Longtime Cruisers Net contributor and lifetime cruiser, Sonny Reeves shares his observations on the many derelict and abandoned vessels along our waterways. Enter Reeves’ Report in our Homepage search window for more from Sonny.

Sunken vessel re-floated.

The Atlantic and Gulf Inter-coastal Waterway is a wonderful highway for the boater. The ICW means many things to many people. Freedom to explore and enjoy the wonders of our great country is a gift shared by many. Anchoring out, gunkholing, or mooring gives us a freedom to explore and maybe save a little cash at the end of the month. All this is being challenged by the powers that be, or land dwellers that have bought the few acres near your anchorage. Free docks are disappearing. Sometimes because of the abuses of a few.

Abandoned boat, Cocoa Beach FL

Many years ago I sailed into Boot Key Harbor. The water was dark, muddy looking. Boats were anchored and moored in no order. Elegant yachts near floating piles of junkyard gleanings. Structures built on pontoons, reclaimed hulks that at one time may have been boats now resembled dumpster diving art work. Reminded me of the movies “Waterworld and Mad Max” Some boats were moored tied together with tarps draped at every angle surrounded by dinks of many styles. Several sunken hulks were near shore. As we slowly motored through the obstacle course of boats and derelicts people came out and glared,

Shrimp boat on Jekyll beach before removal by CG

no one waved or greeted us, mangy dogs growled and barked. We left finding no comfortable place to anchor. Trash and sunken boats littered the shore and shallows. We anchored off Boot Key at the South end and dinked into Burdine’s. 30 years later the harbor is clean and organized, a few hold overs here and there to a life style some still embrace, that of the free spirit, beholden to no one, answering only to the wind. Only now the trash and trashy boats are not as profuse or evident on the water, the water while not clear is not as foreboding. Regular pumpouts and a decent place for docking to haul trash in and essentials out is available. Order of sorts prevails and you don’t quite feel like you are trespassing. Sure you have to pay, but other than being homeless and a burden to society where are you going to hang out. A visit to Tarpon Basin which has a small liv a board community shows that some can police themselves. A look around the mangroves shows a few boats that have found their way in the groves with derelicts tied off to the trees and others that don’t move. These are the problem. How are they pumped out? Where does their trash go? Do they have a way to motivate? Who owns the land they are on? If I can see them so can LEOs. No one will agree that laws will be relaxed and governments will give in to the few that insist on being a problem.
The point here is you as a liv aboard are either part of the solution or part of the problem. I observed many boats in derelict condition in our most recent trip down and back on the ICW. I have attached many references to derelict boats. There are thousands of pictures of these on a google search. I slowed to take a picture of a water craft I was sure was a derelict in Mosquito Lagoon . This boat was comprised of a homemade from scrap wood, a box sitting upon a hull from some kind of fishing boat. I discovered a family living aboard.

The bottom line here is that if we as boaters on the same water do not take action and hold our selves responsible then governments and people we do not know/or like will regulate and legislate our life. Sure! You can go down to the Keys or the Islands and drift away in some hidey hole anchorage. Pump out or throw overboard when no one is looking, dink in and throw your trash around, burn your trash on a beautiful beach, don’t pick up after your dog and generally tick off the people that have to come behind you and either clean up or put up with your crap. Then the next sailor has to deal with the new laws or rules you caused because you are too immature to take care of yourself. Just because you can does not make it right to pollute.

To solve the problem of abandoned and derelict boats the law will have to change and $$$ will have to be involved for salvage operators, independent boat seekers or bounty hunters for boats to have the incentive to track down near do wells that leave a hulk for others to dispose of. Almost every boat yard and marina has some nice shape to trashed boats left for storage or repairs that the owner can’t or won’t redeem. These can some times be had for a song or small amount but may require way more than they are worth to restore. As you can see from the pictures most of the hulks abandoned would not be worth the effort at this time under present Florida laws. If we as boaters don’t come up with an answer then some one in power will and we won’t like it.

I trust you will be a good steward of our shared resources, be a friend of all you meet on the water. I hope you are already doing the right things in your environmental responsibility. I know there some that choose to fly the flag of irresponsible, with no regard for any other person. We are watching, waiting for karma to find you.