Dinner Key Anchorage

[Phinehas]

As of this morning, a security guard is at the dinghy dock, allowing no one to tie up their dinghy. The reason stated is that they plan to dredge the area. The dinghy dock is scheduled to reopen Jan. 3 (seems like a long time to dredge, no?) according to notes posted at the dock. A check in the Dinner Key Dock office states indefinitely

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Phinehas.

Dinner Key Marina begins $1.4 million dredging effort
➥ Dinner Key Marina begins $1.4 million dredging effort » Marina Dock Age

Or, perhaps it's all part of a larger plot ...

City Hall revives a scheme to do away with Dinner Key Anchorage, Miami's last floating village
➥ Miami News - Anchors Away - page 1

[teejayevans]

Originally Posted by GordMay

Or, perhaps it's all part of a larger plot ...

City Hall revives a scheme to do away with Dinner Key Anchorage, Miami's last floating village
➥ Miami News - Anchors Away - page 1

I'm probably in the minority, but I support this. Trying to find a place to
anchor in Beaufort, Charleston, St Augustine, Miami just to name a few
is almost impossible, making it difficult to cruise the ICW without
spending a fortune.
And many are complete derelicts, if it was up to me, I would just have
a law that all anchored boats must have insurance and that way you
would get rid of most of the floating garbage.
Tom

[GordMay]

TOM:

That story appeared in 1996, and (itself) referred to efforts either to tax or evict the Anchorites, dating from (at least as early as) 1973.

[forsailbyowner]

Thanks a lot Tom. We carry no insurance and appreciate your vote that it should be legislated that we must. I carried car insurance for 30 years I never used once. Golly gee I'm so irresponsible for not carrying it on my boat. We go right by miami due to its unfriendly attitude. No loss here.

[CaptLeo]

I had a GREAT experience at the new Dinner Key Mooring Facility, and I will be back. I too wish I could have been a little closer to the island but an extra 1 minute on my dinghy to go from the 40ft buoys past the 30ft buoys to the dinghy dock is really no big deal.

Yes, they have a max LOA of 42ft and I wish they could add buoys that would take bigger vessels for my friends, but I was just fine.

The staff and management are professional and friendly and seem to bend over backwards to make my wife and I feel at home. The price is unbeatable! Remember this is a major metropolitan area and you can't park your car in downtown Miami for less than $40, BUT you can be on a mooring buoy for only $18/day!! And that includes a parking space if you rent a car like I did.

The office workers in the Coconut Grove pay $600/month to park one car...I paid $300 to keep my boat on a mooring buoy, park my car, have access to showers and laundry and be treated like a king by the staff. I guess I'm getting spoiled in my old age, or maybe with age comes wisdom, wisdom to know a great deal when I see it!

[bella]

Originally Posted by teejayevans

I'm probably in the minority, but I support this. Trying to find a place to
anchor in Beaufort, Charleston, St Augustine, Miami just to name a few
is almost impossible, making it difficult to cruise the ICW without
spending a fortune.
And many are complete derelicts, if it was up to me, I would just have
a law that all anchored boats must have insurance and that way you
would get rid of most of the floating garbage.
Tom

Why is insurance the be all and end all of life?
Having "insurance" does not necessarily make a boat more or less seaworthy.

[bella]

Originally Posted by forsailbyowner

Thanks a lot Tom. We carry no insurance and appreciate your vote that it should be legislated that we must. I carried car insurance for 30 years I never used once. Golly gee I'm so irresponsible for not carrying it on my boat. We go right by miami due to its unfriendly attitude. No loss here.

While Insurance company's deny it, they base your rate on your credit rating more than they will ever admit. I had ample proof of that.. my rates went, for 6 mos, with NO tickets, or accidents, not state rate changes either, from $760 to $1256. The letter I recieved clearly stated that was the reason. I had missed two credit card payments, and caught them up due to being laid off. Your boat insurance is tied to the whole same system.

I have a boat that I have use of now while the owner is not free.. he pays $1500/yr for the basic insurance just to be legal to keep it in a marina.. what IF he had put that money in a money market acount and self insured.. he is making money for himself and not a for profit corporation.

Besides, here in Florida at least, there are already laws on the books that directly affect abandoned and 'derelict' boats.

Another thought on that issue. I have met cruisers who deliberately do not have thier boat be pretty and look expensive. The boats were well maintained, seaworthy. Down below was another story. I don't think I would want to target myself as a rich gringo in some places ya know.. ymmv on this issue.. it is a very subjective issue, one open to a lot of arguments on both sides of the fence..
not intending to offend, and if I do my most abject apologies in advance..

[promax]

back to the point of this post...... Has the dinghy dock reopened?

[teejayevans]

Originally Posted by bella

Why is insurance the be all and end all of life?
Having "insurance" does not necessarily make a boat more or less seaworthy.

Never said it did, but clearly their are derelict boats out there with
no insurance, not maintained, nothing but floating junk and like junk
cars on the side of the road need to be removed. Requiring boats
to have insurance, just like cars must have liability insurance, to
protect the innocent, I don't think is a burden to a boat owner.
Tom

[osirissail]

The insurance requirement is only to absolve the city/owner of a marina from massive liability lawsuits from boaters who have been damaged by your boat. The marina/mooring field contracts always specify that the marina/mooring field is "held harmless" from any liability for their facilities being faulty or another boater causing damage. Without the insurance requirement the marina/mooring field operator would be deluged with lawsuits for improperly screening other boats/owners and or the contractors who installed/maintained the marina/mooring field.
- - Rarely do these "hold harmless" clauses hold up against a persistent attack by a lawyer so the idea is that if you are insured you will simply collect from your own insurance company and not bother to sue everybody in sight.
- - As to eliminating "derelicts" you get into Constitutional problems just like they did years ago with vagrancy laws and trying to run "homeless people" out of town. So they can use improperly maintained or configured equipment (just like cars) to try to eliminate the "undesirables." However, although Florida and probably other States have plenty of these laws for boats, it is expensive to enforce them. In Florida it was reported that it cost the State $30,000 worth of legal hassles and contractors' fees to remove one derelict - and that was back in the 1990's. State/local budgets are not flush with money right now so few if any of these laws are enforced unless it is close to Election time.