SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY
2-4-15 THURSDAY
ADVENTURES ON THE HIGH SEAS
Woke up to a beautiful sunny morning at anchor on Long Key. Small Craft Advisory reported, tried to find a Marina to tuck into in Key Largo with no luck. Since we needed to get further up the coast towards Miami to be there for the Boat Show that Brad is planning to work, it was decided that we would move up the coast a bit. Waves 3-4 with occasional 5-7ft made the trip interesting and a challenge for your boating skills. After a while I got use to it and just started surfing the waves. Thank God for Sturgeron (the new sea sickness medication) it works great, I have not been sick once since we have been there. Anyway we finally made it to Rodriguez Bay where we are currently anchored. Once we got settle in the bay, we took the dinghy to the Catamaran Yard to check it out. This was one of our top options for leaving the boat on the hard. To say I was disappointed in the yard condition is an understatement. My first impression was the dead rat in the water near the yard, not good. I was already not liking this place when I got a glimpse of the rest of the place, it was similar to a junk yard with old boats and parts rusting all over the place. Anyway we went into the office to talk to the Manager about storing our boat there even though I was sure we would not be staying here. But then we were talking with the guy and he sounded very knowledgeable and helpful. So we asked if there was a slip that we could stay in for a couple days while the storm blew threw. He took us in his car to his other property next door which was an RV park that also had a small marina and showed us this spot next to a cement wall that we could use. We declined the offer, the boat would be a more risk being next to a cement wall then being anchored away from all things that can damage your boat. Anyway the guy was amiable enough and quite interesting. He told us several stories about his business and one of his boats. It was a large 50 +ft motorboat called a Striker and evidently it was a drug runner. He said that the owner came into the yard to store the boat one day with his flashy young wife and asked to leave the boat. For awhile he paid the storage fees but then he decided to sell the boat. At that time he also decided to stop paying the storage fees and in fact took off and basically left the boat in the yard. So then the owner of the yard basically boat it and took it over or at least he thought he did until the day the Fed’s came to him wanting the boat back. He then told them the story then had to go to Federal Court to testify in order to get the boat. Now he is stuck with the a boat he didn’t want but now owns. Then he told us another story about how he obtain the land that the yard and the RV park is located on. Basically he ended up getting both properties for no money down. Now he owns about 5-10 acres of land right in the middle of Key Largo and he is busy making it into a mega yacht center, restaurant, marina, RV park. All of it sounds great and he is obviously working on it, you can tell by the construction equipment around but the problem is that it is still just a dream. In about 5 years we should come back to check it out to see if he made this junky place into a palace of his dreams. So the story goes on… we shall see how it plays out, hopefully what he wants will come true, but for now it is not a place we would like to stay for very long.
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