[travlin-easy]

Without a doubt, the Florida Keys is the most expensive place in the United States to vacation - that is unless you are a live aboard. Prices for rental homes range from $3000 to $10,000 a month, depending on just how lavish you wish to go, restaurants are incredibly expensive, and the cost of staying in a marina ranges $750 to $1,100 a month including water and electricity for a 33 footer tied to a concrete bulkhead or a floating pier.

Now, mooring balls are only $300 a month, including a weekly pump-out and dinghy dock fees, which ain't all that bad. However, there are some restrictions on how long the boat can be left unattended, which is usually just 7 days. Water goes for a nickel a gallon at the city marina, ice from a vending machine goes for $2 for a six-pound bag.

Most of the full-time live aboards I come across are on some sort of pension, Social Security, disability, etc... They all tend to find work doing something associated with tourism, but some are able to do some handyman work on boats. The problem is with the handyman jobs is the City Marina insists that that person carry a huge bond, liability insurance, and other licenses to work on vessels stored on city property, including those in the mooring fields. Just another way for the local government to stick their hands into your wallet.

This fall, health permitting, I intend to sail back to Marathon and continue playing music at the various restaurants and tiki bars. I've been doing this for the past two months and really don't want to leave this beautiful area of the US, but I have commitments and contracts at home that must be fulfilled.

Here's are some photos from this trip that I thought may be of interest to others that intend to head south this coming fall.

View of the restaurant where my wife and I had dinner tonight - lousy pizza, greasy conch fritters.

My view from the Faro Blanco Resort Restaurant where I performed music on Friday Nights.

The old codger with his music gear set up at Cabana Breezes restaurant.

Some of the dancing crowd at Cabana Breezes.

A sailboat anchored in Sister Creek near Boot Key Harbor awaiting a mooring ball.

View from the Sombrero Beach park near the mouth of Sister Creek - Hard to believe the views down here at sunset.

We get lots of visitors at the dock every morning.

A private party where I performed last month. I think I'll soon be doing more of them than nite club jobs.

Every Saturday night at the Marathon City Marina we had a jam session, where musicians from all over the island were invited to join the fun.

Never stand under a coconut palm on a windy day - OUCH!

These guys came in for breakfast several times a month, but it's against the law to feed them.

Believe it or not, these critters can really fun fast, but they're even better at swimming.

The flowers in the Florida Keys are just amazing.

Did I mention that Sunsets while moored or on the hook are amazing nearly every night.

Now, some folks are gonna tell you that it gets hot and humid during mid summer, and it does. It's not quite as bad, though, as Baltimore at the same time of year. And, the water is clean, fishing and snorkeling are both fantastic, and you can catch dinner from the deck of your boat without traveling very far out of Boot Key Harbor. Sometimes you can catch dinner while tied to your mooring ball. What's not to like about the keys when you're living aboard?

Cheers,

Gary

 

[Ward H]

Very nice to hear someone living the good life. We hope to visit that area some day.

 

[RobGallagher]

Never spent much time in New England, have ya?

Try living aboard on Block Island or the Vineyard. BI town moorings are $45 a night (no monthly rate), no water, you can walk a half mile for a shower (as in one shower per day) at the town beach.

Oh, there's more, I could go on and on....

 

[Slayer]

Is the Tarpon Creek bar behind the Holiday Inn? I've been there I think. I was visiting a friend who stays on a mooring in the city marina. Have you ever crossed paths with Steve Lalonde on Alobar, a Lord Nelson 41?

 

[travlin-easy]

Rob, at one time I wrote articles for the New England Fisherman Magazine and had to travel to Mystic every couple months. It was a neat place during the warmer months, but I sure would not want to be a live aboard there during the winter. Brrrrrrrrr! Any temperature lower than my age is the dead of winter as far as I'm concerned. Have you ever noticed that very few people ever move north to retire from Florida?

Cheers,

Gary

 

[Bene505]

We rented a house on Marathon last winter for a week. Yes it was something like $1,200. It included access to a private beach club. Was nice but pricey.

We drove down with the 4 kids, so I guess we saved on airfare.

Regards,
Brad

 

[JimMcGee]

Sigh...

Gary you're killing me. We've got a place in Sombrero Beach and our son moved there a little over a year ago. My wife is taking her mom down in a couple of weeks to visit but I'll be stuck in Jersey with work.

The plan is to make the move there in the next two years. I can't wait.

Hope to see you play there one of these days.

 

[4arch]

Thanks for sharing this Gary. We tend on this forum to get so carried away discussing gear, maintenance, and the things that go wrong with boats that it’s easy to lose sight of why we sail.

If all goes according to plan, my wife, daughter and I will leave Baltimore this fall to head down the ICW, and spend late fall of 2015 and winter-spring of 2016 cruising south Florida and the Bahamas. As it stands we can only manage a one-year “sabbatical” but I’m hoping we might be able to pick up freelance work that we can do remotely or find summer jobs in 2016 that will replenish the kitty enough to go back out for another year or more. If we don’t want to or can’t keep going we’ll still be very grateful to have had the experience and will know how we want to plan for the future – whether we want to do another 1-2 year sabbatical cruise 5-10 years down the road, work toward becoming full time cruisers sooner than later, wait until retirement to hope that we can cruise more, or just be happy that it’s something we can cross off our list. Every once in a while we start to believe the people who tell us we’re crazy and we start making excuses to not go, so posts like this are always an inspiring reminder of why we should stick with our plan and how worthwhile it will be.

Hope we cross paths down there in about 10 months.

Bryan

 

[AirborneSF]

Hi Gary, have a question, did you ever know a guy by the name of Dave Chandler ? He lived in the Keys and around Md/ D.C. played music all over. I think his nickname was 'sticks'?

 

[travlin-easy]

No, didn't know Dave, personally, but I have heard of him through other musicians.

Tarpon Creek is the bar behind the Holiday Inn. I talked with the manager and may have a shot at playing music there when I return in November. Nice place, just lousy food. Tarpon Creek is now owned by the Hyatt.

Brad, my wife and I are in a rental home on a canal that is 5 minutes from the ocean and yest, things are quite expensive here, but no more than places like Atlantic City, NJ and Ocean City, MD. I figured we would piss some of the kids inheritance away.

Bryan, if my health allows, I'm leaving the upper Chesapeake somewhere around October 1st and point the bow of the boat south till the temperature and my age are about the same, then drop the hook, fly home and drive my wife down for a six month stay. She might end up staying in a condo while I live aboard the boat. But, that's all up in the air at this point.

Jim, I played music at Sombrero resort a couple years ago at their poolside tiki hut's happy hour on Wednesday nights. The resort went bankrupt, the bank took over, prices tripled for rooms, and the place is no longer open to the general public, and I believe happy hours have ended there. Just two blocks away at Dockside is where the locals tend to congregate now and the place is jumping most every night.

I'll try to add some more photos to this thread before I have to leave on Wednesday and thanks to everyone that posted questions and responses.

Gary

 

[bblument]

Gary,

Nice pics and post.. thanks!

Not tellin' you your business, but I'd like to offer a suggestion/warning from a fellow, very experienced, long-time road-warrior keyboard player... you may wish to reconsider relocating your pitcher of water or large flagon of refreshing beverage. I instituted a hard and fast rule on stage nearly thirty years ago on all of my concerts, club-dates, and clinics; no liquid shall be placed higher than the lowest piece of electronic gear. Don't ask me why I instituted that rule.. you don't want to know. I'll give you a hint.. the repairs cost several boat bucks.. the four digit kind. On the other hand, I have a lot of expensive gear.

I've learned a lot about sailing from reading the advice of the many experienced sailors here, and I very much appreciate it. I'm just trying to pay it forward in an area of MY expertise..

Best to you, Gary. Keep sailin' and swingin',

Barry

 

[travlin-easy]

Thanks for the advice. That's also my rule as well, but the lady at the bar brought that over and sat it there while I was playing, so I didn't have time to move it right away. Someone at the bar bought me the drink. As soon as I finished that song, I put the glass on the floor. The pitcher you see there is the tip jar - the only thing in it was green paper of various denominations.

Gary

 

[bblument]

I should have known that you already knew better. As you were....

Best,

Barry

 

[khammett]

Wow...nice!

 

[travlin-easy]

Last night I performed my final music job for the season in Marathon Key, Florida. Had a huge crowd, probably more than 100 ppl at one point, most of them stayed around long after happy hour ended, which made the waitstaff and bar tenders very, very happy.

When I announced that I was headed north and wouldn't be back till November, there were several ladies that came up and gave me hugs and kisses (My wife Carol was only a few feet away.), the tip jar filled up pretty good, and they wanted me to play longer, but there is an ordinance here that carries a hefty fine for playing after a certain time of night. And, yes, they do enforce it with their two man police force.

Bright and early Wednesday morning, I'll be driving north and with luck should arrive in the frozen wilds of Maryland late Thursday night or mid day Friday. I can vividly recall when I made this trip straight through, but I was very young then. As soon as the van is unloaded, I have to fix a burst pipe in my heating system, then go through tons of mail, pay some bills, the usual stuff, then do the taxes. UGH!

If my health allows, I'll point the bow of that old Morgan 33 OI tub south and return to this land of sunshine, swaying palm trees and turquoise waters. I hope to find an affordable slip where I'll be able to easily load and unload my music gear, which provides me sufficient income to remain here for most of the winter.

I'm trying to convince my loving spouse of 50 years that living aboard is not nearly as bad as she believes it would be. As soon as I arrive in Marathon next fall, I'll hop on a plane and fly back home, load up the car with my music gear and her clothing, which takes up more room than my entire collection of music equipment. Then I'll drive back here and have a car available, which is a necessity for transporting the music gear to the various venues. Three years ago, I actually had to hire a taxi cab to do this, which was not a good thing. The cabbies didn't want to wait while I loaded and unloaded the gear, even if it involved a hefty tip.

I'm really going to miss all the cruisers and other wonderful folks I've met in Marathon. The pace of life is a lot slower down here, people tend to be much more friendly and when you have problems, the cruisers in the harbor are usually more than willing to jump in and help solve them.

Cheers,

Gary

 

[JimMcGee]

Gary,
It looks like you're bringing the warm weather north with you. It's 64 here today and I just had lunch outside in shorts. It feels great after single digit weather.

I'll definitely second your thoughts about people in the Keys. In some ways it feels like stepping back in time 30 years -- in a good way.

Have a safe trip home, I'll catch you playing under the palm trees one of these days.

Jim

 

[travlin-easy]

Warm it ain't here! When I arrived late last night, the temperature was a brisk 34 degrees, right now it's snowing hard, and the plumber just left after repairing a couple burst segments of my hotwater baseboard heating system. Last night, all we had for heat was my auxiliary electric heat system, which doesn't put out enough heat to warm the house, and our electric blankets. Damned, snow on first day of spring!

I'll be a happy camper if I'm able to sail back to the Florida Keys in October and get the Hell away from another nasty, Maryland winter. Winter in the keys is far easier to cope with, I get to play music and sing to the ladies, and any temperature lower than 75 during the day is winter down there.

Cheers,

Gary

 

[JimMcGee]

Gary,
Actually I think you brought the cold back with you. About four inches of fresh snow here.

I'm sorry to hear about your pipes. Hopefully there's no serious damage to your home.

Jim

 

[travlin-easy]

No damage at all, Jim, other than the pipes themselves. I was smart enough to turn off the well pump before I left for Florida, so after the pipes burst, there was maybe a half pint of water that leaked out and into the office. It was dry before I got home.

Gary

 

[hellosailor]

"The problem is with the handyman jobs is the City Marina insists that that person carry a huge bond, liability insurance, and other licenses to work on vessels stored on city property, including those in the mooring fields. Just another way for the local government to stick their hands into your wallet."

Not so draconian and not so unusual at all, Gary. The odds are that either the local taxpayers complained about being ripped off by people, or the local taxpaying repairmen complained about cheap competition that weren't carrying all their real costs.

Pretty much every 20th century jurisdiction requires contractors and handymen to be licensed and bonded. Heck, in Florida a contractor has to memorize an encyclopedia if they are going to work on 4-story buildings, as opposed to 3-story and under. That's just the way it is.

A friend of mine had some problems with "the union" when he worked at the phone company. They resolved it by saying he couldn't DO any manual work, that was reserved for union members. But if (wink wink) he was just SHOWING someone how to do something, then he was an instructor, and that didn't need any license or union membership.

See, this is how you sand a board...fix a leak...install a light bulb. Here, now, you try it, don't worry, I'll finish it if you get stuck.

And you don't need a teacher's license, unless your teaching in school.(VBG)

I do hope you had a licensed, bonded, union electrician plug in that kit of yours. Although of course, the uncovered, unsecured power cord would seem to imply not.(G)