island and loved by everyone.
They welcomed us into their “family” of friends. Bill is an avid golfer, so Delton and Bill got along great right away. Pictures are Bill and Louise, Marge and Gene (tennis friends), and us.
Nettles Island residents hold church services every Sunday. Pictured is the Nettles Island Church Choir – which we decided to join for our short 2 week stay. We attended and met even more people. Notice Delton and I singing in the choir. The empty seats are for the choir - church was actually full.
Marge and Gene invited us to their home for a prayer meeting, to pray for the coming elections. We were happy to attend and meet even more Christians. Although the elections did not go as we had prayed, we know God is in control of everything.
It was hard to leave Nettles Island, but we had already made plans to stay in Ocean Resorts for the winter. Ocean resorts is only 20 miles away from Nettles Island, so we plan on keeping in touch with our new found friends.
