Latch - To fasten, to secure, to attach oneself.

Boot Key Harbor is a sheltered safe haven in Marathon, Florida Keys where many ‘live-aboard’ sailors have latched themselves, their boats and their lives, Jonathan and I included. This is a place where many of us have begun the dream of owning our own boats, our exploration vessels and ‘floating homes’ and building our lives. One of the biggest misconceptions about the sailing community is that it is occupied by people with so much disposable income that they buy boats just so that they have something to spend it on. This could not be farther from the truth.

This is Boot Key Harbor City Marina before Hurricane Irma.

Of course, there are a few of those people around, but here in Marathon many boat owners have turned to life aboard as a way to live out their dreams, at the same time choosing to forfeit many of life’s supposed luxuries. Much of the community here live aboard because they couldn’t see it any other way; only life on the water will do. The rest simply couldn’t afford to live any other way here, even if they wanted to; waiters and waitresses, bar staff, mechanics, the trash truck crews, boat yard workers, charter boat crew... These are the people that keep the Florida Keys alive as a tourist destination for the thousands that flock here for their vacations year round. Without them everything would grind to a halt, but when living cheaply on land costs as much as $1500 a month, buying an old boat and nursing it into a tiny floating home for a few thousand dollars is the only way life here is possible. Recently though, Hurricane Irma smashed its way through this community and devastated lives that so many have spent years building.

Our boats are latched in place with anchors, chains and mooring lines. Our hearts latched onto our boats and onto this little island that has taken us in without any discrimination or preconceptions. We have been drawn in to the warmth of Florida and the genuineness of the people. While we, like many others, will soon leave to sail around the world, we still feel latched to this place that we have come to call our home, with our own 46 year old sailboat, S/V Empress, in Boot Key Harbor City Marina.

Life - Existence, being.

Our ‘live aboard life’ here is nothing short of amazing. We have live aboard neighbors who are some of the greatest people we could ever hope to meet. We are a part of a sailing community full of ‘live-aboard’ people, who welcome newbies like us on a daily basis, share their advice and experience and are always there to lend a hand, or an ear, whenever it’s needed.

Some of our neighbors have become more like mentors, teaching us how to live well on a boat, how to maintain and fix our boat and all the invaluable tricks of the trade that make this alternative lifestyle the joy that it is. We spend our days paddle boarding, fixing things, motivating each other, discussing ideas, talking about life and just laughing all day. We visit each others’ boats, share our meals and have drinks together. More than friends, we consider them our family, happy to be in the company of each other. We are very content with our lives and that’s not an easy thing to find these days.

Based on all the information we have from during and after the storm, Hurricane Irma is the biggest storm ever recorded and certainly one of the most devastating seen in this part of the world. The Category 5 winds were measured up to 185 mph, with sustained winds of 130 mph in Marathon. It was so strong that it was picked up as seismic activity by equipment used to measure earthquakes. As the most powerful part of the storm passed over the Florida Keys, the winds along with four to six feet of storm surge poured in from the Atlantic Ocean, tearing homes apart and taking cars from one side of the island to the other. In our beloved Boot Key Harbor, well-secured boats were ripped from their moorings and flung in circles smashing into one boat after another until they were either sunk or pushed into the surrounding mangroves or pushed into the bridges and docks. Hundreds of floating homes and life long dreams destroyed like they were nothing.

Irma hit the Florida Keys as a Category 4 hurricane. Although it eventually weakened into a tropical storm as it travelled up the state of Florida, it still left a huge mess in its wake. It destroyed houses like sheets of paper. It uprooted trees and sign boards. It destroyed more than 75% of the boats in Boot Key Harbor.

Out of around 260 boats, only about 60 of those made it through the hurricane still on their mooring balls, our S/V Empress included. The others? Crumpled against bridges and pilings, slammed into the mangroves, some washed up onto the roads and many whose remains have still not been found... Memories are the only thing that’s left of them.

Love - Definition varies.

As Jonathan and I made our way back, it broke our hearts to see what had happened to Marathon and Boot Key. It’s sad to see people living in tents or at the back of their cars and hard to see our neighbors mourning for the loss of their belongings and their floating homes.

But despite all of the sadness among the community here, we still find hope and love in each and every one of them. The residents of Boot Key Harbor, all the volunteers who came to help and those in the government are showing no weakness in their response to the situations they find themselves in. They are showing nothing but positivity, resilience and love. It’s just empowering to see how the US Government, the NGOs, the volunteers from all over the world, and individuals responded to the disaster. Each are helping each other in their own ways.

It’s here that we want to mention, show admiration, and give thanks to a few of them in this post...

Sean Cannon and the team at Marathon City Marina - In the five days that residents were not permitted back into Marathon, Sean and the City Marina team were working to restore and repair as much as possible to order in the marina and the mooring field. By the time we arrived back on the first day the roads were reopened, basic services were already restored and had been working every hour they could to try to get things ready for people to come and find their homes, or simply to try recover their possessions.

“Diesel” Don and Deana Shuler - Don is a well known member of the Boot Key Harbor community and is one the best boat guys and diesel mechanics around. He is well liked, loved, and highly admired by people here, thanks to his talents, heart and generosity. Having weathered every hurricane in Florida since 1991, all on boats, he also knew where to go to have the best chance of survival. When he went, he took other boats with him and guided them to the best spot he could find, a sheltered up-river cove surrounded by tall mangroves on all sides. He coordinated everything, helping and guiding everyone in getting their boats safely tied up in the thick mangrove branches.

They all managed to survive unscathed, despite the fact that the eye of the storm passed almost directly over their little hurricane hole. When it was all over they probably could have stayed there, likely able to get plenty of work in an area they know so well, but they came back to Marathon as soon as they could to help.

Our boat neighbors Rocky And Donna - The first time we arrived in Boot Key and tied up on the mooring ball next to Rocky’s boat, Osprey, he introduced himself saying he had known Empress since the 1990’s. They had been friends with the previous owner for many years. They are both kind, lovely, and generous people. While I was away traveling in Africa, they would often bring Jonathan bananas from the tree in a garden they looked after!

Donna has lived in Marathon for quite a few years, while Rocky was born and raised in South Florida, also spending much of his life in Marathon as a painter and an art teacher. They both had their own sail boats and when they became a couple over two years ago, they started to plan the next stage of their sailing life together. Rocky bought Osprey, a Seabird ketch, in the 80’s and spent two years rebuilding her by hand in the 90’s. Donna had owned Tigua, a 1971 Alberg, since the early 90’s. When Irma had passed and it was safe to step outside, both of their boats were gone. Just like that, their most loved possessions were taken away by the storm. Donna’s boat has still not been found, while Osprey is wedged into the mangroves, too damaged to repair and rebuild yet another time.

Despite their own losses and unable to contact us in any way, they made sure to check on Empress. As soon as they had the opportunity to check her, they made sure that everything was okay and that she wasn’t sinking. They found Empress’ windows broken and they immediately patched them up.

Without these two, Empress could have taken a lot of damage from the rain, on top of the minor injuries sustained. When we finally saw Empress, the insides were completely dry and just as we had left it, thanks to them!

The Boot Key Marina Community: There were some people who managed to get back into Boot Key earlier by sailing from other parts of Florida. These people did survey reports, patrolled the area, and formulated some idea of where the missing boats might have gone. Business owners offered their services for free where they could. Some residents are giving away free meals and coffee. Some even offer the use of their freezers so leftovers can be saved for the next day!

Alex and the team at SeaTek - Using one of his own boats, Alex was able to send one of his team into Marathon by sea. Him and others took photos of the damaged boats and tried to find out where all the other boats were and in what their condition was. They went out of their way, tried to find the owners, and coordinated with them.

Peter James, Scot Henry, Holly Jolly, Robin Krest, Shannan Lynes, Kenny Mickler, Carolyn Shearlock, and Christine Springfield, Bob Harrington of Tow Boat 1 - Working together, they took a lot of photos of the boats, compiled them, identified them and their owners, and tried to send the photos to their owners so that these people can prepare what they have to do once they get back in. It’s such a big help especially during the times that there was not a lot of media coverage.

Tim Maloy of Backyard Bro's Competition BBQ Team - This guy has been cooking free meals all over the Florida Keys after having Sonny’s BBQ and Skinny’s BBQ donated them some meat. He even agreed to provide some food to the residents of Boot Key Harbor! They brought us delicious pulled pork and pulled chicken with really good BBQ sauce for people all over the community.

Elks Lodge Marathon - A private members’ club which organizes local events and raises funds for good causes, the local Elks have been providing free hot meals for over 4000 people since the hurricane hit. They also collect donations of canned goods, household items and anything else that might help support the local community. They also provided an incredible cooked meal for the harbor, which coincided quite nicely with Diesel Don’s birthday!

I know that there are more people who have been helping and doing great things and we haven’t been able to include everyone, nevertheless, you are all heroes! It’s a very difficult situation now, but recovery centers from all over the State are very efficient. They are bringing down food, ice, and water from all over Florida.

We even used our rental car a couple of times to get toiletries and other supplies to bring them down to the City Marina so the people who are still busy collecting their boats will have a central point to pick up their supplies. Fortunately, Enterprise was extremely understanding about the situation created by the hurricane, so they allowed us to keep the car for an extra week without any charge. A lot of people have been doing a lot to help, so much more than us, and it’s wonderful to see amidst so much loss.

Please show them some love too! We are currently gathering funds for these people to help rebuild and even buy new floating homes! Here’s how you can help some of the now homeless live-aboard people of the Boot Key Harbor:

Send cash or donate important items like tents, kayaks, cleaning products, outboard motors, paddle or anything else which may be beneficial to the sailing community. Please write Sean as the receiver. He is a very good and trustworthy guy in charge of our marina. He will make sure all of your donations will fall into the right hands ❤

You may ship it to the Marina address:

Boot Key Harbor City Marina c/o Sean Cannon (Harbor Master / Ports Director)

800 35th Street - Ocean

Marathon

Florida, 33050-2393

You can call him at 305-289-8877 or on his email at cannons@ci.marathon.fl.us

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About the Author:

Kach Howe is the Co-Founder of Two Monkeys Travel Group. Since 2013, Kach has visited all the 7 continents (including Antarctica) and 95+ countries. She recently got married, bought a sailboat and is now on a sailing and luxury adventure around the world! She writes about luxury hotel experiences, product reviews, sailing & adventure travel.