Filed at December 23, 2009 under Animals and Birds and Environment and Florida Keys and Upper Keys and Key Largo and Florida Keys and Upper Keys and Tavernier by Keys
By STEVE GIBBS Free Press Staff
KEY LARGO — A resurgent Florida Keys Wild Bird Center has hired a hospital coordinator to care for injured and sick birds and found a new location for its medical facility.
“It’s clear sailing from here,” said Bob Gintel, the new chairman of the center’s board of directors.
The turnaround comes just two months after the near closure of the facility due to funding shortfalls. But local media publicity, an infusion of donations and a reorganization of the board has kept the center afloat.
“People on the board stepped up to the plate and we are using the money we collected,” Gintel said. “There was an outpouring of money and we were able to pay off all of the vendors.”
The Ocean Reef Foundation and two other Ocean Reef Club members donated $22,000, an anonymous Islamorada resident donated $25,000 and Gintel himself ponied up $10,000 to get the non-profit rescue center back on an even keel.
In response to licensing and federal flood-plain concerns, the center has signed a one-year lease to use a vacant veterinary clinic at mile marker 94 as the center’s hospital and office. The new facility opened Monday.
However, the gift shop, wild bird educational exhibit and the daily 3:30 p.m. feeding will remain at mile marker 93.6, bayside.
Virginia Bowen, formerly of the now-defunct Folke Peterson Wildlife Center in Broward County, has been hired as the wildlife care manager. Vered Nosrad, past director of that same Broward facility, is the new director of the hospital.
“They bring a licence with them and they are highly regarded by the regulators,” Gintel said. “We’re not going to have all the flaunting of the laws as they did in the past.” [Interesting]
Hospital assistant Staci Dillis will continue to help with surgeries and rehabilitation.
sgibbs@keysnews.com
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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.
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Filed at January 7, 2008 under On the Water and Boating and Florida Keys and Upper Keys and Tavernier by Keys
[Editor's Note: I considered showing one of many funny JetSki crash images, but this problem is NOT funny]
A Broward County girl, 16, was recovering from a severe eye injury this week after her personal watercraft ran into mangroves Dec. 29 in Tavernier. Amber Griffin was flown to mainland medical facilities after a mangrove branch impaled her in the eye socket, according to a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission report.
A passenger on the borrowed Yamaha Waverunner, Jenna Pompa, 17, was treated and released from Mariners Hospital. Pompa reportedly suffered scrapes and bruises. Griffin was operating the watercraft on the bayside of Tavernier Creek around 2 p.m. Dec. 29, said Bobby Dube, FWC information officer.
The Waverunner reportedly was traveling about 25 mph when it swerved to avoid an anchored boat in a shallow channel off the creek. The boat crashed into the mangroves, when the branch hit Griffin in the eye. Her injuries were described as serious but not life-threatening. Warnings were issued for careless operation, and for a minor operating a vessel without proof of boater education.
2006 REPORTABLE PERSONAL WATERCRAFT ACCIDENTS
• Personal watercraft (PWC) account for 11% of all registered vessels in Florida
(98% privately owned, 2% rentals).
• PWC were involved in 26% of reported boating accidents (174).
• Rental PWCs were involved in 2% of all PWC accidents in 2006.
• The majority of PWC accidents involved a collision with another vessel.
• 37% of PWC accidents were caused by careless/inattention operation.
• 42% of PWC operators involved in an accident were between 22-35 years of age. 26% were 36-50 years of age.
• 16% of total boating fatality victims were on a PWC.
• Over 42% of PWC accidents occurred in Palm Beach, Pinellas, Monroe and Miami-Dade Counties, with Palm Beach ranked number #1 (with 20 accidents)
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