If you've lived near Caloosa Cove long enough, you remember asking someone, at some point between 2018 and 2022, whether the old Safari bar was ever going to reopen. The honest answer for most of that stretch was nobody knew. Hurricane Irma hit in September 2017. The bar didn't reopen until early 2023. That gap is nearly six years.
Caloosa Cove Resort and Marina changed hands in January 2022, when Suntex Marina Investors took over the property at mile marker 73.5. Within roughly a year of that acquisition, the bar had a new kitchen, a redesigned dining room, a landscaped private beach, and a name change to Oceanside Safari Restaurant and Lounge. That sequence is clear, even if the reason for the length of the closure is not.
Habanos During the Safari's Closure
Habanos, the Cuban restaurant on the same fifteen acres, kept serving lunch and dinner while the Safari was closed. Property listings for Caloosa Cove in the marina's own materials describe Habanos as open Tuesday through Sunday, while the Safari lounge was listed as "temporarily closed due to Hurricane Irma."
The two restaurants are on the same fifteen-acre property and in the same flood zone. Habanos remained open while the Safari was closed; the Safari reopened after the property changed hands.
What Changed in January 2022
Suntex Marina Investors acquired Caloosa Cove Resort and Marina in January 2022. The lounge was renovated afterward. The general manager who oversaw the reopening, Frank Scottoline, described the previous lounge as having tinted windows and no real outdoor space. In an AOL report, he said, "You may as well have been in an alley." He added, "There was no view."
The renovation redesigned the lounge. The new Oceanside Safari seats ninety guests inside and sixty outside, with the outdoor tables taking in what's described as a 180-degree ocean view, a level of waterfront access the old lounge never had despite sitting on the same oceanfront lot the entire time. The work included a redesign, not only repairs.
The New Room Keeps a Few of the Old Bones
Longtime residents will remember the original version of this bar by its unofficial nickname: locals called it the Dead Animal Bar, a reference to the taxidermy mounts that covered the walls after original owner Leslie E. Tassell incorporated the Safari Lounge in 1981 and filled it with trophies from his own hunting trips. Warthog and eland heads, a table built from an elephant leg, a zebra pelt on the wall. It was a Lower Matecumbe institution for decades before Irma shut it down.
The new version doesn't try to hide from that history, it just softens it. There's an elephant at the entrance kids can sit on for photos, a giraffe sculpture picked up in Miami, a wooden lion. No more mounted heads. In the AOL report, Scottoline described the redesign as "the same old charm in a brand new spot." The menu moved just as far from the original concept, which was mostly drinks and bar snacks. The current lineup runs toward homemade smoked fish dip made with applewood-smoked mahi, conch fritters, fish tacos, and tuna tartare, food built for the same crowd that used to come in for a beer and a burger but expects more of a meal now.
The Rest of the Property Never Waited on the Bar
While the Safari sat closed, the rest of Caloosa Cove kept functioning at its own pace, which is worth knowing if you're trying to understand what daily life here actually looks like right now. The marina holds a Clean Marina certification, meaning it meets both the legal requirements and a set of voluntary best practices around keeping the surrounding water clean, and that status didn't depend on whether the bar upstairs was open. The property sits directly beside the Channel 2 and Channel 5 bridges, water that locals and visiting anglers alike still rank among the better tarpon fishing spots in the Keys, storm or no storm, bar open or closed.
The fishing side of the operation barely paused either. Captain Roy Lindback has been running charters out of Caloosa Cove for 28 years, and Tommy Bressler has worked the tackle shop for close to the same stretch. Neither of their routines depended on the restaurant situation next door. If you're the kind of resident who measures the neighborhood by whether the marina still runs the way it always has, rather than by what's on the dinner menu, the honest answer is that very little actually changed here during those six years.
The resort side kept its rhythm too. Guests and residents alike still have access to a lighted tennis court, a pickleball court, a basketball court, and a shuffleboard setup, all included at no extra charge, the same amenities the property has offered for years. None of that required a renovated bar to keep working.
The Read
The Safari Lounge reopened in early 2023 after a long closure that began following Hurricane Irma. During that period, Habanos remained open, the marina held its Clean Marina certification, and Captain Lindback continued running charters. Suntex Marina Investors acquired the resort and marina in January 2022, and the lounge reopened after renovations.
The closure and reopening are part of Caloosa Cove's recent history, alongside the marina and resort amenities described here.
If you're weighing what's actually changing on this stretch of Islamorada, or you just want a local read on a specific property near the water, Dominic Rivera and the team at Pine River Realty spend enough time on this part of the Keys to tell you the difference between a rumor and a fact before you make a decision based on either one.
