Capt. Fritter

Back in the late 1960′s cars were all about speed and power.  It was the muscle car era.  Every wannabe gearhead teenage boy worth his acne knew the engine specs, 1/4 mile speeds, and gear ratios of all the most popular models on the market.  (I was into jeeps then, as I am now).   Gas was cheap, under .30￠a gallon.  Nobody had a clue nor cared anything about fuel economy or emission standards.  It was all about sexy, sleek, lines, four on the floor, and impressive noises from under the hood.

Of course reality was quite different.  Our first cars were not quite the models we had hoped for.  The day I graduated from high school, this is what was waiting for me in the driveway:

Fill it with oil and check the gas.

I was happier than a porcine in feces when I got it.  Twice as happy when I got rid of it.  What a piece of shit.  And that’s saying a lot considering the crap that has come out of the minds of the auto makers.  It burned oil, was slow, and handled poorly, but I did a lot of cruising and disappointed a lot of wimmen with that car.

The bad part though was when I got it, I also got the payment book with it.  And an extra accessory:  car insurance.  And maintenance, and gas, and oil, and all the rest that comes with owning a car.  Not long after I got it, the first oil embargo hit and I never saw .30￠gas again.  So right out of the gate, as soon as I became a high school graduate, and prepared to waste the next two years in college, I was in debt.  While it seemed really cool to have my own wheels, I really wish I had never gotten that car.  A few dollars in the bank account would have done me more good.  But, my parents grew up believing that a vehicle was essential and car payments were mandatory.  They each had their own car so mine made three.

That was over 30 cars/trucks/jeeps/and motorcycles ago.  I saw the light two years ago, sold my beloved jeep, and have been pedaling and hoofing it ever since.  While I miss the jeep because, well, it was a jeep, I don’t miss all the costs there in to owning one.  The payments, the insurance, the maintenance, the fuel, the traffic, the traffic laws.  I won’t say never but it’s very unlikely I will get another one anytime soon.  Just not worth it.

So, I come across this interesting study recently and it seems I am not alone:  Why aren’t younger Americans driving anymore?  It seems young folks ain’t all that interested in getting new cars, going into debt, and keeping the oil companies afloat.  Most of it appears to economics.  Debts from school, costs of owning said vehicles, and the average worker bee wage don’t allow much room for car payments.  $4 a gallon gas don’t help.  Staying connected through technology makes a difference too.  Say what you want about the youth of today, at least they are showing some smarts.

When I was first driving it was fun.  Go load up your friends and go cruising around.  Take nice drive up into the mountains to the lake.  On summer vacation head for the ocean.  It was cheap.  You didn’t have to worry about red light cameras, traffic jams, or relying on others to get you around.  Pass the hat around to your cohorts and you could get enough gas for a couple of dollars to go anywhere.  Now?  Driving sucks.  It really does.  Too much congestion, high fuel prices, and over priced cars with way too much crap in them.  Gone are the days where you could repair something with a pair of pliers and a screwdriver.  Everything is electronic and requires a computer to diagnose, and lots of cash to replace the part.  Car dealers have always been obnoxious and dishonest.  Lately they seem to be taking it all to new levels of incompetence and thievery.  (Go find the movie Suckers and watch it.  You will never buy another car again).

Face it, the whole car culture is in decline.  People are getting smarter about this.  Moving to places that are not so car centric.  The smart communities are rebuilding themselves into areas where you can walk, bike, or take mass transit easier than relying on a vehicle.  The convenience factor is no longer outweighing the downsides of the debt, costs, and stress of driving.  It’s nice to see at least the ones that the auto industry are targeting the most are also the ones who are turning their backs on the lifestyle.  We may never be car free, and maybe something more better will come out of all this, but as I have said before and will continue to say:  If you can somehow get by without a vehicle, by all means do it.  You will save thousands of dollars every year and be more content.

Capt. Fritter

I really hated that car.

On this trip we went snorkeling, kayaking, stand up paddle boarding, saw some dolphin, sea turtles, and some sharks.  It was a beautiful day with the water temp in the low 80′s , lots of sunshine , and good company.

That is a 4 foot bull shark right along the beach.

That is what a 4 foot bull shark does to a fishing hook. On his next cast, Chris hooked a spinner shark, about 5 or 6 feet long. Spinners come out of the water and spin when hooked. Hence the name. It snapped some 35 pound test braided fishing line like it was nothing.

What did you do this weekend?  Trip to Home Depot or wallymart?  Work on the house?  Fix the car?  You are missing out on life people.  Go start living yourself some.

Capt. Fritter

45 days behind schedule.

I know, I’m totally floored by this revelation too.

So why is it behind by a month and a half?  Weather delays, holiday and event delays, digging into the old roadbed and finding unexpected obstacles like old pipe lines that were not known to be there, in other words, stuff that should have been built into the time frame when the bids were made.  Really, are you trying to tell us that you didn’t expect high winds along an open sea wall?  Or torrential downpours onto a tropical island with no drainage where the water will fill any hole you open into the ground?  Or that there is a party on this island for something every single week and every drunken tourist on the planet will try to make their way here at some point?  Or that an island that has had civilization on it for nearly 500 years would have unknown things buried under the surface?  And now we have another hurricane season about to kick in?

Keep in mind that the contractors are bound by the time restraints they promised to the island to have this mess completed on time.  They get a bonus if they finish early, and pay a fine for everyday they run over.  Who wants to bet that as the deadline approacheth corners will be cut, and the quality of the work will suffer?

No matter.  We all still have to deal with the detours, the debris, and the traffic.  Come October it will get even more interesting.  That is when they are due to have the outside westbound lanes done.  Then the detours will shift to the newly finished road and they will start on the inside eastbound lanes.  How this will affect the bike lane is unknown.  I read someplace where the temp bike lane is there for the duration of the project, meaning that the new bike path and seawall will be one of the last things to get done.

Avoid the area when possible.  Use South Roosevelt or the middle bike paths on Duck/Eagle/Flagler.  Ride safe and keep your head on a swivel.

Reminder:  Memorial Day weekend is coming up next week and it will be busy on the islands.  Memorial Day is the first big holiday of the summer and one of the busiest boating weekends in the Keys.  Expect lots of extra traffic, areas around boat ramps to be packed, and plenty of drinking down on Duval.  A bike is still the best way to get around the island but be wary of busy intersections and late night revelers.  Don’t ride without lights at night, stick to the less busy paths and back streets to get around, and lock your steed up when you go anyplace.  The weekend will be fun, but very busy.

Capt. Fritter

Note:  A neighbor and I were talking the other day and she wondered if I had noticed that drivers seem to be getting more aggressive about sharing the island with bicycles?  To be honest, I haven’t but I do tend to ride a bit more cautiously.  If I am trying to cross a particularly busy intersection I may just stop and wait for traffic to clear.  Going down a bike lane if I hear a diesel engine behind me or a car coming fast, I may duck off to the sidewalk or out of the way and let the bastard go by.  If I do run into any more road rage or aggressive attitudes I will let you know.  All the same, assume they cannot see you on a bike and if they do, they will try to run you over.

While at the other marina the office girl did give me the name of someone who owned a floating house in the marina with four apartments.  I looked at the houseboat, which didn’t look too seaworthy, but gave him a call anyways.  1 bedroom, 1 bath, partially furnished, central air, all the usual.  I’m thinking around $1000 to $1200.  $1800!  Thank you.  (Click).

So you can see what I am up against here.  Better to be finding all this out now instead of later when I may not have but hours and not weeks or months to get out.  This is why I am being proactive on getting another slip or something else.  I can chose to be picky, and not be boxed into something I can’t afford.

What I really don’t want to happen, but I am afraid it will, is to wind up with nothing affordable in Key West, and have to move back up the islands to Marathon or even Key Largo.  It could take a very long time to be able to come back down here and while the move is only 50 miles or so, there is a big difference in the islands.  I do like Marathon and it has all I want and need.  It just doesn’t have the character nor does it have as many opportunities as Key West.  Still, it’s an easy $8 round trip by bus back to Key West when I need to come down.  But, I would just as soon stay here someplace.

And there is always the cruising option.  Go find the boat I want, stay here as long as I can.  Fix the boat up for some serious moving on the water stuff. And start plotting a course around the Keys and Florida waters.  Find all the little hidden islands, marinas, gunkholes, and other places to stay.  Try to operate the app business where enough income is coming in to support my lavish lifestyle and get on any waiting lists for slips back here.  A bit risky but fun.  Problem is that most marinas will charge more for short term visits as opposed to month longs.  Unless I stay on the hook, rent will not be much less.

Nothing is simple.  As I look around at land based alternatives I am starting to realize how little I want to go back to apartment living.  Some of the rv ads which speak in car dealerese make me want to puke at the thought of dealing with another vehicle, even one I can live in.  Leaving the Keys and going back to the mainland someplace is not an option.  Never was.  I might enjoy a cruise up the ICW or around the state, but moving back to someplace like Orlando ain’t happening.  It’s either the Keys, or that other group of islands I mention every now and then.

For those of you who live on the mainland, in houses and apartments, and own vehicles, and do your “normal” life routines, it’s about impossible to explain island life and why it appeals so much to me.  Island attitudes are different.  People seem more content, despite the financial hardships.  Phrases like “Living on island time” or “Key’s disease” are not just buzz words.  They describe very real conditions here.  All I need to do sometimes is just take a bike ride around the island to remind myself how special it is on this rock.  Even when I go to the store, I ride along the ocean.  I remember once coming out of the old Publix and a family of tourists was walking in.  The mother said to the kids, “Look, you can see the ocean across the street from the grocery store!”.  The kids weren’t impressed but you could tell the mother was.  It’s all that little stuff that makes island living worth it.  Riding through the gingerbread neighborhoods of Old Town.  The sunsets.  The chickens running loose on the streets.  The drag queen riding the pink scooter wearing way too much cologne.  It’s Key West, it’s the Florida Keys.  There ain’t no other place like it in the world.  And no matter how many Pritam Singhs come here and throw money around, it will still be the Keys.

Next week I will be making my annual pilgrimage to Pa. to visit family.  We’ll eat a lot and then drive around my old stomping grounds, look at the house I grew up in, visit graves, and talk about things past.  To me, it will be like visiting a foreign country.  I might just as well get a Conch Republic passport because I will feel like a complete stranger there.  I will see people I have known for years, relations and friends. And when we talk about our lives, my life here on the island is a complete polar opposite of how these people live.  The idea of not owning a vehicle is completely lost on them.  They simply cannot conceive of life without a vehicle.  They have no conception of living on a boat. They don’t know anything about tides, currents, nor navigation.  The concept of walking around barefoot is totally alien to them.  Most of their skin has never seen sunlight.  All they know about Key West is Buffett and booze.  Those few who may have come here for vacation did nothing more than get a sunburn, a t-shirt, and a hangover.  They have no idea of all the hidden treasures here.  The mangroves where we run our kayak tours, the reefs, hell, they are surprised we even have flushing toilets here. (Exactly where I would love to know).   You can’t find any Key Lime Pie anywhere up there.  (But they do have Middleswarth Potato chips!).  The weather will be cold and rainy.  You won’t find a palm tree anywhere.  There are these large land masses that get in the way of the sunsets.  Mountains, I believe they are called.  I still can’t believe that I lived up there for 23 years.  And nobody up there understands why I left.  To them, the valleys and dells of Pa. are the greatest place in the world and why would anyone in their right mind ever want to leave such a wonderful place.

I guess we all have someplace we like to call home.  Here in the Keys, I may not have much, but it does feel like home.  The weather is right, the water is right, and I can put up with all the downsides just fine.  I have no idea what the coming storm will bring my way.  I may have to leave Key West for a little while, I may end up finding another place and be here the rest of my life.  But I am pretty damn sure that no matter what, for the rest of my life, an island will always be home.

Capt. Fritter

Since she launched her Journey back in May of last year, she has succeeded in reducing a sizable portion of her debt, gotten rid of some crap, and has not lost focus of her goals.  But when she began her blog she went with wordpress.com.  A free and quite usable version of wordpress ideal for beginners and temporary type blogs.  But now she is ready to step up to the big time and after we talked things over during the past week, I have now built for her a fully functional death star wordpress.org blog as a part of the Fritter network.

If you have been following her Journey in the past you won’t see a whole lot of difference in the new blog from the old.  Most of the changes are behind the scenes.  The new blog will have more features, it will be easier to find in the search engines, and Julia will have more control over what she can do with it.

She has a great little blog started here and now that she has joined the dark side it will only get better.  Go take a look, bookmark the site, or join her email subscribers, and follow Julia’s Journey To Minimalism.

Capt. Fritter

The first boat was a 43 foot ketch with no working motor.  The girl who lives on it has another slip lined up here in the marina but it won’t be available for two weeks.  So she arranged to move the boat over on the seawall where most transient boats stay for short term.  With the help of a couple of small dinghies, and despite a strong south east wind, we managed to get her over to the new spot without incident.  But I did get to talk to her at length about the pending sale, how it will affect us, and of course, Pritam Singh.

Turns out she actually works for Singh at one of his other resorts and I was completely wrong about him.  Singh is really a humanitarian with a heart of gold and would like nothing more than to help turn our fair marina into a much more better place for all the current residents……..just kidding.  The man is every bit as evil a prick as I made him out to be.  A micromanaging greedy bastard who rules by intimidation and coercion.  He would stomp on his own mother’s throat if it made him more money.   And his wife is an overbearing queen of the harpies, who looks down upon all others as mere mortal worker bees, unworthy to be on the same planet, good for only what they can produce for the hive.  No word on if she keeps a stable of flying monkeys at the ready.  In other words, we are fucked here at the marina.

I also talked to another fellow live aboard, one who makes his living doing sailing charters, and he had some interesting views on this subject.  He believes that when Singh buys this place he is going to approach all the dock owners about the changes he wants to make.  He will probably, in the opinion of my friend, make outlandish promises that if the dock owners kick out all the current renters who are paying way too little for their slips, and let him bring in all his rich friends with bigger yachts, bigger charter boats, and more money, who will gladly pay much higher dock rent to have a slip here in Key West, then everyone gets rich.  Except of course the current renters, and most likely any of the slip owners who buy into his scheme.  But, there is a snag in his cunning plan.

The dock owners of this marina are a very loose and varied group of people.  For example, one slip is owned by a little old lady who lives in a nursing home in Tampa, probably unaware of even what she owns.  Another is owned by a guy who bought the slip just so he could have a place to park his boat that he spent years and tens of thousands of dollars to restore, and never takes out on the water.  My slip is owned by one person, and sublet to a couple from Canada.  Nice folks and they like me because I pay the rent on time, at least so far.  Trying to get all these people to agree to whatever scheme Singh presents to them will be difficult.  He could start trying to buy out slips as I said, but if he could avoid that and maybe get slip owners tied into contracts to only lease out their slips to his clients, then the rest of us will be homeless.

Then there is Cuba.  It’s pretty much a given that the U.S. will soon end it’s ridiculous embargo of Cuba and open up normal relations again.  Rumor has it since old Fidel is out of the way, the new government sees money in tourist dollars from the U.S.  Supposedly they are in the midst of renovating much of the island to get ready for the onslaught.  When this happens, Key West and all of the Keys, which are just 90 miles away will be the jumping off point for everyone wanting to go to Cuba.  There will be ferry boats, charters, and any marina like the one I am in will try to become a port of entry so it can be utilized to provide services for this mass migration.  There won’t be no room for no live aboards when all this comes down, anywhere in the Keys.  Singh knows this and wants to be on the receiving end of all the piles of money people are going to want to spend to sail to Cuba.  Hence, his interest in the marina.  So, no matter what, my days of living here in this particular marina, at such a cheap rent, are numbered.  It is just a question of when the broadsides will begin firing.  That is why I am getting proactive on finding a new place/boat/rv/whatever.  Which brings up the second boat we moved.

The second sailboat belongs to my kayak company and two of the guides live on it.  They had to be off the slip and so far have the option to return in the fall when the scouts leave.  So they looked around and found a slip at a small nearby marina here on Stock Island and that is where we moved the boat. I knew about this little marina but never looked that close at it until today.  It is very different from where I am at the moment.  It is also a working marina with many charter boats and small businesses operating on the property.  There is a popular locals restaurant with a bar and live music.  All the amenities that one would expect to find in such a place.  But it is also an older place and is what we call, very “keysy”.  In other words, it looks like what the old marinas in the Keys used to look like.  Old weathered buildings, the walls of the bar are covered with old license plates, pictures of Hemingway, and other memorabilia left behind by patrons past, there are shrimp boats across the canal, there are no sterile cookie cutter landscapes that look like a page out of a Home Depot catalog.  It has peaked my interest to say the least.  But there are some downsides, as always.

The slips at this marina are way different.  There are no side docks.  All you have is a seawall and two pilings.  You back your boat in between the pilings, tie off the bow to said pilings, and your stern to the seawall.  Unless you can get close enough without damaging the ass end of your boat, you will need some sort of gangplank to get on and off the boat.

The marina sits away from the ocean so the winds are not as strong.  In fact, on the north side of the marina, which is a small inlet, there is no wind at all.  While this comes in real handy in bad weather, it means no air for ventilation and probably a lot of skeeters to deal with.

And there is the noise from the bar.  They have live music on weekends, all the noise you would expect from a bar, and drunk bar patrons occasionally making their way around the property, although the slips are sort of protected.

And finally there is the cost.  The slip my kayaking cohorts are moving into will cost $825 a month plus electric.  They have mandatory cable for $30 a month and internet also for $30 a month.  Not sure if that is included in the slip rent.  Plus included in the slip rent is a $50 per person live aboard fee.  So this place does a lot of nickle and dime stuff.

Never the less, I walked around while I was there and the place kinda sorta appealed to me.  And apparently there are other slips available.  While I am not particularly keen on paying another $200 a month in rent and electric, I am already getting weary of all the rumors flying around this marina pending the Dark Lord and the Wicked Witch of the West coming in here and starting shit.  (One of the assets they will own is the bathhouse.  I can just see in my paranoid little brain getting up the day after the sale closes and having the bathhouse and laundry declared off limits to us renters.  It could happen.  Which I would then seek out Singh’s office to use as a toilet).  Paranoia or not, I expect nothing good to happen once this sale takes place and the sooner I can find someplace else the better.  I’ll sleep better.  So, some time this week I am going to mozie on over to this other marina and find out all the sordid details on slip cost and availability.  Even if something came up later in the summer and I had my name on it, it would work for me.  I might do the same for the one city marina in town where I would really like to be.  Might as well get started on this while I can.

It’s pretty much a given that I will get rid of this boat and on to something else.  I have a line on yet another ODay up in the upper Keys for sale.  I may have a line on a crappy little apartment in Old Town for later in the summer.  Hard to say what will happen.  I am tempted, if the ODay is what I want, to sell this boat and give up the slip at the same time.  Take my chances on the cold, cruel, open sea with no home, no hope of rescue, and no flushing toilets.  I could probably get a few more dollars for the boat if I package the slip with it.  Let the new owner deal with all the bullshit.  Then put my name on the waiting list for the slips I mentioned above, go get the ODay in the upper Keys, stay at a few spots up there and in Marathon for a month or two until the slips come open, and then head back to here.  Or I may find a more better spot up Marathon way somewhere.  As long as I had a vessel that can move across the water and keep everything else as simple as possible it would work out.  I’ve been without ac now for a week and doing fine.  If I could scrape up some extra cash I could add in a solar panel for electric.  It all sounds good on electrons.  Making it happen for real, that will be the adventure.  Nothing gonna happen ’til after Memorial Day.  But it don’t hurt to start scheming now.

Capt. Fritter

If there is one silver lining to all of this it’s a given that Singh and his ilk are salivating at the possibilities of moving to Cuba and spreading their claws on that island.  Then we would be rid of them here in the Keys.

This situation didn’t surprise me nor will it hurt me.  I’m not scared and I’m not apprehensive about what is coming.  I’m not even mad about it…well, maybe just a little, but not much.  It would be nice if I had a few more bucks in the bank but that will all come in time.  I have adjusted my lifestyle to blow with the winds, not agin them.  It would be bad if I was a slip owner here, or if I had an established brick and mortar business that I could not move, or if I had a family to think of.  The fact is, I  have none of that and since I fully expected this sort of thing to happen, as it has many times in the past, I can adjust accordingly.

I’ve learned, through many similar experiences, that one can never just sit back, relax, and live quietly.  Ain’t happening.  That cushy job that pays well, the nice home you have, everything, from property to vehicles to careers, can all be taken from you in some way, shape, or form.  Once you learn to not value things, once you learn that it’s way easier to lose stuff than to acquire it, you simply have less stuff.  The less you have, the less you have to lose.

I was looking around at the marina today and stopped to talk a moment with another live aboard who is fixin’ to leave, in a move unrelated to the pending sale.  I told him my thoughts and he agreed.  Many others here in the marina are in denial.  Nothing will change, it will be the same, or so they think.  They will be the ones who get hurt.

There are well over 150 boats in the water here at this marina.  Another 250 or more in dry storage or parked in the lot.  There are many businesses operating through these boats.  Charters, rentals, and several retail operations in the buildings.  There are a lot of liveaboards, and many boats are rented out as accommodations to tourists.  It is in effect, a small community here.  There is commerce, residents, and visitors.  Money flows through here.  People have come to rely on this place to make a living.  And whether they believe it or not, big changes be a coming.  Very few of them will be ready for it.  When the time comes, despite all the warning signs, they will be unable to cope with the changes.  They will be totally unprepared to either adapt to the new regime or take the necessary steps to continue on someplace else, either out of stubbornness, pride, or denial.  And it will cost them dearly, financially and emotionally.

I don’t pretend to have any special smarts over these people, nor to I profess to be a seer of the future.  But I have a lot of personal experience with this sort of thing and I can pretty much guess what is coming down over the next year or two.  Which is why I am going to begin to do something else that I do have a lot of experience at…covering my own ass.  While I may be weak financially, (hell, when have I never been weak financially?), I have nothing to lose.  Sure, a cheap place to live in Key West.  But how long did I expect that to last?  It’s already been way longer than I thought it would be.  And many things could happen between now and when ever it is that I chose to leave, or am forced out of the marina.  A special deal here, another slip someplace else that I didn’t think of, anything is possible.

I don’t begrudge Singh or his kind.  They are what they are.  I have never been wealthy, never will be, and cannot relate to the way the wealthy live and do things.  I guess I don’t have the drive, the desire, nor the ego to casually destroy others to further my own interests.  While I seek to at least make a livable wage to maintain my exotic lifestyle, (cannon balls and swashes with buckles don’t pay for themselves these days),  I no longer strive to be wealthy nor do I have any idea what I would do if I acquired such wealth.  I have found my own place in the universe and made my own peace with it.  As for the wealthy, in the end, they will die like the rest of us.  The man may be able to take my current home away from me, but beyond that, he is meaningless in my life.  When I leave here I will not give him a second thought.  Singh is of no importance to me.

As for the immediate future, I am leaning towards another boat, something smaller, more better sailing condition, and begin a life of cruising for a while.  It has more appeal as I look at alternatives like rv living or finding an apartment.  All I need to do is find the right situation, and I will.  I know what is coming, I know what I want, I just need to make it happen.  It’s not a bad thing, it is simply a new journey, an opportunity to go on another adventure that I wasn’t expecting.  And sometimes those are the best kind.

Capt. Fritter

Then again, it would be nice to be able to just sit here on my fat ass and enjoy Key West for a few more years.  I am getting a bit old for this bovine fecal matter.

Pritam Singh

If you are unfamiliar with the name, Pritam Singh pretty much owns most of the Keys.  He is one of the most successful real estate developers in the country.  He has come in and bought up huge swaths of land in Key West and the rest of the islands over the last 30 years and redeveloped that land into high end expensive hotels, resorts, condos, and other monstrosities of the modern world.  If there is one single man who is responsible for taking everything that the Keys was, bulldozing it over, and turning it into a rich man’s playground with sterile cookie cutter resorts, gated communities, and destroying any chance of an affordable lifestyle for us great unwashed, Singh is that man.  He has his fingers into nearly every major redevelopment project in the Keys, and he is fixin’ to buy the very marina where I currently reside.

If you read over Singh’s website they portray him as a kind soul, a philanthropist, someone who respects the environment.  He is into Sikh religion, changed his name to the current one, but make no mistake.  He is a ruthless and greedy son of bitch who will let nothing stand in his way to build more resorts here in the Keys.  And he is about to wrap his claws around my happy little home.

I’ve been asking around about what is going on here with the sale.  As a renter and not an owner, information I get is pretty well diluted by the time it reaches my lower level.  There are lots of rumors flying about what is in store for this marina and how it will affect those of us who live here.  But I can pretty much guess where this is all going.

The marina is two separate entities.  There is the marina operation itself with boat storage, fuel dock, bait store, and some boat related businesses on site.  There is a ramp where anyone from the outside can come in and launch their boat for a fee, pretty much your standard marina operation.  Then there are the docks, most of which are individually owned in what is called a dockominium.  Like a condo only wetter.  There are owners, a home owners association, and said owners have options to live at their slips, rent them out to others as is my case, or operate a business such as charter fishing from them.  So what will happen when the Singh Corporation gets a hold of the marina end?  That is where the rumors will fly.

No doubt one of the first things that will happen is the big boat storage buildings will come down.  The hundred or so boats stored within will have to find someplace else to keep their boats.  These are dry storage racks, btw, where you pay to keep your boat high and dry on rack and when you want to go out on the water you come down, the marina picks up the boat drops it in, and then puts it back when you are done.  Most likely, these storage buildings will be replaced by hotel/condo/townhouses.  More over priced high end residential units because they make more money than some renter with a 20 foot boat who comes down once a month to go fishing.

Then, they will set their sights on the dockominiums. Slowly but surely, offers, big fat offers will be made to buy out each and every slip on the docks.  Once a controlling interest is achieved, and trust me, it won’t take long, then Singh can make up whatever rules he wants.  And I guarantee you, those rules will not allow the likes of me and my little scow to remain in this happy little place.

This is all rumor, conjecture, and paranoia on my part, but I am pretty sure this is what is about to happen.  Nobody is going to come, drop millions of dollars to create a high end resort, and let some broken down old captain with a boat that ain’t seaworthy stay here.  Ain’t happening.  The biggest question is simply, how soon will this all come about?

The actual closing of the sale of the marina is to happen sometime in June.  I hear there are delays for the usual little things that happen in a huge deal like this but the deal will be finalized this summer.  After that, it is hard to say how soon all of us live aboards will be kicked out.  It could happen quickly, it may not happen for a year or two.  Either way, it is time for me to start planning and looking for something else.

Live aboard slips in Key West were hard to come by to begin with.  The marina where I had the apartment is undergoing a major upgrade, as is the marina on the north side of Stock Island which has changed owners and is getting rid of liveaboards.  That leaves the city marinas, where prices are high and there is a waiting list for slips, the mooring field, which brings up a whole ‘nother set of issues, or sailing away to someplace else.  Marathon, the upper Keys, it’s pretty limited.  So, I will be keeping all options on the table:

Keep this boat, get it in sailing condition with what little resources I have, and find another slip someplace.  Unlikely as the boat is simply not worth the money nor effort.  I would be better off to sell it outright.

Find another boat, like I was trying to do with the ODay.  A better option in that the ODay would be in more of moving type condition so I could bring it here and stay until they force me out at the point of a cutlass.  Then what?

Get on the list for a possible slip at Garrison Bight?  That could take years.  Go to Marathon or one of the other islands and see what I could find?

Take whatever boat I wind up with and become a cruiser, rather then a stationary live aboard.  Sail from port to port around Florida, maybe even go off to the Bahamas on occasion.  I can continue to build apps as long as I have internet someplace.  I can keep a land address at the UPS store.  Very tempting to do so.  How long I would want to live like that and how difficult it would be remains to be seen.  Whatever boat I had would need to be very self sufficient.  But it bears more than a passing thought.  A year or two sailing around might not be such a bad way to live.

Or, get off the boat and:

Find an rv.  I lived in rv’s for years, always enjoyed it, and I would have no qualms about doing it again.  Find something small, maybe a Class B or a small trailer towed by a jeep.  It would mean back into a vehicle again, and rv lots in the Keys are a bit scarce and expensive, especially in winter.  Or go do some boondocking around the country.  Get some travel in while I still can.

Or sell the boat and find land based accommodations.  An apartment or whatever.  It would mean more expensive rent, high utility bills, landlords, leases, and all that bullshit.

The options are there.  It’s now just a matter of timing and expense as to which way I want to go.  I do not want to leave Key West.  Not yet anyways.  I like it here and it took me a long time to get here.  I can do fine in Marathon or one of the lower Keys even, but I really like Key West, despite all the hardships and expense.  Down the road, Hawaii beckons, but not quite yet.  These islands are where I want to be right now.  The smaller boat or the rv looks like the best options for the moment.  Cruising or boon docking both have a lot of appeal, even though I wouldn’t be in the Keys all the time.  And as usual, I am operating from a position of weakness, meaning no money.  But I have been in similar situations before and I do have some advantages.

I have no debt, own no property, save the boat, and have no job tying me down.  I may lack the funds but not the ability to move.  Packing up the backpack and slinging a cat over each shoulder is a heluva lot easier than a moving van.  So it’s just a matter of choosing my next adventure.

As for the marina sale, unlike the saga over at A Simple Life Afloat,  I have no need nor desire to fight this sale.  It will go through and my poor, broke ass ain’t gonna stop it.  People like Singh rule the world, or at least think they do, and peons like myself get swept into the gutters.  It’s the way it is, and the way it will always be.  I knew full well when I finally made it to Key West that my time here would be limited.  Sooner or later, something or someone would come by and stomp my island living dreams into the mud.  On the other hand, stranger things have happened and I could wind up here for a very long time.  Either way, I am cool with it.  I have built my simple lifestyle to be able to adapt to just about any situation that comes long.  I’ll enjoy whatever time I have here and look forward to any change as a new adventure, a new opportunity, and a chance to go in new and unknown directions.

Should be interesting.

Capt. Fritter

Capt. Fritter