Filed at June 17, 2009 under On the Water and Beaches and Florida Keys and Middle Keys and Marathon and Animals and Reptiles and Seaturtle by Keys
by Barbara Ann Weibel at Hole In The Donut Travels
Sombrero Beach in Marathon, Florida, may be the quintessential example of a multi-use beach. Am I talking swimming, snorkeling, sunbathing, picnicking, volleyball, barbecuing, and climbing on playground playground equipment? Well, all those things can be done at this beach, but that’s not what I was referring to.
Sombrero is a multi-use beach because humans are not the only ones that use it. Between April and October each year, Loggerhead turtles crawl up onto the beach at night to lay their eggs in the sand. During these months, city workers remove tables and park benches from the beach, nesting areas are roped off, and local officials and volunteers patrol the beach at least once a day to ensure nests are not disturbed. The rest of the year belongs entirely to humans and their canine friends, who are welcome as long as they are leashed (the dogs, not the humans).
With soft white sand, gentle waters, and no crowds, Sombrero Beach is a favorite with locals and visitors.
Read more »
Tags:
florida keys beaches
Related posts
Filed at June 14, 2009 under Florida Keys and Middle Keys and Marathon and Animals and Reptiles and Seaturtle by Keys
Turtle Hospital officials are planning quite the going-away blowout for one loggerhead turtle that swam up to the docks behind the Marathon-based facility in late March. Florida Keys residents and visitors have been given a public invitation to join in the release of the 73-pound turtle, at 9:20 a.m. Sunday at Veteran’s Park on Little Duck Key, Mile Marker 40.
Dubbed “Kincaid,” the turtle has reached celebrity status, as the release will be televised live on the national “Fox and Friends” show on the Fox network. The turtle’s walk-in appointment turned into a stay of several months while staff veterinarians treated the lumbering reptile for an internal bacterial infection.
Read more »
Tags:
Seaturtle
Related posts
Filed at May 23, 2009 under On the Water and Fishing and Florida Keys and Middle Keys and Marathon and Restaurants by Keys
Keys Voices has an excellent piece on one of the Middle Keys Treasures, Gary Graves. Gary is the owner of Marathon’s Keys Fisheries restaurant and manager of the fishing operation, has been with the business since it began more than 40 years ago. His fleet of boats ply the Florida Keys and surrounding waters capturing lobster & stone crabs for your dining pleasure. If you have eaten at Joe’s Stone Crab restaurant you should thank Gary for providing those sumptuous crab claws.
The on-site seafood market and restaurant, obviously, serve up the freshest seafood available. They are famous for their lobster Reuben, Gary came up with the dish after attending a meeting in Miami at Joe’s Stone Crab, where he was shown the version offered at Joe’s Take Away. About five months later, he created an over-sized sandwich at Keys Fisheries using lobster meat, homemade Thousand Island dressing and freshly baked bread. “Being such a huge producer of lobster as well as stone crabs, we have leftover meat from the lobster tails,” Gary explained. “So it dawned on me, why not make our own lobster Reuben?”
Like savoring the lobster Reuben, ordering at Keys Fisheries is a unique experience. Customers walk up to a window and place their order for pickup. But instead of being asked their name, as in most establishments, they’re asked the question of the day, which might require them to name their favorite song title, pet peeve or New Year’s resolution. When the order is ready, the customer’s answer is announced over the loudspeaker to signal that he or she can come collect the meal.
Read the rest of the story at Keys Voices.
Tags:
Lobster,
Stonecrab
Related posts
Filed at May 21, 2009 under On the Water and Boating and Florida Keys and Middle Keys and Key Colony Beach and Florida Keys and Middle Keys and Marathon by Keys
Here is a story as printed in a local paper, with my remarks added in red.
A woman and her 2-year-old daughter were found trying to swim miles to shore in the Florida Keys after spending the night on a boat that had run out of gas, Why would you ever leave a floating boat when you are miles at sea? Who puts their 2 year old in that kind of danger? Sounds more like a suicide attempt then an attempt at survival. according to the U.S. Coast Guard. Kerry Harrison and her toddler, both wearing life jackets, were picked up Wednesday afternoon by a boater and taken to Caloosa Cove on Lower Matecumbe Key.
Their ordeal began about 8 p.m. Tuesday, when they left a friend’s house on Key Colony Beach for the five-mile trip to their home in Marathon. But they never arrived. At 11 a.m. Wednesday, a worried friend called the Coast Guard and a search began with the assistance of the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission. The mother and daughter were found by the private boat at 1:30 p.m. The boat ran out of gas shortly after leaving Key Colony Beach. This boat must have had no gas. Harrison did not have a radio or cellphone. There are still people without cell phones?
Through the night, the boat drifted about 20 miles to the northeast, There wasn’t an anchor on board? All that water is less then 30′ deep, most less that 10′. ending up near Tennessee Reef Light off Lower Matecumbe Key in Islamorada. Sometime in the morning, the pair began the swim to shore, about four miles away.
”I’m extremely grateful they were located alive,” said Jim Olive, acting commander of Coast Guard Sector Key West. But he said in a statement the pair should have stayed with their boat. Duh!
There has got to be more to this story. Had she ever been in a boat before? Who let her take a boat with no gas? No radio? No signaling device?
Hopefully someone else will get custody of the child until her mom can get help.
No tags for this post.
Related posts
Filed at May 10, 2009 under On the Water and Boating and Florida Keys and Middle Keys and Marathon by Keys
A new boat ramp and marina bath house in the City of Marathon were officially opened to the public on Thursday.
It was a busy day for dedication ceremonies, as officials first opened the newly repaired 33rd Street boat ramp on Thursday morning. With the ramp back on line, the city now has three such public facilities within its borders. City officials hope the ramp will alleviate some of the stress from traffic on the Dodge Lake boat ramp, which is located in a residential neighborhood.
“This is another great benefit for the citizens and visitors of Marathon” said City Manager Clyde Burnett. The city’s third public boat ramp is located near The Island restaurant, north of Vaca Cut. [On the Gulf Side] All three public ramps have been fully repaired within the last three years.
The ramp at 33rd Street now features a 40 foot wide, pre-stressed launch, to replace the old 20 foot wide boat ramp. The parking lot was also repaved and the seawall was repaired. The parking lot and bathroom facility now comply with Americans With Disabilities Act requirements.
An hour later, officials headed across the highway to dedicate another convenience for boaters, a new 1,843 square foot bath and laundry building at the City Marina. The new bath house replaces facilities previously located in the main marina building. The bath house features card keys that allow boaters living in the harbor or on the seawall at the marina to gain access and pay for the laundry machines in the building.
Tags:
Boat Ramp
Related posts
Filed at April 26, 2009 under Florida Keys and Middle Keys and Marathon and Florida Keys and Upper Keys and Tavernier by Keys
Summit Development, a diversified real estate development company with offices in North Palm Beach, said today that it has acquired two prominent marina properties in the Florida Keys – Mangrove Marina in Tavernier and The Sombrero Resort and Marina in Marathon. Summit said it will undertake extensive renovations to upgrade both properties.
Robert Charney, who overseas Summit’s Florida operations, noted that Summit recognizes the importance both locations play in the Keys. “It is obvious that the deterioration of these two properties has been a cause for concern. We are well-financed and are confident that we can accomplish a repositioning of the two sites that will once again make them the valuable component of the Keys business community that they can and should be.”
Summit acquired the two sites from Sun Vest Communities, the successor to Cay Clubs. Robert Charney said: “We want to assure the Keys community and our visitors that under Summit’s ownership the two properties will be properly renovated so that they can regain their prominence in the community.”
• Mangrove Marina has 130 boat slips as well as rack storage, boat yard facilities, a fuel dock, boat launching ramp and a ships’ store. It is situated on the Inter-coastal Waterway and is protected on three sides by mangrove islands. Tavernier is about 12 miles south of Key Largo a 30-minute drive from the mainland.
•Sombrero Resort and Marina is midway between Key Largo and Key West. It includes a 54-slip marina as well as 124 one-bedroom condo-style suites and eight detached villas, “The Latitudes,” a full-service restaurant, tennis courts and a poolside tiki bar.
No tags for this post.
Related posts
Filed at February 18, 2009 under On the Water and Fishing and Florida Keys and Middle Keys and Long Key and Tourism and Vacations by Keys
February 18, 1910, the Key West Citizen reported: ” Things are humming at the Long Key Fishing Camp. Mackerel and king fish are plentiful; so are the tourists.”
Tags:
History
Related posts
Filed at January 11, 2009 under Environment and Government and Florida Keys and Middle Keys and Marathon by Keys
As the sun rises over the Florida Keys, employees of WGMX and WFFG travel to their small radio station by boat, passing wading birds, mangroves and even a yellow submarine. ”Welcome to Fantasy Island,” says Morning Mix producer Richard Silva as the boat reaches the shore of 1,100-acre Boot Key, off Marathon in the Florida Keys.
Last April, the city of Marathon hired Waronker & Rosen Inc. to appraise the island. The company valued the island at $3.4 million with bridge access and $1.47 million without it. After the appraisal, the City Council voted to buy the island for $3.4 million and pay for removal of the steel bridge that is the entrance to busy Boot Key Harbor. [That works out to $3,500 an acre...quite a bargain in the Florida Keys were average landlocked, 60' x 100' lots (1/8 acre) range in value from $7,500 to $15,000.]
The island is eerie, like something out of The Twilight Zone: dead cars left on the lone road, a cannon next to an old boat called Run Amuck, rusted, empty trailers, overturned lobster traps, a 300-foot communications tower and a rickety radio station swarmed by 20 abandoned cats. But due to another deteriorating structure, Boot Key the junkyard could become Boot Key the nature preserve.
The Boot Key drawbridge, built in 1960, was closed a year ago for safety reasons by the Florida Department of Transportation, leaving the three private landowners with no vehicle access and the city of Marathon with a legal obligation to compensate them for the loss. Some city officials and environmentalists hope the city’s ”bridge to nowhere” headache — which includes a lawsuit filed against the city last week by one landowner — could ultimately become a green blessing. Read more »
No tags for this post.
Related posts
Filed at January 9, 2008 under On the Water and Boating and Florida Keys and Middle Keys and Marathon by Keys
It was tied up in governmental red tape for some time, but it appears the city of Marathon has gotten the go-ahead to begin refurbishing its 33rd Street boat ramp. The ramp has been in disrepair and Deputy City Manager C.J. Geotis said miscommunications between the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the city held the project up.
“Once we took care of that, FEMA was great. They did a great job looking into this and [allowing] me to go ahead and start the project,” Geotis said. FEMA allocated $869,088 toward the ramp’s repair, which Geotis said would cost a total of $905,000. “FEMA is going to be paying for almost the entire project; before, we had half of that and were able to get the balance,” he said.
Geotis said the city is finalizing a contract with Coral Marine Construction, which was the lowest original bidder on the project. The city will replace the current ramp with a double pre-stressed one, remodel the bathroom facilities, place a wooden deck to the left of the ramp and repair the seawall around the ramp. City Manager Mike Puto said the city might contract with an owner of a private ramp to provide public access while the 33rd Street ramp is closed. The city had planned to complete the project prior to season.
Meanwhile, $180,000 in mitigation money from Marlin Bay Yacht Club development earmarked for 33rd Street can now be used to fund repairs at the ramp adjacent to the former Quay property near mile marker 54 bayside. The money must be used toward public water-access projects. “The [state Department of Transportation] is moving ahead with retiring that piece of property to us and we have a commitment from them for $90,000 toward the repair,” Geotis said.
Monroe County had pledged $375,000 over three years toward Quay boat-ramp repairs. Geotis said those funds are still available to the city but will be used for other purposes.
More Florida Keys Boat Ramps.
No tags for this post.
Related posts
Filed at September 8, 2007 under On the Water and Fishing and Commercial Fishing and Animals and Fish and Lobster and Florida Keys and Middle Keys by Keys
Two Florida Middle Keys commercial fishermen were arrested Wednesday on charges of harvesting undersized spiny lobster, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. An FWC officer stopped and boarded the men’s commercial crawfish vessel for a routine inspection on the bayside of Long Key Bridge, spokesman Bob Dube said. The officer found 252 wrung and undersized lobster tails and another 97 live undersize lobsters in a live well.
Eduardo Ramos Jr., 34, and Jesus Morales Jr., 24, were both charged with having undersized and over the limit lobster and taken to the Marathon jail, reports said. Ramos’ bond was set at $15,000; Morales’ at $20,000.
Tags:
Lobster 2009
Related posts
