Islamorada

Florida Keys History of Diving Museum in Islamorada Opening a Public Research Library

The History of Diving Museum in Islamorada dedicates its Bauer Diving History Research Library on Feb. 29 at the museum, mile marker 83 bayside.

The ribbon-cutting celebration is from 6 to 8 p.m. RSVP is required, call 664-9737 or send an e-mail to info@divingmuseum.org.

Named after the museum’s founders, Joe and Sally Bauer, the new facility serves as the repository of the Bauer Library Collection, which consists of about 2,500 volumes. It is one of the most comprehensive collections of rare books relative to the story of undersea exploration and was amassed by the Bauers over four decades.

The collection is focused on titles published prior to the mid-1900s and includes some publications dating back to the 1700s. Included are books, prints, woodcuts, catalogues, and photographs illustrating diving history, treasure hunting, submarine warfare, natural history and other aspects of underwater exploration.

The project was made possible with a grant from the Monroe County Tourist Development Council. The grant allowed the museum to purchase custom archival-quality bookshelves, document storage drawers, a waterless fire-suppression system, light fixtures and an art hanging system. There is also wireless Internet and audio-visual equipment to make it a functional space for business meetings and events, available for rent.

“The staff, board, and volunteers have all worked extremely hard on this project and its completion signifies a very important step forward for our young museum,” said Erin Wolfe, manager of collections and administration.

Tickets for the opening event are $25 ($15 for museum members). Drink tickets and hors d’oeuvres are included. The deadline to RSVP is Feb. 22.

The museum is open to the general public daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The research library and meeting room will be accessible during those hours.

Giant Islamorada Lobster “Betsey” May Return Soon

Have You Fed Your Fish Today…Try it Islamorada Style!

I am sure most of you have spent some time on the bank or dock or your favorite waterway feeding the local fish or ducks. If you were lucky you might have caught sight of that legendary 20 pounder nobody ever seems to be able to land.

What if I could guaranty you the chance to hand feed fish in the 100 pound range, and have your picture taken while shaking hands with the fishes mouth. All you need to do is find your way to Islamorada’s Robbie’s Marina in the Florida Keys.

Robbie and his wife Mona started feeding a tarpon they named Scarface 18 years ago. Scarface appeared floundering in the shallow waters near the dock; Robbie saw the struggling tarpon and, thinking it had swum too shallow and gotten stuck on the bank, went out into the water to free it. He lifted the fish and saw that the right side of its jaw was torn open. Hoping to revive the tarpon, Robbie placed it in the oxygen-rich shrimp tank and called old Doc Roach. The doctor showed up with his wife’s mattress needles and some twine, and Scarface became the first known tarpon with stitches. After several days of force-feeding, Scarface showed good recovery and weight gain; six months later he was released into the waters off the dock. Afterwards, Scarface continued to frequent the docks; sometimes bringing a friend. Soon more and more of the fish began to appear.

Today, the tradition continues, with visitors from all across the world coming to marvel at the spectacle and offer these magnificent creatures a snack.

More on Islamorada. Read more…

Why Unincorporate the Village of Islands – Islamorada

~Prepared by Robert Page

- Plantation Yacht Harbor was on the market in 1997 for sale for $4 million, a contract had been signed, but with the incorporation vote, the Village elected officials managed to secretly negotiate a purchase price of $8 million, all done very quickly, without any public input or support.

- Borrowed $4 million dollars in 2004 and could not figure out how to spend it until 2007.

- Does not maintain an inventory of all items valued over $500.

- Have never conducted an inventory review to determine, if items purchased with taxpayers money is still in possession of the staff. Have any items been lost, stolen, or given away? Who knows or cares?

- Gave away a street ending at the ocean (no public hearing) on Upper Matecumbe Key to developer Bill Fountain which is against state law.

- Village has never completed one project on time and within budget.

- Former Mayer Frank Kulisky secretly bought property next to Plantation Yacht Harbor (Founders Park) for $700,000 then sold part of it to the Village for $1.4 million.

- Former Mayor Mark Gregg changed a single family residence into eight houses and sold the eight living units for millions of dollars.

- Village has borrowed $25 million dollars with no referendum vote or public support. Annual payments for eight loans are over $1 million a year.

- Village manager does not prepare a full and complete budget for review each year at the beginning of budget preparation time. He doles out the budget, in many small pieces, and the elected officials spend months going over the incomplete budget and never learn the bottom line until the very last moment when the millage rate has to be set He tricks the officials each year and they never catch on. Then the millage is set and nobody looks at the budget again to provide oversight to see that funds are only spent on authorized issues. That is why the left over funds from the previous year disappears.

- During Hurricane Wilma village computers, furniture and valuable documents were left on the floor of the Village Hall, knowing it was going to be flooded and computers ruined. Documents had to be sent to Texas for expensive recovery.

- Since incorporation in 1998, six managers have come and gone and village is now searching for number seven.

- No financial reports for six months in 2006, and none for September 2007 (end of fiscal year)

- Quote from newspaper Reporter “Over the past year, the Islamorada Village Council has spent countless hours and hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars searching for answers to issues that will undoubtedly shape Islamorada’s future” “as the year comes to a close, the majority of those answers remain elusive, leaving Islamorada cash strapped, without a manager and still working out ways to fund projects already underway.” Fire chief Wagner said “we have no reserves in the capital fund, we’re in really, really desperate conditions here” This is the guy that left his fire trucks on Lower Matecumbe to be caught in salt water during Hurricane Wilma and had to purchase new truck replacements. Councilman Reckwerdt said “we have no idea how bad our finances are”. Finance Director Fillinovich said “we need to set money aside for construction projects instead of taking out loans and paying through the general fund. She urged the council to put money aside for a rainy day” but it has not done so.

- The Free Press newspaper said “2007 was a year when the Islamorada Village Council had trouble making up its mind –repeatedly” ” Council spent nearly $600,000 on the municipal complex, much of it for architectural fees. Initially budgeted for $4.4 million, the complex earlier this year was expected to cost nearly $10 million.” “The council also had a difficult time making up its mind about this year’s tax rate. In an effort to protect village reserves, council members in July voted to override the 7% tax cut recommended by the state. But they reinstated the cut in September”.

- Newspaper Reporter called the Village of Islamorada “Dysfunctional”.

- When documents that might reveal false or embarrassing information are requested by the public – the Village Attorney just labels them ”exempt” from the public records law.

- Spent over $200,000 studying whether to ship sewerage to Key Largo.

- Plantation Key Colony Sewer program is mismanaged, resulting in cost overruns, sewer backups, resulting in houses being condemned, and torn down, family dislocated, insurance claims being ignored and the sewerage collection system is years behind schedule. The Fla Dept of Environmental Protection has cited the village for many violations and fined the village for the violations. Re-use of the treated sewage water has cost nearly $2 million and all we have is a tank full of salt water that cannot be used.

- Plantation Key Colony Sewer program budget is overspent by $1,055,709. Poor fiscal management.

- Village does not evaluate employee performance.

- Village has a turnover of personnel reported to be 60%. No exit interviews to find out why high turnover of staff.

- Village Manager gets an annual evaluation but the format is flawed by being too subjective resulting in a convoluted and meaningless report..

- Village Manager does not have a clear set of measurable performance standards. He needs to be told what is to be done, how much money the elected officials are giving him, and how long it should take to finish the task. Monthly progress reports will reveal if he is doing his job.

- Village attorney has been paid about $8 million dollars for legal services. Village should have in-house legal staff.

- Over 900 petitions were signed to require any expenditure of the village that exceeded $1 million dollars must be by referendum. Ignored by elected officials.

- Elected officials interject themselves into the operation of the village and continually give instructions to the staff and not the manager. Village attorney has repeatedly warned the elected officials that their job is to set policy and not to interfere in the management of the village. All of the elected officials like to micromanage the daily operation.

- I could go on with horror stories of incompetence but I think the message is clear.

Fly fishing legend Islamorada’s Billy Pate dies at age 81

By LARRY KAHN lkahn@keynoter.com

Legendary fly fisherman Billy Pate of Islamorada — who, for 21 years, held the world record for the largest tarpon caught on 16-pound tippet — died Monday morning.

“He was a true southern gentleman,” said author Doug Kelly, who just released a book called “Florida’s Fishing Legends and Pioneers” that features a chapter about Pate. “He was extremely hospitable. He wasn’t full of himself. If you went up to him and asked him about tarpon fishing, he would tell you where to go, how to do it.”

Kelly said Pate had Alzheimer’s disease. “He wasn’t in the best of health,” Kelly said.

The Web site www.midcurrent.com posted this on Tuesday: “Pate was an important pioneer in landing big saltwater fish on fly rods and was particularly dedicated to tarpon fishing, although billfishing was also a passion. His 1982 188-pound tarpon world record on 16-pound tippet remained unbeaten for 21 years, and he was the first person to catch a blue marlin and a black marlin on fly. He was also the first angler to catch six billfish species on a fly rod.”

Pate, who was 81, was inducted into the International Game Fish Association Hall of Fame in 2003.

Kelly said Pate’s family made a fortune in a carpet business in South Carolina.

“He had, because of that family background, the wherewithal to travel the world and set records for fly fishing,” said Kelly, who lived in Tavernier from 1987 to the mid-1990s but now lives in Clearwater. “Why bother with the minutiae when you can enjoy life to the fullest?”

In addition to the Keys, Pate owned homes in Oregon and Homosassa, among other places, “where he loved to fish for tarpon.”

Pate was also a board member of the conservation group Bonefish and Tarpon Unlimited. “I got to know him very well because he was a board member and I was the executive director,” Kelly said.

In addition to his fishing prowess, Pate was a champion water skier, putting on shows at Cypress Gardens in Lakeland. “He was a top-notch water skier until he blew out his knee,” Kelly said.

Funeral services are pending.

Lobster Mobster Caught in Key Largo Canal

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers arrested a Miami-Dade County man last Sunday after they say they saw him wringing undersized lobster tails and chopping up the rest of the carcasses.

FWC officers got a call from the Port Largo neighborhood around mile marker 100 complaining that some men were taking short spiny lobsters out of the canal. Lobsters are also out of season now.

When Officer Jason Rafter arrived, all the men had gotten out of the canal, but Rafter said he saw one of them, 44-year-old Carlos Daniel, wringing the tails off some lobsters and using a knife to cut them, FWC spokesman Officer Robert Dube said.

Rafter and two other FWC officers approached Daniel and arrested him.

They seized four whole undersized lobsters, 15 undersized lobster tails, and about 3 pounds of filleted lobster tail meat.

Daniel is facing multiple misdemeanor counts for possession of undersized lobsters, out of season lobsters and lobsters over the bag limit. He was booked into Plantation Key Jail and later released.

Lobster season ran from Aug. 6, 2010 to March 31, and doesn’t reopen until July.

Islamorada’s Over-Seas Inn History

The 1935 hurricane struck Upper Matecumbe Key hard being just to the right of eye’s path. Four seriously damaged but recognizable structures remained standing. They were O. D. Kings’ Rustic Inn, the Methodist parsonage, The Hotel  Matecumbe and Leo Johnson’s house. The coral-rock post office was also recognizable by those who knew it before. Therefore, almost nothing was left standing and there was a great toll of human life, but the determined citizens were not to be denied. Houses, a school, post office and the church were rebuilt. This was “home.”

One wooden building was built by Eddie Sweeting using materials provided by FERA and he provided all the labor. It was a two story building, shown at the right, in which they lived in the upper floor and the lower floor was leased to the School Board.  The previously shown coral rock school on the beach was totally destroyed and a school was desperately needed as residents were returning.

The federal government subsidized the building of this wooden structure to replace business destroyed. Material only was provided to Eddy Sweeting to rebuild his grocery store as he wanted a two-story structure. Eddie Sweeting had the building shown to the right ready for occupancy on August 1936.

The above information is from http://www.keyshistory.org/uppermatkey.html

As you can see this building later became the Over-Seas Inn. Do you know what it is now?

Internships at History of Diving Museum in Islamorada

Islamorada, Fla. — The History of Diving Museum is looking for enthusiastic and energetic students or recent graduates to engage in a hands-on summer internship at this young and vibrant museum. Interns receive valuable on-the-job training and real world experience while having fun in the beautiful Florida Keys. While internships are unpaid, housing may be available.

Internships are available in the following areas: marketing, public relations, education, non-profit administration, photography/videography, collections management, research, library/archives.

Interns may choose one or more area of interest, and will work with museum staff to establish meaningful projects to complete during a specified period of time. Since this is a small organization, the intern will be intimately involved with leadership, including the executive director and board president/museum co-founder.

The History of Diving Museum contains approximately 3,000 sqare feet of interactive exhibits covering 4,000 years of diving history including ancient diving machines, the world’s largest collection of diving helmets, and armored diving suits for deep sea exploration.

For more information, please contact Erin Wolfe at the History of Diving Museum at 305-664-9737.

Toll Booths in the Florida Keys Past

One of the most blatant of such Keys irregularities involved the Overseas Highway Road and Toll District. When the Overseas Highway to Key West was completed in 1938 toll booths were erected at Lower Matecumbe and Big Pine Key and a toll was collected from all traffic entering this section of the highway from either direction. These funds went to the Overseas Road and Toll Commission ostensibly for maintenance of the road. The Commission refurbished the former railroad maintenance village of Pigeon Key as a headquarters and a de facto country club for the commissioners and their political cronies. This continued until in 1952 when a scandal and investigation over use of the toll revenues ensued. The result was that Keys residents were issued permits exempting them from the toll. Local interest in the matter evaporated and the toll continued to be collected from the ever growing number of visitors for three more years. Then it somehow came to light that the road maintenance had become a state responsibility and the Overseas Road and Toll District Commission had for some time no longer had a function other than continuing to operate Pigeon Key solely as a recreational facility for the Commissioners. The Commission was reluctantly closed down and another investigation ensued but where the toll funds had gone was never determined. Maintaining a private tool booth on U.S. Highway 1 is not a bad scam if one can get away with it and they did.

Excerpt from http://www.goldendolphin.com/WASdisk/history/history.htm

Caribbee Colony on Matecumbe Key

At the height of the Roaring 20’s, wealthy visitors who escaped to Miami for the winter had discovered a new playground – an exclusive island resort in the Florida Keys known fondly as “Caribee Colony.”

Created by railroad tycoon Henry Flagler and real estate magnate George Merrick for their millionaire friends, it was an oceanfront hideaway reached by a daily train from Miami called the “South Seas Special.” Here at “Caribee Colony”, guests enjoyed the escape of balmy breezes and champagne waters of America’s only tropical islands, but the luxuries included docks for yachts, a rail spur for private train cars and even an offshore casino. Alas, the “millionaires’ beach club,” as it was known, passed into legend in less than a decade.

Today, the worthy successor to the Caribee – The Colony, Islamorada – introduces a new level of luxury and sophistication to the Florida Keys.

Spanning the Overseas Highway on more than six acres Oceanside and five acres Gulfside at Mile Marker 80.2 on Upper Matecumbe Key, The Colony features perhaps the preeminent waterfront setting in the entire Keys. Certainly, there are advantages to being on the Atlantic – immediate access to the Gulfstream and its deep water, sunrises over the ocean and gentle ocean breezes. There are advantages to being Gulfside as well – immediate access to the islands of Florida Bay, Flamingo and Everglades National Park, great back country fishing for tarpon, snook, redfish and bonefish, and memorable sunsets when the shining ball disappears with a flash into the Gulf.