Dinner Key Marina Post Irma

[Delancey]

Of the +100 boats moored or anchored at Dinner Key there are ten boats left. Of the boats parked in the marina more than 90% are still floating, though many sustained major damage.

Several boats on moorings at the marina pulled up the 10' helical mooring anchors and dragged them ashore. Cruisers headed south this year might have to look elsewhere since it could be a while before they get things sorted.

Sorry, no pictures. Couldn't bear to take them.

[model 10]

That was thought of as a hurricane hole. State of the art moorings made it almost seem so. I'm not so sure everybody would get off their boats either.

[Vasco]

Originally Posted by Guy

That was thought of as a hurricane hole. State of the art moorings made it almost seem so. I'm not so sure everybody would get off their boats either.

Can't see how Dinner Key mooring field could be termed a hurricane hole. It's wide open to everything except from the west. Hurricane Harbor across the bay would offer better protection.

[Frankly]

Mooring fields are usually laid out for short scope attachment. Big surge/ waves change the forces from wind/ wave drag to buoyancy forces (the latter typically much larger).

Mooring fields have their place and time but when the big blow comes I want a protected anchorage with plenty of scope and at least two big anchors.

[LEOCAT66]

Originally Posted by Frankly

Mooring fields are usually laid out for short scope attachment. Big surge/ waves change the forces from wind/ wave drag to buoyancy forces (the latter typically much larger).

Mooring fields have their place and time but when the big blow comes I want a protected anchorage with plenty of scope and at least two big anchors.

Hoping for some input on Boot Key Harbor mooring field, probably the same if not worse. Maybe some of the politicians, who have been forcing cruisers into this apparent trap, might just need to revisit their effort to restrict anchoring.

[Cormorant]

The Atlantic Monthly has a page of hurricane damage photos that includes a few from Dinner Key. Photo#21 has the widest view of the damage, though even it doesn't begin to show all...

https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/20...tm_source=feed

[RichandHelen]

Originally Posted by Cormorant

The Atlantic Monthly has a page of hurricane damage photos that includes a few from Dinner Key. Photo#21 has the widest view of the damage, though even it doesn't begin to show all...

https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/20...tm_source=feed

We have a slip in Dinner Key Marina. We prepped quite thoroughly removing Jenny, Bimini, thoroughly tying off everything. We doubled or tripled dock lines. We pulled the power cord and hose etc and put it below. We removed all valuables and took them home. We put up fender boards port and starboard.

While every boat on the tee piers sank as did several on our pier, we survived with only some hull scratches.

[svHyLyte]

Notably, every photo I have seen of wrecked yachts littering shorelines have shown them to have their sails--or what's left of their sails--still bent on.

[zeehag]

dinner key folks...dwayne hope is missing. if you happen to come across him in your cleanup and rebuilding, folks are looking for him. he lived in a house boat in dinner key area.

[rognvald]

We kept a boat at Dinner Key Marina for ten years as our home base. After Andrew, 99% of the boats left in the marina were destroyed--sunk, impaled on pilings or floated inland to Tigertail road. The only ones who survived found a place in the mangrove canals. This storm has had far less damage, in comparison to Andrew, but that is easy to say if you didn't lose your boat. Condolences to those who were less fortunate in Irma.

[Roniszoro]

There are some boats at the bottom at Dinner Key Marina that were totally stripped and prepared and some that weren't but are still floating. Go figure. But luck happens more frequently to the well prepared. Some pilings broke and no matter what you do, that doesn't help keeping the vessel from getting damaged. That was my case despite all my prep.

[Drift Woods]

I was moored at Dinner Key and moved my boat into a slip for the storm . Two days before we got hit I reread the morning contract and it said at the bottom mooring wasn't suitable for a hurricane. I have Allstate insurance and was afraid they wouldn't pay a claim.

[Roniszoro]

When the City of Miami was getting the funding for the mooring field it was sold as a mooring field with Category 1 moorings. I'm sure the contract is to cover their butts. But the serge, which was very substantial, was the biggest cause of the damage as it popped out the mooring anchors and laid up boats against weak piling, some of which failed.

[JayH]

Originally Posted by LEOCAT66

Hoping for some input on Boot Key Harbor mooring field, probably the same if not worse.

Boot Key Harbor did not fare well. Out of 226 moorings, I count 60 that still have boats on them (including some that look submerged). The mooring balls are still there, so the screws didn't pull out. I can't wait to hear the damage reports to find out where the failures were.

The Key West mooring field is also a mess with lots of empty balls and boats scattered around on shore.

https://storms.ngs.noaa.gov/storms/irma/index.html

[Captaink73]

Wow! After reading this, I don't feel too bad about how mine held up. I'm a few miles North of Dinner Key and just had a few scratches in the gel coat and a small gash it the bow.