First in the Doc Ford series by Randy Wayne White - After a life of living on the edge, Doc Ford had moved to Dinkins Bay off of Sanibel Island and was enjoying his new life on the water. Suddenly, things change when an old friend, Rafe Hollins, shows up and asks him to return to Masagua with him to rescue his kidnapped 8 year old son. White began writing “Sanibel Flats”, published in 1990, as the first mystery novel built around marine biologist and retired spy Doc Ford. Ford always has been the main character, but a.
2500 Island Inn Rd, Sanibel, FL 33957239-472-8311Sanibel Flat s featuring ex-CIA agent Doc Ford is the first in the series by bestselling author Randy Wayne White. Title: Sanibel Flats: A Doc Ford Novel (Doc Ford Novels) Author Name: White, Randy Wayne. Randy Wayne White, author of the Doc Ford novels (Sanibel Flats, The Heat Islands, The Man Who Invented Florida), is a columnist for Outside Magazine, the host of 'On the Water,' a PBS television series, and a veteran Sanibel Island fishing guide. He lives with his family in Ft. Sanibel Flats In Sanibel Flats, the first of Randy Wayne White’s Doc Ford series novels, ex-CIA agent Marion “Doc” Ford is enjoying his new life as a marine biologist on the Dinkins Bay Marina, when high school friend Rafe Hollins calls him for help when his son is kidnapped.
Open 11am - 10pm
Doc Ford’s Sanibel “Home of the Island Mojito” is our flagship location.
Just off Island Inn Road across from Bailey’s Shopping Center. If you’re hoping to run into Randy Wayne White, then this is the place to do it as he can be found writing here on many nights. With 2 dining rooms and an outdoor patio, where you decide to enjoy the ambiance is up to you! A trip to Sanibel isn’t complete without lunch or dinner with us at Doc Ford’s!
So welcome to Doc Ford’s Sanibel Island
This beautiful new restaurant’s namesake, the fictional Doc Ford, was conceived in desperation just down the road at Tarpon Bay Marina where the owner, Mack, employed a small quirky cast of characters, one of whom wanted to be a writer.
That was 30-years and 3,000 charters ago, near the end of my career as a fishing guide. Thank karma, or fate, or blind blessed luck, but I love the symmetry suggested by Doc’s return to Tarpon Bay Road. The symmetry didn’t seem so blessed at the time.
In 1988, the federal government informed our little marina family that the bay would soon close to powerboat traffic. We fishing guides were out of a job. Aside from a license to drive big boats, I wasn’t qualified to do anything useful, but I did own a typewriter.
Eighteen months later, my first novel, Sanibel Flats, was published. It introduced a few (very few) readers to marine biologist Doc (Marion D.) Ford, and his unrepentant hipster pal, Tomlinson. They were hard core tropic travels; decent men with senses of humor, each devoted, in his way, to the obligations of friendship, family and their respective moral compass.
Both attracted trouble. Both men lived secret lives.
Sanibel Flats did nothing to threaten their anonymity — sales were minuscule. National reviews, however, were enthusiastic, so I continued to chronicle the adventures of Doc, Tomlinson, and my marina pals, all of whom orbited freely around a semi-fictional “Dinkins Bay.”
Now, twenty-four novels later, it is an honor, and just plain fun, to return as a member of the Doc Ford’s restaurant family — and we are a family, top to bottom, same as the same quirky, excellence-driven characters who populate my novels.
By virtue of being here, you are a member, too. My partners, Marty and Brenda Harrity, and Mark Marinello, would agree, and here’s why: these islands have a gift for attracting people of kindred sensibilities. Some are famous, most are not, and it doesn’t matter. You are here. These islands have chosen you. Why argue?
— Randy Wayne White
SANIBEL FLATS is the story of the adventures of a man named Marion Ford, a biologist who lives in Sanibel, Florida after a long stint in Masagua, Central America. After his friend Rafe Hollins contacts him and tells him his son is missing and he is in desperate trouble, Ford leaves his quiet life in Sanibel to pursue Jake Hollins and rescue him from a Central American guerrilla leader. Called 'Doc' by many of his friends, Ford's main focus is the study of various marine biology animals. However, after Rafe's call, he begins to do some amateur investigating, which intensifies after he finds Rafe's body hanging from the trees, an apparent suicide. When it becomes clear that the town of Sandy Flats is illegally declaring the suicide too quickly, Ford begins his investigation with the sheriff there.
Sanibel Flats (doc Ford Park
Ford fortunately has connections in the Sandy Flats/Sanibel area since he grew up in Sanibel. It is through these connections that he learns more about Rafe, his history and what might have happened to his son, Jake, who is only 8 years old. Hollins had kidnapped Jake from his ex-wife in an attempt to save him from her drug and alcohol abuse-infused environment. When Rafe runs to Central America on the way to live in Costa Rica, his former business partners steal Jake as a piece of collateral because Rafe has stolen precious pre-Mayan artifacts from them. Hollins tells Ford this information on a phone call just before he commits suicide.
Sanibel Flats (doc Ford House
Steadily, Ford pieces the information together and thanks to a connection in Masagua, returns to Central America with a friend named Tomlinson to try to determine where Jake Hollins is. He talks to another revolutionary leader and guerrilla fighter that he is friendly with — Juan Rivera — and learns that Juan Zacul has Jake. Posing as artifact dealers interested in obtaining more illegal artifacts for sale, Ford and Tomlinson are brought to Zacul's camp. They find Jake in a holding tent for prisoners and eventually free him. Zacul dies from poison, and Jake, Tomlinson and Ford make it safely back to Sanibel. Shortly after his return, he finds Rafe alive and well with his sometime-girlfriend Jessica McClure. Jake is sent to his uncle Harry Hollins and Rafe is relieved that Ford has saved his son for him. Ford, meanwhile, returns to his sleepy life in Sanibel.