Last few trips down to the Keys we did a bit of wandering about. Anchoring at our usual hidey hole and sailing up to Marathon to see some friends and hang out up there.
Pictures can't really show the damage that is still visible from Irma. Large patches of mangroves are completely dead and you see brown along the shoreline. Up to Marathon I still noticed random bits of things floating around in the water close to shore, more things to dodge besides the lobster balls.
All along the Keys are the final staging areas for the relinquished or unclaimed boats to be destroyed and hauled off. They get lined up with a semi size commercial dumpster beside them, by this time all electronics, engine and environmental hazard stuff has been removed. Then its crunch, crunch, crunch until they get down to the keel. Even the mast will get broken up. However, up in Marathon there are stacks of masts recovered and I guess if you need a mast you can arrange to see if there is one that will fit your boat.
Things are slowly returning to normal in some areas, but where the eye passed will still be a while. A lot of the lower income housing (boats and trailers) that service based employees lived are gone and there is a shortage of affordable housing for them and therefore a shortage of employees for the tourism industry.
Its been interesting to see the socio-economic effects of what a major storm can do to an island chain.
No comments:
Post a Comment