No, it wasn't.
Correct; Port Charlotte is only 50 miles from Tampa Bay.
Reviewin my software with all the NHC forecast tracks archived, anyone with 2 brain cells to rub together and with the vaguest understanding of typical track error should not have had the idea at any time that Port Charlotte was a "safe" place.
The deviation in track from the Tampa forecast tracks to the real forecast track looks like less than 10 degrees of arc.