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.

Sombrero Beach is popular with vacationers and locals alike for a number of reasons. First, it is located about two miles down a residential street leading to the Atlantic Ocean side of Marathon, away from the main highway and traffic noise. On the west-facing portion of the beach, a wide ribbon of soft white sand fronts emerald waters that stay shallow for some distance before dropping off to deeper water, inviting use by both swimmers and families with toddlers. A rocky shelf along the left side of the beach attracts sea urchins, sponges, and tropical, making it an ideal snorkeling spot.

The south-facing portion of Sombrero Beach is perfect for romantic walks or viewing spectacular sunsets

At the southernmost point the beach takes a right turn. Graceful coconut palms line this part of the beach; the tips of their giant fronds drape the sand, providing welcome shade in the intense sunshine. A pier juts into the water beyond black boulders that line the shore, providing a perfect place to watch the setting sun.

Other facilities include picnic pavilions and tables, volleyball courts, barbecue pits, showers, changing areas, restrooms, and ample parking. An adjacent park has playground equipment for the kids. There is no fee to use the park or beach, and hours of operation are 7:30 a.m. to sunset. Sombrero Beach is located at mile marker 50 in the Florida Keys, in the city of Marathon.

via Beach Travel Guide » Blog Archive Sombrero Beach Park, Marathon, Florida Keys – Beach Travel Guide.

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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.

A regimen of antibiotics and vitamins was combined with a diet of raw squid. “He’s getting fat and he’s ready to go,” hospital Executive Director Ryan Butts said. At first thinking Kincaid was merely lost, the staff initially waited several hours before treating the turtle when he showed up at the dock of the world’s only licensed veterinary facility that treats turtles exclusively.

The federally protected endangered species is known for their large heads and powerful jaws, which allow them to feed on hard-shelled prey such as conch. The species also feeds on fish, crustaceans and other mollusks and marine animals. Adults grow to an average weight of about 200 pounds. The top shell, or carapace, is slightly heart-shaped, with a reddish-brown color. The outside and under-shell is generally a pale yellowish color.

Nesting season runs from about May through August, with nesting occurring primarily at night. Loggerheads are known to nest up to seven times within a nesting season.

tohara@keysnews.com

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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.

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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.

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“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.

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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.

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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.

Marathon Vice Mayor Don Vasil said he would like the city to buy Boot Key, with an assist from outside funding sources, then clean it up and “leave it as an environmentally sensitive area in perpetuity.” The island boasts wetlands, mangroves, salt ponds and native hardwood hammocks. Kayakers, hikers and bird-watchers are regular visitors.

The island also is a haven for hawks before they journey 90 miles or more to Cuba, South America and other tropical destinations. In 1987, a rare Key West quail dove was spotted on the island. If made into a preserve, Boot Key would join the area’s other ecotourist attractions: the Dolphins Research Center, Pigeon Key, the Turtle Hospital and Crane Point Hammock nature reserve. Vasil said the combination could make Marathon a first-class, eco-educational destination. He noted that the city has been in search of a better identity than the current catchphrase, “The Heart of the Florida Keys.”

But the city first must deal with the three landowners:

• Fort Lauderdale’s Barry Yampol controls the vast majority of the island — 1,017 acres — under the ownership of two corporations. None of the land is developed, although 27 scattered acres are potentially developable.

• Keys Radio Group owner Joe Nascone owns just under 10 acres, but his is the most valuable because his land is mixed-use and already has commercial development with the radio station.

• Marathon Wireless Communications Inc. owns 1.68 acres with a communications tower.

Nascone’s acreage lost the most value without bridge access, dropping from $2.42 million to $605,000.

It would have cost $8.7 million or more to repair or replace the bridge that serves only the three private landowners on an island with no permanent residents and little potential for future development.

Last month, to try to raise money to buy the island, the city hosted a tour of the island for U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, state Rep. Ron Saunders and others.

Boot Key is on the priority list for Florida Forever, a state land-buying program. But funds would have to be available and appropriated.

Meanwhile, Nascone said his patience has run out after 13 months with no bridge access. He said he sued the city because there has been no progress to buy his land. Without a bridge, he said, the radio stations are harder to run, plus he’s lost business from many of the 25 commercial fishermen who rented dock space.

Real estate broker Brian Schmitt, who represents property owner Yampol, said the $500,000 appraised value of the land was too low.

”I’ve been in this business 30 years and I can tell you 1,000 acres in the Keys is worth more than the appraisal,” Schmitt said.

Over the years, the city has considered development plans for the island, Schmitt said. One currently under consideration includes a handful of single-family homes along the ocean.

”We’re waiting for the city to get back on the development proposal and to see whether they want to enter substantial negotiations to buy the land at fair market value,” Schmitt said. “A preserve would be a great use of the property. One thousand acres of accessible island for sale doesn’t exist anywhere else in the Keys.”

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“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.

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