News-Press from Fort Myers, Florida • Page 47

Weekend People 7 A Guide To Leisure In Southwest Florida SECTION FfrlDAY, AUGUST 8, 1980 1 1 rmpr 1 1 1 i Long Key: Bountiful and a little dangerous A i if fitpw--' IB 1 jimw GNS PhotoMike Brown Don Chitfick helps a shark into a poo Sea Word Shark Institute at Layton on Long Key -I n. I "It doesn't eat everything. It knows what it likes, and it doesn't like people. If sharks liked to eat people, hundreds thousands would be eaten annually just along the beaches of this state." The 35-year-old student of the deep is a brusque, aloof figure to co-workers and strangers alike. Rupp, whose hair looks as if it is perpetually drying following a dip in the ocean, greets questions with an extended, agonizing silence.

While Rupp gazes into the sky it's hard to tell whether he considering his response or hoping the questioner will evaporate like seawater dripped on hot cement. Grudgingly, he'll talk to a reporter. The public relations aspects of the job annoy him. Yet, he wants the world to understand what sharks represent biologically and ecologically. Still, if the masses won't listen, if they persist in wondering how many humans a shark regularly puts away for dinner, then John Rupp will go about his work.

And leave him alone. Please. Reasearch is his purpose, his desire. "We don't know anything at all about their natural history, very little about their migratory paths, where they go to mate, their early life history or their young." Sharks, unlike killer whales and dolphins that perform at Sea World, are not affectionate, he said. Sea World staffers have refined the art of capturing sharks.

Rupp and his assistants had set an line the night before. Fifty hooks baited with watermelon slice-sized slabs of fish rested on Turn To SHARK, Page 2D By GEORGE KORDA Gannett News Service LAYTON On the trail of Jaws. The goal Bring him back alive. Two specially equipped boats from the Sea World Shark Institute here sped to a point six miles into the Straits of Florida. Hordes of sharks lurked beneath the shimmering blue-green water.

Brown sharks were the quarry, needed for the new Shark Encounter exhibit at Sea World's Orlando park. And John Rupp, assistant curator of fishes for Sea World, knows how to keep the traffic flowing into Sea World's expanding kingdom. Rupp is consumed by sharks, and there's no pun intended. All you have to do is listen. The fish got a bad rap in the movie "Jaws" and its unnecessary offspring "Jaws II," Rupp said.

Sometimes, ones senses, this blond, bronzed man with the icy glare feels like a lone voice railing against the roar of a hurricane. Sharks aren't the mindless killers you think they are, he bellows. But is anybody listening? Even before Robert Shaw became a midafternoon snack for the mechanical great white shark in Jaws, sharks were considered seagoing Jack the Ripper who killed, then feasted on human flesh like moviegoers munching popcorn. Nonsense, said Rupp. "I don't like the myths about sharks," he says flatly.

What myths? "That they'll bite you every opportunity they have. None of them will, but all sharks have the potential." A shark, he added, has very special feeding requirements. America's Caribbean is a short drive away By CHRISTOPHER LANE Special To The News-Press LAYTON Once past the madness of Miami, it's just a short hop to Long Key State Park. Bring a tent. Bring a fishing pole.

Bring the kids if you can find them. And bring an appetite for plenty of solitude and scrumptious sunsets. Pack it all up and head on down. The snowbirds have long ago migrated to cooler and costlier climes. The park is all yours now.

Long Key State Recreation Area, located just below Layton at Mile Marker 67 in the sun-splashed Florida Keys, is often overlooked by South Floridians planning close-to-home camping adventures. It shouldn't be. The park is a tank of gas away. Campsites are just a fishing lure's toss from the Atlantic. A boardwalk provides an interpretive stroll through a typical mangrove lagoon teeming with marine life.

And Gulf Stream waters off Long Key offer some of the best fishing this side of Key West. Boaters can tangle with monster amberjack, wahoo and dolphin. Waders and flats fishermen can hook up with a wily bonefish a silver bullet of pure pull or a toothy barracuda. Fishing has always been pretty popular in these parts. The Calusa Indians lived on the abundance of sea creatures long before the first Spanish explorers arrived.

The keys later attracted settlers from the Bahamas who made their livings from the sea. A fishing lodge was built on the southern tip of Long Key back in 1906 by Henry Flagler's East Coast Hotel Co. as the railroad-shipping magnate's dream of an Overseas Railroad slowly took shape. The Long Key Fishing Club touted as a Garden of Eden in early brochures became the mecca for saltwater anglers. Stuffed animals and mounted fish adorned the lodge's rustic wooden walls amid high-back rattan chairs and rockers.

A miniature railroad carried guests from the docks on the bay side and through a narrow gauge tunnel to the exclusive resort on the ocean side. Zane Grey, writer and pioneer of Keys fishing, served as club president. The group had one goal the cessation of wholesale de-Turn To KEY, Page 2D I mi i in i. iiBnf ill i i Christopher Lane A GUMBO UMBO TREE AT LONG KEY with distinctive peeling bark 7 Delphi should stick with Greek fare Van Haen is a heavy metal clutch treat Jean LeBoeuf on restaurants VAN HALEN: (FROM LEFT) DAVID ROTH, Alex and Edward Van Halen, Michael Anthony Jean LeBoeuf is a local food lover who dines in area restaurants at News-Press expense. Friends returning from vacations in various parts of the country have made our mouths water with their descriptions of authentic ethnic foods they have sampled.

We decided to do some exploring to find what exotic preparations might be found locally. Our search led us to the Greek specialties at the Delphi Restaurant and Lounge. The handsomely refurbished building which formerly housed the Blackwater Inn on Palm Beach Boulevard has a small separate bar and lounge area on one side and a spacious dining room on the other. Two double rows of booths, some under a canopy, are decorated with fish nets and creatures from the sea. Overhead lighting and candles on the table provide good illumination without disrupting the cool, subdued feeling of terra cotta tile floors and soothing wood tones.

Poster scenes of Greece, macrame hangings and mirrored panels ornament the cedar walls. Softly played, taped Greek music further enhances the ambience without inhibiting conversation. For an unknown reason, some of our favorite Greek dishes were available only on the lunch menu. The gyro, a lamb and beef mixture, was spicy and a little salty, just as we hoped it would be. It was served on fresh pita bread, topped with a yogurt dressing, and garnished with slices of tomato and marinated onion.

The gyros we have had elsewhere have been made from commercially prepared mixtures of ground lamb and ground beef formed onto a spindle to be fitted into an upright rotisserie and sliced off as need- ed. Our waitress told us the Dophi's gyro was commercially prepared in a meat loaf shape which can be machine-sliced, that explains how the slices could be so thin and uniform. The amount was sufficient and the taste was fine; it was just a slightly different method of preparation. The gyro platter ($3.50) also included a trip to the salad bar. A large bowl of iceberg lettuce with shredded red cabbage is the basic ingredient to which can be added tomato slices, cherry tomatoes, green pepper rings, croutons, marinated vegetables, garbanzo beans, watermelon, cottage cheese, green tomato pickles, cooked carrots or peas in cream sauce, or Greek peppers.

The cured black olives are especially flavorful. All of the salad ingredients as well as five dressing choices are kept nicely chilled in a bed of ice. Pastitso ($3.50) is a Greek version of lasagna with layers of macaroni, tomato sauce and ground beef topped with Bechamel sauce. The serving was large and delicately flavored with nutmeg and cinnamon. The only fault was dry Parmesan-type cheese which had been sprinkled on top after the dish was cooked, ideally the cheese should have melted into the white sauce as the pastitso was baking.

Hamburgers, sandwiches and salads as well as seafood and meat entrees are available at lunch. Conch cocktails, taramasalata, souvlakia, gyro, dolmathes and fried conch are on the lunch menu only. The dinner selections tend toward continental and American fare and include fish, shrimp, steaks, chicken, prime rib and veal. Prices go up to $11.50 for broiled lobster tails. Dinners are complete with bread, patatoes and the salad bar which repeats the luncheon offering with the addition of a cauldron of soup.

Determined to continue with Greek food, we were temporarily diverted by conch chowder The pungent, peppery stock was full of chunks of conch meat which compared favorably with chowders eaten in the Florida Keys. Turn To LEBOEUF, Page CD Van Halen and Cats perform at 8 p.m. tonight at the Lee County Arena (Bayshore Road at State Road 31, North Fort Myers). Tickets are $7.75 limited advance and $8.75 at the door. By KEN PAULSON News-Press Staff Writer The Lee County Arena will be the site of bone-jolting rock tonight as heavy metal heroes Van Halen and Cats perform in concert.

Van Halen is one of the most successful hard rock quartets in the world, a band that sells millions of records despite a generally negative reception from the critics. The band derives its name from the Van Halen brothers, Alex and Edward. Although Alex is now a drummer and Edward a lead guitarist, both grew up in the Netherlands and were trained for careers as concert pianists. However, that training was cast aside when the Van Halens moved to the United States and discovered the joy of three-chord rock. Rounding out the band are two Mid westerners, bass player Michael Anthony and lead singer David Roth.

The band set itself apart from the crowd of hopeful bar bands in 1978 with a frantic cover version of the Kinks' hit, "You Really Got Me." What the single lacked in finesse, it made up in power. The song peaked at No. 36 on Billboard Magazine's mational charts. Two months later, Van Halen invaded the "Hot 100" a second time with "Runnin' With The Devil." On the strength of that hit, the band's debut album. Van Halen soon became a best-seller.

Almost non-stop touring gave the band an even wider range of support and the success of their second album, Van Halen II, was as predictable as its title. On the strength of those hits, the band's debut album, Van Halen soon became a best seller. The album has proven to be a classic with hard rock fans and is now back on the best-selling charts two years after is initial release. Almost non-stop touring gave the band a wide range of support and the success of their second album, Van Halen II, was as predictable as its title. The first two albums had combined sales of almost 7 million, a sales pattern maintained by Women ami Children First, the band's most recent effort.

Van Halen isn't recommended for those who cherish lyrics. When David Roth sings lines like "I ain't about to go to school and I'm sick and tired of golden rules," he's not pushing for a Pulitzer Prize. Still, the hundreds of thousands of fans who flock to Van Halen concerts each year have no complaints. They're looking for power, not poetry. Cats, an up-and-coming band, nailed down a contract with Elektra Records after winning a 1979 battle of the bands contest sponsored by a Philadelphia radio station.

The band developed its sound as studio musicians, playing only a handful of dates recording the first album. "Call us new wave or call us mainstream pop we don't care," Cats drummer Danny Weston said recently. "Hey we're not pretentious. With us, it's fun, fun, fun all the way Southwest Florida residents will have a chance tonight to judge that claim firsthand. Restaurants are rated on a scale of zero to four stars: No stars Poor -Fair -Good Very Good Excellent Delphi Restaurant and Lounge, 3805 Palm Beach Fort Myers Lunch served Monday through Friday, 11 a.m.

to 2:30 p.m. Dinner 5 to II p.m., Monday through Saturday. Closed Sunday. Beer, wine, liquor served. Major credit cards accepted..