Archive for January, 2008

Acura Key West 2008 Sailboat Regatta

International fleet competes for world, More than 260 sailboats and sailing crews from around the world are to compete in the waters off Key West during Acura Key West 2008, one of the most prestigious sailing regattas on the international calendar.

The racing challenge is scheduled Jan. 21 to 25.

In its 21st year, Acura Key West 2008, presented by Nautica, is to feature national and international greats from the yachting world. Sailors are expected to hail from at least 20 countries and more than 30 American states.

“We’re pleased to be seeing a really great fleet come together,” event organizer Peter Craig said. “From custom IRC programs and established one-design classes to [Performance Handicap Racing Fleet National Championship] boats seeking the 2008 national championship, it’s going to be an exciting week.” According to regatta organizers, Acura Key West’s primary attractions for race teams include the high level of competition and the opportunity for January sailing in warm subtropical waters.

Competitors are to race on four courses set over a 10-mile stretch of the Atlantic Ocean just off Key West’s shore and inside North America’s only living coral barrier reef, which parallels the Florida Keys. The racing action is slated to begin at 10:30 a.m. daily. Read more…

7th Python Found in Upper Florida Keys

The seventh — and largest — Burmese python to make its way into the Florida Keys since the exotic constrictors were discovered here in April was found dead on U.S. 1 at Mile Marker 112 last week.

The snake, measuring longer than 10 feet, has added to officials’ recent concerns about the invasive predator slithering its way into the island chain — and its endangered species habitats. Steve Klett, manager of the Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge, said he worries a breeding pair will establish itself here, which could wipe out the population of endangered species such as the Key Largo wood rat. To reach 8 feet in length, a python would have to consume about 75 to 80 wood rats, he said.

A new law that went into effect Jan. 1 will not help the immediate situation, but could curb the problem in the future. It requires people who buy an exotic reptile to pay a $100 fee and have a 2-centimeter microchip with their identification implanted under the reptile’s skin. South Florida has experienced an influx of the snakes as owners illegally release their unwanted pets into the wild, intentionally or by accident.

The six previously found constrictors have averaged a little over 7 feet long. They have been found near the Key Largo School, Card Sound Road Bridge and in the Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Botanical State Park, across C.R. 905 from the Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge. One was a live python in the state park that had devoured a wood rat.

Have You Slept Underwater Lately…Key Largo Can Help

When guests visit Jules’ Undersea Lodge in Key Largo, Florida, they discover that the name is no marketing gimmick. Just to enter the Lodge, one must actually scuba dive 21 feet beneath the surface of the sea. Jules’ really is underwater. Diving through the tropical mangrove habitat of the Emerald Lagoon and approaching the world’s only underwater hotel is quite an experience. Even from the outside, Jules’ big 42 inch round windows cast a warm invitation to come in and stay a while, relax and get to know the underwater world that so few of us have even visited.

Entering through an opening in the bottom of the habitat, the feeling is much like discovering a secret underwater clubhouse. The cottage sized building isn’t short on creature comforts: hot showers, a well stocked kitchen (complete with refrigerator and microwave), books, music, and video movies. And of course there are cozy beds, where guests snuggle up and watch the fish visit the windows of their favorite underwater “terrarium”. Jules’ Undersea Lodge manages to reach a perfect balance of relaxation and adventure.

Guests sometimes describe their visit to inner space as the most incredible experience of their lives. One couple decided on a career change after visiting Jules’ Undersea Lodge, and they now operate Aquanauts’ Dive Shop. Another couple named their baby after Jules’, when they later discovered their recently conceived child had accompanied them in their wonderful adventure in undersea living.

Although the underwater hotel may sound like the latest tourist fun spot, Jules’ Undersea Lodge, actually began its existence as La Chalupa research laboratory, an underwater habitat used to explore the continental shelf off the coast of Puerto Rico. The authenticity of the underwater habitat is what really sets it apart from amusement parks and other similar attractions. The mangrove lagoon in which Jules’ is located is a natural nursery area for many reef fish. Tropical angelfish, parrotfish, barracuda, and snappers peek in the windows of the habitat, while anemones, sponges, oysters and feather duster worms seem to cover every inch of this underwater world. Guests of the Lodge explore their marine environment with scuba gear provided by Jules’ Undersea Lodge and are given an unlimited supply of tanks. Jules’ Undersea Lodge may have a comfortable futuristic decor, but its sense of history is inescapable. It is the first and only underwater hotel, but is also the first underwater research lab to have ever been made accessible to the average person. Read more…

Florida Keys Anglers Invite Governor Crist to Fish Florida Bay

Groups hoping to show the governor a good day of fishing and the bad algae bloom threatening Florida Bay.

January 10, 2008 Tavernier FL -A coalition of leading angling and conservation organizations today formally invited Florida Governor Charlie Crist to come down to the Keys for a day of fishing and to witness firsthand a destructive algae bloom threatening the region’s recreational and commercial fishing industry.

This is the third consecutive year that a persistent blue-green algae bloom has compromised the health of Florida Bay with potentially disastrous consequences for the region’s fishing industry, including die-offs of fish, and the seagrass and invertebrates upon which they depend. Conservative estimates in October, 2007 placed the extent of the bloom at 300 square miles. Over the summer there were reports of the bloom at the reef line off Islamorada and Long Key, and as far south as Vaca Cut in Marathon.
Read more…

Key West Smathers Beach to get New Sand

Smathers Beach will soon have 11,600 tons of fresh sand for locals and tourists to enjoy with financial assistance from the city of Key West and the Florida Department or Environmental Protection. The city has available $1.32 million approved by the state for Key West beach renourishment projects; $880,000 of that will be used for Smathers. That cost will be split between DEP and the city, each paying $440,000. That leaves the city $420,000 to spend on other beaches: C.B. Harvey Rest Beach near the White Street Pier is possibly the next project, city Engineering Director Roland Flowers said.

Despite Commissioner Dan Kolhage expressing dissatisfaction with the cost of the project, the rest of the commission gave the go-ahead when it met in regular session Wednesday. Commissioner Clayton Lopez pointed out that Thursday was the deadline to approve the contract, otherwise the state money “may not be available in the future,” city documents read.

Consulting firm G.M. Selby has been subcontracted for design, permitting and construction phases of the project, while E.R. Jahna will deliver the sand and Charlie Toppino and Sons will contour and grade the sand all within the year. Besides aesthetic benefits, the Engineering Department said such projects increase the likelihood of receiving post-disaster funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Kolhage doesn’t want the city to pay nearly a half a million dollars for the planning and designing phase of the Smathers project. “I’d want to see more spent on the sand and not the placement of the sand,” he said. Flowers told the commission the state says the design phase is necessary given the sensitive nature of sea grass, adding that particulars like grain size and color are scrutinized by DEP. “We are getting taken for a ride,” Kolhage said. “This is absolutely ridiculous.”

More Florida Keys Beaches.

Marathon Boat Ramp to be Repaired

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.

Another PWC Accident Involving Untrained Youth

[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)

Pennekamp & Everglades Park History Presentation

A ‘Dennis the Menace’ cartoon from 1976 shows the characters discovering John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park in Key Largo.  A program on local park history will be presented Monday.
Experts talk of Pennekamp, Everglades

Concern for the Everglades and Florida Keys environment has left South Florida with a bounty of unique national and state parks. The history of how Everglades National Park, the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park were created will be the topic of a 7 p.m. Monday program at the Key Largo library in Trade Winds Plaza.

The Historical Preservation Society of the Upper Keys hears Mary Tagliareni, education coordinator for the marine sanctuary, lead the free discussion of park development. “For anyone who has ever wondered when, why and where it all began, this is a chance to learn,” society President Jerry Wilkinson said. “South Florida is a special place, so special that for the past 60 years concerns for protecting it started a movement that would leave an environmental legacy.”

Also taking park in the program will be Bob Showler, Florida Bay district interpreter for Everglades National Park; and Elena Muratori, education specialist at Pennekamp.

Frozen Iguana…No This is Not a New Cocktail

Iguanas that toppled from trees in a torpor during this week’s cold snap could spring back to life, experts say. Just “don’t take them inside,” warned Dr. Doug Mader, owner of the Marathon Veterinary Clinic. “When they’re cold and in a torpor – the reptile version of hibernation – you can touch them or handle them up. But when they warm up, they go back to being a wild animal.”

Mader recounted a story from the last severe temperature plunge that littered the ground with stunned iguanas unable to move. “One sweet lady called because she was so worried after seeing an iguana fall out of her tree. She thought it was dead and frozen,” he said. “We told her not to take it into the house. It was a big one, maybe 5 feet. But you know how people are,” Mader said. “When it woke up, she couldn’t understand why it seemed to be coming after her. She couldn’t get it to leave.”

Kent Heeter of Tavernier helped collect and rehabilitate several iguanas from a prior winter as a Florida Keys Herpetological Society effort. “When they start dropping from trees because they can’t hang on, it can look like it’s raining iguanas,” Heeter said. “But when they wake up, they are not docile. They want to get away.”

Kim Gabel, an agent for the Monroe County Cooperative Extension Service, said the cold weather South Florida experienced Wednesday and Thursday was enough to immobilize the iguanas. Many were either just stunned by the cold in their tracks or stiffened up and fell out of trees. Temperatures during the two-day cold spell dropped as low as 30 degrees in some areas of the Keys. “They’re probably very much alive,” Gabel said. Read more…

Lady Luck Casino Boat Removal Begun in Lower Florida Keys

Wetlands damage apparent as crews remove casino boat

The jinxed life of the ill-named Lady Luck casino boat should come to an end within weeks. Work has started on cutting the metal hull of the 80-foot vessel into pieces to be carted away. The Lady Luck has spent more than two years sitting high and dry on a gulfside flat off mile marker 13. You can’t miss it looking bayside as you drive U.S. 1.

“It’s a very complicated project because of the location but at Day 8 of the mobilization, we’re exactly where we planned to be,” John Coffin, owner of Coffin Marine of Big Pine Key, said Friday. It’s always kind of a shock when that happens,” he laughed, “but it is going well. The devil is in the details, but barring weather or mechanical problems or some kind of accident, we should stay on schedule.”

The Lady Luck was grounded in Florida Bay by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 but freed. Then Hurricane Wilma hit that October – shoving the vessel onto a shallow grass flat where it has remained since, becoming an environmental hazard, eyesore and nuisance.

The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary tapped its shipwreck fund to pay for the $500,000 removal. Normally we don’t have to deal with a vessel this size,” sanctuary Superintendent Dave Score said. “We’re hoping it comes in under budget.” Typically owners of large vessels that go hard aground in the federally protected sanctuary pay for the salvage operation and environmental restoration.  Read more…