My postman's eyebrows popped into his hairline as he handed me a lavishly painted coconut affixed with a postage stamp and my address.

``Wow!'' he mouthed in awe. ``Wow, wow, wow.''

Relieved my treasure had arrived safely, I scooted inside and settled down to admire my colorful creation.

Forged in that crucible of coconut postcards -- Leoma Lovegrove's Gallery & Gardens on Pine Island -- this most unusual missive lacked only ``wish you were here'' scrawled on its side. The fibrous nut's vibrant hues fairly shouted ``come back for more fun!'' And Leoma Lovegrove is nothing if not about fun.

Known as ``Pine Island's Painting Princess,'' Lovegrove reigns over an eccentric enterprise sited on an even more quirky tropical isle.

Pine Island, some 30 minutes north of Fort Myers on Florida's Gulf Coast and connected to the mainland by a single causeway, lives in a time warp of the 1950s and 1960s thanks to its lack of swimming beaches. Over the years, gaggles of vacationers and developers passed it by, chain restaurants sniffed their disdain and condo consortiums turned up their noses at the 17-mile-by-2-mile stringbean of an isle.

Lucky old island. With its palm tree nurseries, mango orchards, tiny-tot fishing villages, one-of-a-kind shops and restaurants, and blooming artist colony, Pine Island remains a goofy Brigadoon with attitude.

Five villages -- St. James City, Pine Island Center, Pineland, Bokeelia and Matlacha, where Lovegrove paints -- flourish on Pine Island, which shelters a year-round population of some 10,000. Most of them live in St. James City. Located at the island's southern end, the enclave possesses the nifty Calusa Land Trust's St. Jude Nature Trail with its stunning ocean views and resident bald eagles, herons, roseate spoonbills, egrets and osprey.

ARTISTS' COLONY

The island has become a magnet for artists of all sorts in recent years, earning it the nickname ``Florida's Creative Coast.'' Delightful spur-of-the-moment musical performances in parking lots are not uncommon, and local artists have embellished island telephone poles with distinctive scenes of nature. As befits this iconoclastic isle, there are no traffic lights. None.

Residents firmly believe the dying art of farming is still a glorious endeavor and as you drive north toward Pineland, you'll pass groves and nurseries dedicated to all kinds of palm trees, organic vegetables, hybrid hibiscus, and most especially, mangoes.

Farther north, the Tarpon Lodge, dating to 1926, serves up killer great blue crab and roasted corn chowder and offers accommodations with views of Pine Island Sound.

The Randell Research Center affords glimpses of an intriguing early American Indian culture. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, this tourable and active archaeological dig houses mounds and artifacts left by the Calusa.

Bokeelia perches atop Pine Island's tip. Here the sparkling waters of Charlotte Harbor offer great opportunities for deep-sea fishing, boating and day-tour cruises to places like Cayo Costa State Park, notable for its seven-mile beach and rampant sand dollars.

On tiny Cabbage Key, the historic Cabbage Key Inn -- its cozy bar famous for thousands of dollar bills signed by visitors and plastered over every inch of wall space -- offers a leisurely lunch.

Some nice accommodations can be had in Bokeelia, where handsome homes and a few low-slung condos, as well as intimate art galleries, attract visitors.

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