Monday, July 13, 2009
A Condo In The Keys, or My Boat Livess In My Closet, and Other Pleasures Of The Simple Life in Key Largo
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis, excerpt from a forthcoming book with the above title
The Florida Keys are rocky outcroppings in the Atlantic Ocean, not very sandy. For beach life in Key Largo we depend on the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park's small sandy halfmoon at MM 102, the Harry Harris State Park near MM 92.5 and, particularly, the beautiful Sombrero Beach in Marathon, turn left at the traffic light at MM 50. Most of the time we swim in the bay, right off the marina pier, ignoring the tarpons who live under it.
Most pleasant swimming companions are the manatees, who come to the pier in search of sweet water, and the kids, squealing with joy, lower the water hose right into their open mouths.
Swimming with the manatees is another pleasure, touching their rough and cold skin. A friend and real esstate broker, whose father has a house on a canal where th manatees come frequently, in search of discarded wilted cabbagess and other enticements, often sjumps in the water to scrub their backs, freeing them of barnacles and other adhesions. All of the above activities involving the protected gentle giant sea cows are illegal, but manatee lovers just cannot desist.
The big water activity in the Keys is boating, whether you fish, trap crabs, catch lobster, snorkel or scuba dive. Snowbirds often arrive with boat trailers, bringing their cabin cruisers along, some of them quite large. My friends have 16-footers, good for the bay and also the ocean, on easy days. The canal at MM 104 connects the two.
Boats are a pleasure and a care. Having a dock site is great but you also have to store your trailer (a seasonal rental fee), and find a winted docing space, unless you are willing to pull them up and down the North American continent every season I say continent because some of my fellow condo people are from Quebec. Professional three-story boat storages can be found all along US 1 , a scary sight when one thinks of the high wind seeason. During Wilma they survived. People who want to save money, find storage with locals who have back yards, the same people who will store your trailer during the season, a source of small but steady income.
Some years ago, wanting the pleasure of boating upon demand but not willing to have the trouble of boat care, this family invested in a 10 1/2 ft. Zodiac, a chambered inflatable and rebuilt one closet in the 2nd bedroom, to accomodate it, as well as an 8 HP outboard engine.
Evry season we drag it out, inflate it with a foot pedal, drag it in the water, down the condo's boat ramp, attach the engine and hold our breaths while pulling the cord to start the works. Since the tank gets thoroughly drained in an environmentally sound way (the Hobo boatyard people accept our leftover oil and gasoline), we have had no trouble. The license is renewed by the Monroe county tax people by mail every year, we attach the sticker and hang out the boot number, on a board, toss in our life jackets and paddles. The engine has enough power to plane, skimming the bay's surface, and we cross the Blackwater Sound towards the Duesenberry Gap, an alley leading through the mangrove islands, with many narrow channels, where you can slowly troll, nearly soundlessly, observing the fish and the birds at leisure. The only other mankind are the rare fellow boaters, although a dereligt boat was anchored for years in one of the channels, housing some homeless people who would not respond to being hailed, we were told. We respected their solitude.
Homelessness in the Keys is present, in Key West, while sippig tea at the Pier Hotel's deck you can observe some similad derelict boats, desk covered with worn household items, people living on whatever income comess their way, perhaps by doing juggling or telling stories on the Mallory Pier at sunset. In Key Largo the homeless are invisible, the town park does not have such residents, and only once on an early walking visit, have I seen an unkempt youth furtive ly slide into the immaculate bathrooms, for morning washup.
Back to boating the canals and meeting crocs and aalligators -to be continued
A Condo In The Keys, or My Boat Lives in My Closet, And Other Pleasures Of The Simple Life in Key Largo, by Wally Dobelis. Copyright M. C. Dobelis, 2006.
The Florida Keys are rocky outcroppings in the Atlantic Ocean, not very sandy. For beach life in Key Largo we depend on the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park's small sandy halfmoon at MM 102, the Harry Harris State Park near MM 92.5 and, particularly, the beautiful Sombrero Beach in Marathon, turn left at the traffic light at MM 50. Most of the time we swim in the bay, right off the marina pier, ignoring the tarpons who live under it.
Most pleasant swimming companions are the manatees, who come to the pier in search of sweet water, and the kids, squealing with joy, lower the water hose right into their open mouths.
Swimming with the manatees is another pleasure, touching their rough and cold skin. A friend and real esstate broker, whose father has a house on a canal where th manatees come frequently, in search of discarded wilted cabbagess and other enticements, often sjumps in the water to scrub their backs, freeing them of barnacles and other adhesions. All of the above activities involving the protected gentle giant sea cows are illegal, but manatee lovers just cannot desist.
The big water activity in the Keys is boating, whether you fish, trap crabs, catch lobster, snorkel or scuba dive. Snowbirds often arrive with boat trailers, bringing their cabin cruisers along, some of them quite large. My friends have 16-footers, good for the bay and also the ocean, on easy days. The canal at MM 104 connects the two.
Boats are a pleasure and a care. Having a dock site is great but you also have to store your trailer (a seasonal rental fee), and find a winted docing space, unless you are willing to pull them up and down the North American continent every season I say continent because some of my fellow condo people are from Quebec. Professional three-story boat storages can be found all along US 1 , a scary sight when one thinks of the high wind seeason. During Wilma they survived. People who want to save money, find storage with locals who have back yards, the same people who will store your trailer during the season, a source of small but steady income.
Some years ago, wanting the pleasure of boating upon demand but not willing to have the trouble of boat care, this family invested in a 10 1/2 ft. Zodiac, a chambered inflatable and rebuilt one closet in the 2nd bedroom, to accomodate it, as well as an 8 HP outboard engine.
Evry season we drag it out, inflate it with a foot pedal, drag it in the water, down the condo's boat ramp, attach the engine and hold our breaths while pulling the cord to start the works. Since the tank gets thoroughly drained in an environmentally sound way (the Hobo boatyard people accept our leftover oil and gasoline), we have had no trouble. The license is renewed by the Monroe county tax people by mail every year, we attach the sticker and hang out the boot number, on a board, toss in our life jackets and paddles. The engine has enough power to plane, skimming the bay's surface, and we cross the Blackwater Sound towards the Duesenberry Gap, an alley leading through the mangrove islands, with many narrow channels, where you can slowly troll, nearly soundlessly, observing the fish and the birds at leisure. The only other mankind are the rare fellow boaters, although a dereligt boat was anchored for years in one of the channels, housing some homeless people who would not respond to being hailed, we were told. We respected their solitude.
Homelessness in the Keys is present, in Key West, while sippig tea at the Pier Hotel's deck you can observe some similad derelict boats, desk covered with worn household items, people living on whatever income comess their way, perhaps by doing juggling or telling stories on the Mallory Pier at sunset. In Key Largo the homeless are invisible, the town park does not have such residents, and only once on an early walking visit, have I seen an unkempt youth furtive ly slide into the immaculate bathrooms, for morning washup.
Back to boating the canals and meeting crocs and aalligators -to be continued
A Condo In The Keys, or My Boat Lives in My Closet, And Other Pleasures Of The Simple Life in Key Largo, by Wally Dobelis. Copyright M. C. Dobelis, 2006.
# posted by Wally Dobelis @ 8:05 AM 
