This Season, Pelican Bay's Calendar Runs Through Its Two Beach Restaurants

The trams on Pelican Bay's raised berm are now running twice as often as they did in early October. The Foundation's fiscal 2027 schedule set 14 dispatches a day for October 1 through 15 and 18 a day for the rest of that month. Starting November 1, it calls for 28 a day, with an express run added, and that level holds through April 30. Those trams end up at two buildings: Marker 36 on North Beach and Sandbar on South Beach.

This year the Foundation has put both restaurants at the center of the season. The first Welcome Back Weekend starts on the sand at Sandbar. Marker 36 has a new culinary director. Between them, the two rooms host music four nights a week. In December or January, a consulting firm will show the Foundation Board what it would take to harden each building against the next storm, and what that would cost.

The Weekend Starts at Sandbar

Welcome Back Weekend runs November 13 through 15. The November 2026 Pelican Bay Post describes it as a new way to mark the start of the season, and one the Foundation hopes will become a tradition. Three of its four events are on the beach, and only the Saturday morning racquets kickoff happens away from the sand.

Never Stop Believin' is a five-piece band that plays entirely live. The Post says its Friday set will include "Don't Stop Believin'," "Faithfully" and "Any Way You Want It." The Foundation is planning special parking and tram arrangements for the Beach Bash and will post arrival details through Today in the Bay, so check there before heading south on Friday evening.

Both Rooms Are on Full Season Hours

Marker 36, Sandbar and The Nest all moved from summer to regular-season hours on October 15. The two beach restaurants got there by different routes, and the Foundation's fiscal 2027 hours table shows each one built around a different part of the year.

• Sandbar was scheduled to open October 15, serving 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. that month. From November on it runs 11:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., and that schedule continues through July.
• Marker 36 kept only its bar and lounge open in October. Indoor and outdoor dining return in November at 11:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. and stay at those hours through April. In May they shorten to 4:30 p.m., and in June and July they close.

So Sandbar is the Foundation's longer-season room, and Marker 36 is the room that comes fully alive in winter. Sandbar also comes back renovated this season. The Foundation's Sandbar page describes new sliding glass doors that open the dining room to the beachfront.

A New Chef at Marker 36, and a New Way to Pay

The November Post says the Foundation's food and beverage operations are "entering a new chapter," with a strengthened leadership team and fresh culinary ideas. In practice, that means Chef Fabio Bermudez, introduced by Director of Food & Beverage Marco Garnica as Director of Culinary at Marker 36. Born in Cali, Colombia, Bermudez has spent 24 years cooking, mostly in steakhouses and seafood restaurants. His favorite dishes to make include fresh pasta, paellas and risottos. On the Marker 36 menu, his Kimchi Butter Sauce with Guajillo is on the Surf & Turf.

The way you pay has changed too. All three Foundation dining venues now use the Toast point-of-sale system, so payment happens at the table and your card stays with you. Pelican Bay no longer keeps credit card information on file. The Post asks diners to bring a physical credit card or a digital wallet such as Apple Pay. If you have always just signed and walked back to the tram, you'll need your wallet this season.

Four Nights of Music, Split Between the Two Beaches

According to the November Post, music runs Tuesdays and Thursdays at Marker 36 and Wednesdays and Fridays at Sandbar, all from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Here are the performers listed from publish day through Thanksgiving week:

Edison Schetter plays both rooms within ten days, so you can hear him on North Beach one week and South Beach the next.

The Buildings Behind the Season

The hardest work on these two restaurants happened before anyone came back. In its summer issue, the Post listed resilience projects already finished: a backup generator and a secured spare transformer at Marker 36, a backup generator at Sandbar, hardened protection for the restaurants' lift station and grease trap, and movable flood panels at The Commons.

The beach in front of them has been rebuilt as well. The October 2026 Pelican Bay Post reported that a major dune and beach restoration project was completed after the 2024 hurricanes. With that work done, the Pelican Bay Services Division assessment for fiscal 2027 fell to $1,250 per Equivalent Residential Unit, down $300, or 20 percent, from $1,550 the year before. Most of that drop came from the Clam Bay capital line, which went from $747 to $401. The ad valorem rate stayed the same.

The Foundation's Resiliency and Natural Resources Committee sent a request for proposals to four firms and chose Stantec Consulting Services to study options for lowering costs, limiting damage and shortening recovery time after coastal storms. Stantec's scope, dated June 29, 2026, covers:

1. Site data on wind speeds, storm surge and debris impact at the existing restaurants, plus a topographical survey of elevations, flood zone designations and the mean high water line.
2. A review of permits and rules, since both restaurants sit seaward of Florida's Coastal Construction Control Line, under requirements from FEMA, FDEP, USACE, SFWMD and Collier County.
3. Two "best" options, one for each restaurant, with conceptual drawings, site plans and a preliminary cost estimate.

The study began August 6 and was expected to take about four months. Stantec plans to present at the Foundation Board's December or January meeting. Those meetings are open to all members, and if the presentation runs long, it may get its own session. The study's scope explicitly covers repairing, upgrading or replacing the existing restaurants. That means the members at the Beach Bash this Friday are the same people who will see those options and their price tags within a few months.

Next Door at Clam Pass

Naples Grande Beach Resort closed its guest accommodations and event spaces on April 1 for a renovation running through December 31, 2026, and Lodging Magazine reported that Rhode's End restaurant and Clam Pass beach services would stay open throughout. The resort's renovation page says it expects guests back in January 2027 and is taking reservations starting January 1, 2027. Its restaurants page lists Rhode's End open daily from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

At the county's Clam Pass Park, solicitation 26-8629 for Hurricane Ian repairs is listed as award pending on Collier County's procurement portal, with no vendor yet selected from the bids received. Both of Pelican Bay's neighbors on this stretch of sand, the resort and the county park, have storm and renovation work underway or queued in the same season the Foundation is weighing its own beach buildings.

The Owens Jablonski team follows Pelican Bay's beach decisions closely, from tram schedules to the Stantec findings, because they shape how this community lives. If you'd like to talk through what the restaurant study could mean for your corner of Pelican Bay, Gulf Coast Advisors would be glad to sit down with you. Request a Concierge Consultation.