Bridgewater Inn

We had a mid-week relaxing stay in Matlacha - Our room #6 was very clean, comfortable, and, cozy with excellent customer service from the staff. - A fun little stop for a couple of days. --- Take it from a Floridian

My wife and I have been trying to explore a lot of out of the way places in Florida. This was close by Pine Island as well as Sanibel, so we thought we would give it a try in spite of the less than stellar reviews. Perhaps the biggest surprise was how busy the road was getting here! Constant traffic on the road, but luckily most drivers were courteous, and traffic was going slow as well. Parking is at a premium anywhere along this stretch of road, but I was relieved to see parking in front of the Inn. I arrived to find the door to the office locked! So, I searched for a staff member and discovered one of the owners cleaning rooms. I was early, but I told her that I didn't want to get towed, and I was checking in later after we went for a late lunch. She was pleasant and said no problem. When I checked in, I was told that there was a problem with the plumbing in the bathtub/shower. It seemed that the knob was broken, but the gentleman, who I assumed is an owner told me he had a plumber coming at any moment. He also told me how hard it was to get plumbers and told me how to use the plyers on the tub to work the shower. I can't say I was happy, but stuff happens. Luckily by the time we got unpacked the plumber was there and fixed the problem. We had Room 3, and it was quite large. The kitchen was stocked .... let's say "adequately," and dishes were clean. Electric stove that was dated and not very level, but there was a nice, roomy refrigerator. The whole room was very clean as was the bathroom and bedroom. Lots of hot water and water pressure. Views were very nice, and the balcony over the water was rustic and weathered, but that was the charm of a place like this. Very nice sunrises and views and decent fishing. You could easily pass hours here just looking out on the water and taking in the view. In fact, we had nice views on two sides of the room. The balcony was shared with the room next to us, but it was not a problem. We had a few people decide to stroll on the balcony who did not have one of the rooms that were here. They said they were in other rooms at the inn and were just looking around. Guess I had no reason to doubt them, but not a big problem. The wall in the bedroom was a bit thin. I was awakened by the TV in the next room one morning, but it really wasn't that bad. Beds were soft and squeaky, and the bedroom on the whole was really just basically equipped. Living area had a nice, comfortable sectional. The building was certainly old construction, and the floors, well let's say that a marble would roll just about anywhere you put it. The flooring appeared to be a floating floor with some noticeable gaps in the flooring. It was brought up to the molding not under it because you needed a space for the floor to expand. The gap was there, but there was no molding to hide it. Maybe it is unfinished or a work in progress ... I don't know. In spite of all of this we really enjoyed our stay and did not ex