Norm, Janet and others: We have been moored at Boot Key Harbor for the past week and I can testify that Marathon is a great success story for "liveaboards" or, as I prefer, full time cruisers. We heard about all of the earlier problems here, but the mooring field and anchorage, which is managed by the City of Marathon, could not be more helpful and welcoming now. The staff is extremely knowledgeable, helpful and friendly. The facilities are amazing and include a huge dinghy dock, a large work room and TV rooms, laundromat, showers, etc. The "Smorgasboat" brings you coffee, newspapers, etc. and there is a free pumpout boat. There is also a beautiful park next door to the harbormaster's building and they are now in the process of building a Tiki Hut for the cruisers to use as a meeting place.
There are nearly 300 boats here and lots of them have been here for months some have been here for years. Most of us are on mooring balls, but there are 50 or so good anchorages as well. People come to Boot Key Harbor for a couple of days and end up staying for a couple of weeks or longer. We have patronized a lot of the local business already and they are all super friendly and seem very grateful for our business. This may be in part because the local economy is not in very good shape, but it still gives us a good feeling about being here. I don't know the details of the earlier problems, but there is no hint of bad feelings or anti-cruiser attitudes now. They seem to love us. The harbor community does a very good job of policing itself. There are no noise issues, no jet skis and no derelicts and, best of all, no week-enders. It's far enough up a creek from the deep water that there's no reason for the week-enders to come back here. There's a daily cruiser net on channel 68 that is a model for other cruiser nets. The local WM (the best one I've seen) is a short dinghy ride in one direction and a Publix and Home Depot are an equally short ride in the other direction. There are more great waterfront bars and restaurants than you can possibly visit. If you do manage to get bored here, Key West is a $2.00 (round trip) bus ride away. We spent the day there yesterday and I can tell you that Key West is a whole 'nother story. We just returned from a cruiser's pitch-in on nearby Sombrero beach which was organized by a bartender from one of the local waterfront pubs. His contribution to the pitch-in was a huge cooler full of Tequila Sunrises since today is Easter Sunday. No one went home thirsty or hungry. In short, if you want to be treated like royalty despite being a liveaboard, come to Marathon. You may never leave. Don't tell anyone though....we don't want it to get overcrowded. Phil McGovern s/v Sunshine On Fri, Mar 21, 2008 at 11:55 AM, Norm of Bandersnatch < [EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Janet, > > > There was a big problem with livaboards in Marathon, in the Florida Keys, > but it was eventually, mostly, solved. I don't know who to contact but a > good start would be SouthWinds magazine. > > Norm > S/V Bandersnatch > Lying Julington Creek FL > 30 07.72N 081 38.4W > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > *From:* J Hartman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > *To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > *Sent:* 3/20/2008 3:52:37 PM > *Subject:* [Liveaboard] liveaboard communities > > I am a former liveaboard who has been asked to write an article about > liveaboard communities that organized to protect their rights and perhaps > gained the support of the community. The article must have an overall > positive tone, so battles fought and lost are not appropriate. > > If you are or were part of a liveaboard community that survived a threat, > please e-mail me information about what the problem was and how people dealt > with it. What worked? What did not? > > In return, I would share successful strategies with others still > struggling to survive. A community near me in North Carolina was torn apart > when the big developers moved in. They formed a nonprofit corporation, got > support of local businesses, and hired an attorney, but the politicos were > not convinced. Although they are now scattered, they hope to return one > day. > > If you prefer, you can reply to me off list with "liveaboard" in the > subject. > > Janet > > > _______________________________________________ > Liveaboard mailing list > [email protected] > To adjust your membership settings over the web > http://www.liveaboardnow.org/mailman/listinfo/liveaboard > To subscribe send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > To unsubscribe send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > The archives are at http://www.liveaboardnow.org/pipermail/liveaboard/ > > To search the archives > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] > > The Mailman Users Guide can be found here > http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman-member/index.html >
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