| Letter to the Sheriff
I wrote this letter in reponse to a boarding by MCSO today:
Good evening Sheriff Roth; My name is ----------. I am writing to you tonight regarding an incident on the water today in Islamorada. I live in Fort Lauderdale, but grew up in the Keys. For quite some time now, I have heard repeatedly how militant things have become on the water in Islamorada, and how boaters are harassed on a regular basis for doing nothing wrong at all. I am always the first one to defend any law enforcement agency as I am a US Coast Guard veteran, as well as a former police officer. I am also a licensed captain, and always try to abide by maritime regulations. I own a boating website, and tell boater's who have issues with law enforcement that "If you carry all required safety gear on board, you are respectful, and are not in violation of other laws, you will most likely be sent on your way without much fanfare". I believed that until today. I boarded a tender at Holiday Isle this morning which belonging to a 74' Sunseeker and was en route to meet up with my friends anchored at the sandbar. The tender was being operated by the 1st mate. We were idling out to the sandbar, making no wake when we were stopped. The officers asked for identification which I produced, and the 1st mate let the officers know that his ID was on the yacht. They then asked us to show all safety gear which we did. We were then asked "How many people is this boat rated for"? He replied four, and the officer then said "Well then, you have two more life jackets than you need- get rid of them". Since when is it a violation to have too much safety equipment on board? I understand that politics are running rampant in the Village of Islamorada, but I found this to borderline on harassment. If I was on an overloaded vessel with alcohol flowing freely and obvious safety concerns, I could see where I might have been stopped. Instead, I was a passenger on a boat will all required safety gear, no alcohol aboard and running at a slow safe speed. On top of that, the same officers which lacked any sort of discretion during boardings, had no problem pulling up with cameras in hand all afternoon to take photos of topless women for their collection. My intent in writing to you is to make you aware of today's incident, and to hopefully see some changes in the way boaters are treated down there.
Thank you,
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Anyone else have similar situations down there?  | 
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