Archive for December, 2007

Key West Record Kingfish Catch…106,000 Pounds!

It was 1923 and, in a two day period at the end of December, Key West fishermen brought in 106,000 pounds of kingfish, which was selling for 8 cents a pound wholesale.

Deep Water May Be Months Away for Legacy

By Capt. Tom Serio
Because government officials and others involved with the recovery of S/Y Legacy have not been forthcoming with her progress, I flew over Legacy in late November to find out her status. She is still in the marine sanctuary just north of Key West, where she was deposited by Hurricane Wilma two years ago, a few dozen yards from Bluefish Channel. The latest recovery process of pulling her out the way she went in has freed her from the bottom and continues. Originally speculated in early September to take three weeks, pulling Legacy to deep water has so far taken three months, with probably several more to go.

This current recovery process (others have been tried but failed) includes creating a channel in front of Legacy by removing the sandy bottom using an auger and pump. The sand is then relocated aft as the yacht moves forward. A series of cables connected to her hull run along the initial path of entry cut in the sea grass (almost a mile long), out to a utility boat, the Helen B. Legacy is pulled several feet at a time by the utility vessel. Miami-based Byrd Commercial Diving is the marine salvage contractor on site. The flotilla of houseboats rafted nearby allows Legacy’s owner and crew to remain close by and keep watch over the recovery.

So instead of official reports on what is happening, we have photos, which indeed speak a thousand words. [To see more, visit http://www.the-triton.com.] Although Legacy appeared to have moved about 1,200 feet by late November, there appears to be at least that much farther still to go. As she inches closer to the edge of the flats, hopefully the water will get deeper and aid in her refloating.

The sand deposits pumped from in front of Legacy appear to be well scattered in the area aft, appearing to create a sandy island. With the concerns of the impact on the local ecosystem, this process appears to be disturbing a large area. Due to sustained wind and/or current conditions, there is a large sand plume leaching out of the yellow containment boom. It was good to see Legacy headed toward freedom, but there will be many questions as to the process and long-term effect on the area. Let’s hope the marine sanctuary as well as Legacy will one day be restored to pre-Wilma condition.

Beginning Divers Find Treasures in Islamorada

You might think that as a beginner or basic scuba diver your choices of truly amazing or exotic aquatic experiences are somewhat limited. Not true, indeed even for the beginning Scuba Diver holding an entry-level Scuba certification the world truly is your Ocean – or River, Lake or Stream for that matter. Some of the most exotic and popular dive sites in the world like Costa Rica, Fiji, Thailand even Australia have sites for beginners as well as the advanced or experienced diver.A little closer to home Florida and the Florida Keys offer some of the most extensive dive areas and different Scuba Diving environments that are easy enough for beginning divers but diverse enough to return again and again. For example Scuba Diving Magazine rated Islamorada in the Florida Keys the number one dive site for beginners. There you can find many dive sites like the fully protected Alligator Reef Sanctuary, this 25 ft dive is located only 3.5 miles off the coast of Islamorada and is ideal for snorkelers and beginner Scuba Divers. Safe and easy and crystal clear, Alligator Reef – don’t worry it’s named for a nearby wreck the USS Alligator not the reptile – is home to the largest variety of fish species in the keys. This is a great beginner dive for fish lovers and underwater photographers alike.

There are dozens of other sites throughout Islamorada where even beginner scuba divers can see large pelagic fish like groupers, exotics like blue parrot fish and even have close encounters with a variety of Sharks.

161 Years @ St. Mary Star of the Sea in Key West

Since holding its first Mass in 1846, the church of Saint Mary Star of the Sea has been helping people in the far outpost of the Lower Keys. Its nuns treated patients with yellow fever in the 1870s, victims of the USS Maine explosion in Havana Harbor in 1898 and the needy during Key West’s bankruptcy of the 1960s, according to the Reverend Deacon Peter Batty. ”Needs change,” Batty said. “We have been very vigilant serving current needs. God wants us to be flexible. We’re Gumby saints.”

The crisis causing today’s need for many living in the Lower Keys: skyrocketing housing costs. Saint Mary Star of the Sea has created the area’s first Out-Reach Mission. The idea was conceived seven years ago but took five years to become reality. Initial funding has come from the Klaus-Murphy Foundation, which is paying for the first three years of rent and utilities for the mission.

With mostly volunteer help, the church converted an old rundown tire store on Stock Island into a homey place for people of all denominations and levels of need to get food, baby clothes, help finding government services, a friendly smile. And hope. Last month, the mission served an average of 552 people per week. The number has been growing as word continues to get out about the caring place that opened in August 2006. ”This means a lot,” Samuel Kelly, father of a 13-year-old boy and 58-year resident of Key West, said last week as he carried two bags of donated groceries. “It helps me to have food in the house. I’m handicapped…. I can’t work.” Read more…

New Jewfish Creek Bridge Nears Completion

The new Jewfish Creek Bridge “will be across the channel” by late January, a project spokeswoman says. Vehicle traffic should be driving over the span “almost certainly by early summer,” said Patti Jones, information officer for primary contractor Granite Construction. “You can see things changing daily,” Jones said. “We’re much closer than most people realize.

“We’re only a few months away from having the complete roadway [from Key Largo to the C-111 canal] with the median barrier and everything else.” In the coming weeks, barge-mounted cranes will lift the final sections of concrete substructure into place atop the finished pilings and cross beams, 65 feet above the water at Jewfish Creek. Crews then still have to prepare and pour the road decking, which will take several months.

When traffic is moved onto the bridge in late spring or early summer, both northbound and southbound traffic will use the east side of the span. Contractors then will complete work on southbound access ramps to reach Gilbert’s Resort and other Jewfish Creek businesses. Removal of the existing drawbridge is designed to relieve weekend traffic jams caused by periodic bridge openings and eliminate one possible obstacle to hurricane evacuation. The drawbridge also is more than a half-century old, and some parts of the mechanism likely could not be replaced should they break. Read more…

Humane Society Asks USFWS to Stop Trapping on Big Pine Key

In a letter to the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), The Humane Society of the United States asks the federal agency to immediately halt a trapping program in the Florida Keys because it is needlessly killing raccoons and other native wildlife species. Local residents and wildlife advocates have expressed outrage over the senseless trapping of native wildlife. In its letter to USFWS Southeast Director Sam Hamilton, The HSUS points out that the Fish and Wildlife Service may be violating federal law by carrying out this reckless and indiscriminate killing campaign.

Last March, the USFWS hired USDA Wildlife Services to humanely trap feral and free-roaming cats and bring them to animal shelters, which then would place them in colonies or return them to their owners. The stated goal of the program is to reduce predation upon the endangered marsh rabbit. However, instead of removing cats, it turns out that Wildlife Services has been trapping and killing large numbers of raccoons and other wildlife under a program which costs taxpayers $50,000. “The irony is that the main species they are trying to protect – the Lower Keys marsh rabbit – is rarely preyed upon by raccoons,” explains Laura Simon, field director of urban wildlife for The HSUS. “The federal government is killing dozens of raccoons and other species indiscriminately, for no good reason, and taxpayers are footing the bill.” Read more…

Florida Keys Waterspouts

Waterspouts can happen wherever there is water. However, for the most part, waterspouts take place in tropical water, especially during warm temperatures of the wet season. In 1969, the Lower Florida Keys Waterspout Project, led by Dr. Joseph H. Golden, observed 390 waterspouts in a 4-month period, within a 50-mile area. Dr. Golden concluded that waterspouts happen in the Florida Keys more than any other place in the world. Waterspouts have been known to occur over the Great Lakes, Lake Tahoe, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bombay.

Jordan Milo Gator Killer of Big Pine Key Violates Probation

A convicted alligator killer has violated his probation by drinking alcohol and taking opiates while on work release from the Monroe County Detention Center this week, authorities said Thursday.

Jordan Milo, 21, of Big Pine Key, was returning to jail after a day’s work at a construction site Tuesday when corrections officers suspected he was under the influence of some substance. A urine test and three Breathalyzer tests showed opiates and blood-alcohol levels of 0.11, 0.12, and 0.13, according to sheriff’s spokeswoman Becky Herrin and Assistant State Attorney Val Winter, who prosecuted the case. Milo could have his probation reinstated or be sentenced to serve five years in prison, the maximum he could have received for poaching the alligator in the Blue Hole wildlife preserve last year. He also risks losing the chance to have the felony charge expunged from his criminal record, one of the terms of his probation.

“The judge could do anything,” Winter said.

An arraignment has been scheduled for 8:45 a.m. Thursday at the Monroe County courthouse on Whitehead Street. Milo either can admit violating his probation or deny it and request a hearing. His attorney, Nathan Eden, did not return The Citizen’s calls for comment Thursday. Meanwhile, the Sheriff’s Office has revoked Milo’s work-release privilege, Herrin said. Work-release inmates have more freedom than the general population, but they also are monitored more closely, she said. “They ride a bike to work and we know how long it takes to get there and back, and the employers are given a session on how to supervise the inmates,” she said, “but these things happen and we catch them when they do.”

Milo and his accomplice, 19-year-old Marathon resident Timothy Goll, began serving a six-month jail term in September, to be followed by five years on probation. Judge Mark Jones ordered them to complete eight hours of public service a month, half of which must be for environmental causes, during the first three years of their probation. The judge also ordered both receive psychological evaluations and the appropriate treatment, and banned them from the Blue Hole wildlife preserve. Both pleaded guilty in June to third-degree felony charges for blinding and bludgeoning to death a 6-foot female alligator they then ate at a backyard barbecue in March, photos of which they posted on www.myspace.com.

Islamorada Dream Home Giveaway Contest Begins January 1, 2008

Many repeat visitors to the Florida Keys often dream about owning a vacation or permanent residence in the subtropical island chain. That dream is to become a reality for someone when Home and Garden Television awards a luxury residence in Islamorada to the winner of its 2008 HGTV Dream Home Giveaway contest set to begin Jan. 1.

The three-story, three-bedroom, 3,500-square-foot custom designed and fully furnished home is situated on a private shallow-water beach in an enclave called The Shore at Islamorada, off U.S. Highway 1 at mile marker 86.7 bayside. The home and its associated prizes, including a hybrid vehicle and an HGTV Doggie Dream Home, are valued at more than $2.2 million. People can register to win the home online at www.hgtv.com. Beginning Dec. 3, HGTV’s Web site is to offer 360-degree virtual tours of the home and details on its construction.

The home will be showcased on an HGTV special program scheduled to premiere at 9 p.m. ET Jan. 1, with additional airings until the contest’s conclusion Feb. 19. The dream home’s architecture and landscape design was inspired by the Keys’ traditional small waterfront fishing villages, and the elegant residence even has a room dedicated to Islamorada’s sportfishing tradition. The dream home’s winner isn’t the only one to benefit from the giveaway. The property is to be open to the public for tours from Jan. 3 to March 2, with proceeds from the $20 per person ticket cost slated to benefit the Florida Keys Children’s Shelter. The contest winner is to be announced March 16 on an HGTV special live program.

For information about Islamorada, including area accommodations, contact the Islamorada Chamber of Commerce at (800) 322-5397 or (305) 664-4503, or explore this Web site.