(Southwest Australia’s dazzling Bremer Bay served as the story’s fictional Longboat Bay ... jump-started by an underwater encounter with a western blue groper, a giant, reef-dwelling fish ...

While possible landing spots at the middle of Longboat Key were undeveloped at the time (they no longer are), a mid-key bridge -- then or now --would damage the sensitive bay bottom and sea grasses.

Along the north shore of Longboat Key, west of the Longboat Pass ... docks in the cove through a narrow channel, now open to the bay again. At times in the past, even kayaks or paddleboards ...