Categories
Tourism

Walking to the Beach

Here it is, mid summer, and we still are enjoying our daily walks over to the beach. Most of us who live on Anna Maria Island are able to walk to the beach. It is wonderful not to have to drive. The island is so narrow at the south end that the beach is never more than three or four blocks away. Farther north, the island widens and the walk increases by a few more blocks. But the only areas from which a walk to the beach would take more than just a few minutes are Key Royale and the neighborhoods near Galati Marine at the southeast end of the City of Anna Maria.

Our house is exactly a half mile from the beach. We usually make that walk and then continue along the beach, toward the setting sun before we turn and head home. The beach part of the walk is spectacular every evening. Tonight the beach was particularly wide, and the sand looked smooth and white. The temperature was extremely pleasant—amazing for mid August! The water reflected the pink/orange glow from the low sun. There was almost nobody on the beach. This is the kind of “paradise” experience for which people travel long distances. How lucky we are to be able to walk to it.

Categories
Sports

Anna Maria Island Success Story: Galati Yacht Sales

Galati Yachts
Galati Yachts 2015

In 1970, Michael Galati, Sr., and his wife, Anna Maria, moved to Anna Maria Island and founded Galati Yacht Sales. It was a family effort, based on hard work and a strong commitment to taking care of the customer before all else. They have built their family industry into a company with 12 dealership locations around the Gulf of Mexico, including Palmetto, Cape Coral , St. Petersburg, Destin, and Naples, Florida; Orange Beach, Alabama; and Houston, Texas. They have 171 employees, according to Boating Industry.

Voted the number one boat dealership in the country, for 2007 and 2008, by Boating Industry, the commitment of the five Galati siblings has really paid off. Their Customer Satisfaction Index was 95 in 2008.

Boating Industry based their award of the number one spot on Galati ’s myriad ways of offering service. From the way the sales team is structured to the thoroughness of every service appointment to the friendly question of whether any help is needed every time a Galati boat is encountered, the management and staff take care of their customers very well.

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