Tayla Thomas, staff member, welcomes back full-time resident Shirley Masuka to Blind Pass Condos
Blind Pass Condominiums staff recently welcomed back their first full-time resident, a major milestone in the property’s continuing recovery from Hurricane Ian damage.
At 93 now, Shirley Masuka has spent nearly a third of her life living here on Sanibel and was thrilled to return to her renovated island home on March 21 after 18 months living with family in Minnesota. Her son Michael accompanied her to Sanibel to assist in getting her settled back in, and Blind Pass Rental Manager Tom Henecker and staff greeted her with a bright bouquet of flowers and welcome balloon and card.
When Hurricane Ian was approaching southwest Florida during the last week of September, 2022, Shirley relocated to a hotel near the RSW Airport. When that location lost power, she evacuated to the Hertz Arena with hundreds of others. The volunteers there were “really, really kind,” she said, remembering the staff there from FEMA and Red Cross who assisted her.
Her family arranged for a flight out as soon as the airport opened, and as she waited in the terminal for her trip to Minneapolis, the home of her daughter, Bonnie and family, she saw some unusual sights out on the tarmac:
“The big helicopters were picking up trucks. That was amazing!” she recalled about rescue efforts to the islands.
Asked what it was like to return to cold northern winters, she seemed to have taken it in stride, commenting that she had 72 inches of snow her first winter and found it quite beautiful. This second winter, with little snow, has been a drab one, however.
After two winters up north, Shirley’s happy to be back on Sanibel.
Shirley and her late husband, John, stayed at several locations on the island before purchasing a condo unit at Blind Pass. John served as treasurer on the Blind Pass Condos Board of Directors, and the two were longtime dedicated volunteers at J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge. “He just loved this,” said Shirley regarding her husband’s sentiments about Blind Pass and Sanibel Island.
And it’s still her special place, too.
Welcome to our second update on the progress at Blind Pass Condominiums.
So many of you have stopped by our clubhouse over the years, to say hi, to sign out a kayak or to get a puzzle or book… The Clubhouse has been cleaned out and the walls have been removed down to the studs. As we continue to work on this space, we’ll keep you updated. We are looking forward to having you stop by when we re-open! Plus we’ll have a fresh selection of books, puzzles and games to borrow while you stay. Here’s a picture of Tom, standing where his desk used to be!
Our refund process is still moving right along – the office staff has been diligently working on this project. At this point, we are issuing refunds on deposits through March 2023. Rest assured that cancellation fees are being waived. Although we do not have an estimated date for re-opening, our Blind Pass Team is already hard at work to make our beautiful island home better than ever as we rebuild. 
If you visited Blind Pass Condos in the summer or fall this year, you must have seen our new Big Blue Chair! The manager, Tom, built and painted this just for Blind Pass. So many of our guests have had fun taking photos on our Big Blue Chair. We were beyond excited to see that it survived Ian. The chair will be back in place when we reopen so you and your family can get a photo with the chair that survived Ian!
Jerry’s celebrated its reopening with a ribbon cutting in October! And in true spirit of helping one another on Sanibel Island, both Jerry’s AND Bailey’s (along with their stores’ shared supplier) made a donation to F.I.S.H. for $20,000. Some other restaurants are also open now: Cielo, Captiva Pizza and Traders. 
