Bobcat
12-23-2008, 09:38 AM
Charter boats abandoning Keys' iconic Holiday Isle
Islamorada's Holiday Isle -- the celebrated birthplace of the rumrunner drink -- faces an uncertain future and is experiencing an exodus of charter fishing boats from its dock.
BY CAMMY CLARK
cclark@MiamiHerald.com
ISLAMORADA -- The iconic marina at Holiday Isle -- next to the ''World Famous Tiki Bar'' -- once was home to the largest charter boat fishing fleet in Islamorada, self-proclaimed sport fishing capital of the world.
But in the past year, about half of the big, white, offshore fishing boats have vacated their slips inside the marina basin, leaving just 10 where once there were 19.
Mike ''Whitey'' Ondrasek, first mate of Gold Reserve, described the empty slips: ``It looks like a smile with no teeth. It's sad.''
Boat captains say the reason for the exodus is the uncertain future of Holiday Isle, the celebrated birthplace of the rumrunner drink and one-time mega-tourist draw for the island chain.
About 2 ½ years years ago, when real estate was booming in the Keys, a group of domestic and international investors bought the Holiday Isle Resort and Marina for an eye-popping $98.2 million. They planned to turn the 12.5-acre, honky-tonk, mishmash of hotel rooms, bars, shops, gas station and docks into a Greek-themed, five-star luxury resort called Ocanos.
Then the real estate market crashed and the project never got off the ground.
The funky but aging resort won a reprieve from the bulldozers while the new owners -- a joint venture by the Ceebraid Signal Corp. of West Palm Beach and New York-based global group Investcorp -- figure out what to do with the property.
Most of the Holiday Isle charter boats stayed put at first. But as the uncertainty continued, the economy worsened and bookings dwindled, some boat owners sought security.
''I didn't want to leave, but I had to make sure we had a home for our 50-foot boat,'' said Aaron Brower, captain of the Killer White, which relocated across the channel to nearby Whale Harbor Marina last week after being docked at Holiday Isle for more than a decade. ``It was time. Better to be safe than sorry.''
Brower's boat was the most recent of eight departing in the last few months. Brower said he was concerned there would be no boat slips left in nearby marinas if he didn't act quickly.
The boats Gone Fishing and Red Fish relocated first, to Bud N' Mary's Marina, four miles southwest of Holiday Isle.
Others followed. Killer White and Killer Instinct moved. The owners of No Excuse decided to sail their boat to Panama. Royal Blue went out of business. Man-of-War was destroyed in a fire.
''It's become a domino effect,'' said Capt. Jeff Fraser, whose boat owner sent the Genesis and Hattatude to Whale Harbor Marina a month ago after about two decades at Holiday Isle.
Steve Leopold, president of the Islamorada Charter Boat Association and captain of the Yabba Dabba Doo, said: ``It's scary. The investors here are almost like a mystery. The old ownership was here all the time. You could shake their hand and ask what was going on.''
Leopold has one of 10 offshore charter boats still docked at Holiday Isle. For how much longer, he doesn't know.
''It's like a ghost town now,'' he said.
Tom Rosendale, dock assistant at Holiday Isle, puffed on a cigarette to kill time Friday. Nobody was in the booking office.
There were more herons sitting on the wooden slip dividers than people milling around the docks -- even counting the captains and mates.
''This dock used to be like going to the boardwalk on the Jersey shore,'' Rosendale said. ``This is always a slow week, right before Christmas, but it's been like this for a while.''
Rosendale said there is at least one charter boat, Spray, which is planning to relocate to Holiday Isle next month when high tourist season begins.
All charter boat captains in the Keys were stung during the summer with diesel prices reaching more than $5 per gallon. They're hoping lower fuel costs and the frigid northern weather will boost bookings.
More trips, however, will not solve the uncertainty of Holiday Isle's future.
Capt. Chuck Schimmerlman, who has been running the Cee Dee out of Holiday Isle since 1983, said he's concerned that if the economy improves, the resort will be replaced by condominiums.
''I saw the blueprints,'' he said. ``They were going to put condos right on this dock. If someone pays $1.5 million for a condo, they won't want a charter boat starting up at 7 in the morning and waking them up.''
Ondrasek, the first mate of Gold Reserve, said the captain has no intention of moving the 41-foot Morgan from the Holiday Isle slip where it has remained for 18 years.
''We have a lot of repeat business,'' Ondrasek said. ``We just had someone come back and say they went out with us seven years ago and caught a lot of fish. We think it's beneficial to stay.''
Leopold said he'd also like to ride out the economic storm at Holiday Isle.
''To me, Holiday Isle is the best piece of real estate in the Keys,'' he said. ``If somebody comes in and does the right thing, they could make it like it used to be, or even better. I've been coming here since I was a kid. It's a beautiful place.
``But check with me in a month to see if I'm still here.''
Islamorada's Holiday Isle -- the celebrated birthplace of the rumrunner drink -- faces an uncertain future and is experiencing an exodus of charter fishing boats from its dock.
BY CAMMY CLARK
cclark@MiamiHerald.com
ISLAMORADA -- The iconic marina at Holiday Isle -- next to the ''World Famous Tiki Bar'' -- once was home to the largest charter boat fishing fleet in Islamorada, self-proclaimed sport fishing capital of the world.
But in the past year, about half of the big, white, offshore fishing boats have vacated their slips inside the marina basin, leaving just 10 where once there were 19.
Mike ''Whitey'' Ondrasek, first mate of Gold Reserve, described the empty slips: ``It looks like a smile with no teeth. It's sad.''
Boat captains say the reason for the exodus is the uncertain future of Holiday Isle, the celebrated birthplace of the rumrunner drink and one-time mega-tourist draw for the island chain.
About 2 ½ years years ago, when real estate was booming in the Keys, a group of domestic and international investors bought the Holiday Isle Resort and Marina for an eye-popping $98.2 million. They planned to turn the 12.5-acre, honky-tonk, mishmash of hotel rooms, bars, shops, gas station and docks into a Greek-themed, five-star luxury resort called Ocanos.
Then the real estate market crashed and the project never got off the ground.
The funky but aging resort won a reprieve from the bulldozers while the new owners -- a joint venture by the Ceebraid Signal Corp. of West Palm Beach and New York-based global group Investcorp -- figure out what to do with the property.
Most of the Holiday Isle charter boats stayed put at first. But as the uncertainty continued, the economy worsened and bookings dwindled, some boat owners sought security.
''I didn't want to leave, but I had to make sure we had a home for our 50-foot boat,'' said Aaron Brower, captain of the Killer White, which relocated across the channel to nearby Whale Harbor Marina last week after being docked at Holiday Isle for more than a decade. ``It was time. Better to be safe than sorry.''
Brower's boat was the most recent of eight departing in the last few months. Brower said he was concerned there would be no boat slips left in nearby marinas if he didn't act quickly.
The boats Gone Fishing and Red Fish relocated first, to Bud N' Mary's Marina, four miles southwest of Holiday Isle.
Others followed. Killer White and Killer Instinct moved. The owners of No Excuse decided to sail their boat to Panama. Royal Blue went out of business. Man-of-War was destroyed in a fire.
''It's become a domino effect,'' said Capt. Jeff Fraser, whose boat owner sent the Genesis and Hattatude to Whale Harbor Marina a month ago after about two decades at Holiday Isle.
Steve Leopold, president of the Islamorada Charter Boat Association and captain of the Yabba Dabba Doo, said: ``It's scary. The investors here are almost like a mystery. The old ownership was here all the time. You could shake their hand and ask what was going on.''
Leopold has one of 10 offshore charter boats still docked at Holiday Isle. For how much longer, he doesn't know.
''It's like a ghost town now,'' he said.
Tom Rosendale, dock assistant at Holiday Isle, puffed on a cigarette to kill time Friday. Nobody was in the booking office.
There were more herons sitting on the wooden slip dividers than people milling around the docks -- even counting the captains and mates.
''This dock used to be like going to the boardwalk on the Jersey shore,'' Rosendale said. ``This is always a slow week, right before Christmas, but it's been like this for a while.''
Rosendale said there is at least one charter boat, Spray, which is planning to relocate to Holiday Isle next month when high tourist season begins.
All charter boat captains in the Keys were stung during the summer with diesel prices reaching more than $5 per gallon. They're hoping lower fuel costs and the frigid northern weather will boost bookings.
More trips, however, will not solve the uncertainty of Holiday Isle's future.
Capt. Chuck Schimmerlman, who has been running the Cee Dee out of Holiday Isle since 1983, said he's concerned that if the economy improves, the resort will be replaced by condominiums.
''I saw the blueprints,'' he said. ``They were going to put condos right on this dock. If someone pays $1.5 million for a condo, they won't want a charter boat starting up at 7 in the morning and waking them up.''
Ondrasek, the first mate of Gold Reserve, said the captain has no intention of moving the 41-foot Morgan from the Holiday Isle slip where it has remained for 18 years.
''We have a lot of repeat business,'' Ondrasek said. ``We just had someone come back and say they went out with us seven years ago and caught a lot of fish. We think it's beneficial to stay.''
Leopold said he'd also like to ride out the economic storm at Holiday Isle.
''To me, Holiday Isle is the best piece of real estate in the Keys,'' he said. ``If somebody comes in and does the right thing, they could make it like it used to be, or even better. I've been coming here since I was a kid. It's a beautiful place.
``But check with me in a month to see if I'm still here.''