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OUR WATERWAYSThe recently completed portion ofthe Gulfside Marina in Cedar Key.The condos were already there andare not affiliated with the marina.Photo by Vern Hobbs.boats due to a low, fixed bridge overits entrance, the newly renovatedmarina does allow safe and convenientdinghy access to downtown.While we still wait to see if thenew municipal pier will be more hospitableto cruisers than the old one,construction has begun on a new commercialmarina: Gulfside Marina (phone (352) 543-0007)already has nine slips completed in a freshly dredged, protectedbasin at the southeast corner of town.This new facility is handicapped by tides, an ever-presentnemesis of Big Bend sailors. The entrance channel reportedlyaffords five-foot depths at high water, and less than onefoot at low water. The new facility is affording easy dinghyaccess for the ever-increasing number of sailboats anchoringin deep water off the downtown waterfront.The builders of Gulfside have grand aspirations includinga 750-foot pier connecting up to 150 deep-water slips toshore facilities and a mooring field. When complete, Gulfsidewill be the only marina able to accommodate deep-draft vesselsbetween Crystal River and Apalachicola. Construction isongoing, but no completion date has been set.On shore, a multimillion dollar renovation along Second(main) Street has begun. The Cedar Key Historic RenovationProject will restore five historic buildings to their late nineteenthcentury splendor, and bring a theater, artists’ courtyard,more shopping, and a waterfront park to downtown.These long overdue improvements to Cedar Key’smaritime facilities may yet make this eclectic village ahaven for Gulf Coast cruisers. How quickly the transformationwill occur remains in question. There is someresistance among skeptical locals, and the town operatesvery much on “island time.” Already, though, the pleasingsight of masts along the old waterfront has madeCedar Key all the more inviting to this Southern sailor.Marine Industry Tops Citrus InFlorida’s Economy, But GrowthIs Stunted By Condo DevelopersBy Lisa H. KnappThe marine industry employed 220,000 people in theSunshine State in 2005, generating an economic impact of$18.4-billion. But the future viability of the industry isthreatened by a statewide trend of conversion of waterfrontproperty to condominiums and non-marine use, saidKristina Hebert at the Seventh Annual Marine IndustrySummit in Fort Lauderdale in December.The realization that our working waterfront is diminishingis a critical task of Florida’s marine master planimplementation, said Hebert, president of the MarineIndustries Association of South Florida (MIASF). Eight hundredmarine businesses make up MIASF, a not-for-profittrade association consisting of primarily recreational boatingcompanies based in Broward, Miami-Dade, and PalmBeach counties.The thought of the marine industry being shoved out ofthe state is downright un-Floridian. Other statewide revenuemachines pale in comparison to the wave of Florida’srecreational boaters and megayacht industry yielding nearly$20-billion this year. The citrus industry, long consideredthe economic engine of Florida, generated just $9.1-billionin economic impact in 2000. The cruise line industry generated$5.2-billion in 2005, with Super Bowl XXXIX inJacksonville generating a mere $329-million.Broward County, the yachting capital of the world,employed 134,000 workers in the marine industry, but thatcould change if more public/private partnerships are notsought to prevent further erosion of the marine industry’sstability. Thirty percent of Florida’s boatyards have disappearedover the last five years, Hebert said.“It’s a disturbing trend,” said Susan Engle, president ofEnviroCare Solutions International. Many businesses havebeen displaced or lost, she said, citing the rezoning ofThunder Alley in Aventura, a city resting on the ICW innortheast Miami-Dade, as a classic example.Thunder Alley was created in the 1970s. It was home toworld-famous Cigarette race boats, Fort Apache, BobbyMoore’s, TNT and other marine companies regarded by36 January 2006 SOUTHWINDS www.southwindsmagazine.com