Life on a boat in troubled waters

Derelict boats dot the waters throughout Manatee County and Florida. These vessels, says the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, “subject the boating public to safety issues, become locations for illegal activity, illegal housing, opportunities for theft and vandalism and ultimately cost the taxpayers to be removed by local, county or state authorities.”

But what about the others? Around the constellations made up of abandoned boats in the county’s waters are people who live on boats — which creates another set of issues and tensions for officials.

While some who live on boats by the Historic Bridge Street Pier in Bradenton Beach cause no problems, the behavior of others requires Bradenton Beach police to routinely respond to calls of disturbances.

Damage caused by unsecured boats during Tropical Storm Colin reignited Bradenton Beach Mayor William Shearon’s desire for more regulatory control over the area. In other areas of the state, local governments have installed managed mooring fields to solve the problem. The Sarasota Bay Mooring Field, managed by Marina Jack, offers options for boaters to stay for a day, week or month.

In his city, Mayor Shearon said, anybody can anchor in the waters by the Historic Bridge Street Pier, and anchor in any way.

“There’s no control over it,” he said.

Bradenton Beach Det. Sgt. Lenard Diaz said officers respond to many incidents in the waters by the Historic Bridge Street Pier. The most frequent are cases of public intoxication and disturbing the peace.

“A lot of it is arguments on the docks, on our city dinghy dock,” Diaz said. “There’s usually some type of argument or disturbance. If there is a disturbance on the actual boat, then if we don’t have our boat we get the Coast Guard involved to assist us.”

The derelict boats’ condition leads to many of the problems.

“We have issues with people that live on the boats throwing the feces out of the boats. A lot of the boats aren’t equipped with the proper equipment,” he said, adding that boats should have proper sanitation systems. “And a lot of them are using these lights that you buy from Walmart that are supposed to be for your landscape and they put them on the boats for the navigation lights. You get a lot of calls like that… they are a constant.”

Tony Madamba stood on the Historic Bridge Street Pier in Bradenton Beach on a recent July afternoon. He’s been a visitor on a boat anchored by the pier for some time, and has been in the county on and off for 15 years. Madamba suggested a meeting between the boaters and Bradenton Beach officials to discuss issues and help ease tensions.

“A public meeting but with a statement on a board there somewhere, inviting these people (boaters) and giving them maybe a month in advance notice. Give them plenty of time to say ‘Hey, we’re invited to a meeting’ and the meeting’s not to call each other names,” he said. “It would be a chance for both sides to see what they think about each other and to see if one side has anything sensible to share and not just a whole bunch of the same stuff.”

Sitting inside the Drift Inn in Bradenton Beach recently, Rip VanFossen recalled living on a boat by the Historic Bridge Street Pier in the early 2000s, one of only two people living out on the water. Times have changed dramatically since then.

“It’s hard to say because they really don’t bother me. It’s just... if they do have a car, they don’t have a place to park,” the 54-year-old plumber said. “They’re not taking care of their sewage properly. Where do you use the bathroom?”

VanFossen said anchorage needs to be put in place on Anna Maria Island.

“If they did it down at Coquina Beach, like where the Coast Guard station is, the Coast Guard can stay on them — give these guys a set of rules to go by,” he said. “It’s not just the Wild Wild West out here. It’s not like we’re moving west with a wagon train and just setting down your markers right on the spot.”

Randy Minnick, 53, has been living on a 22-foot Ranger boat by the Historic Bridge Street Pier for about nine months. He said he hasn’t seen anyone throwing human waste overboard.

“We bag it up and then we’ll take it and we’ll put it in the garbage can. That’s how I do it,” said Minnick. “I’m not saying it don’t happen but yeah, most of us, we’ve got portalettes.”

Minnick sat in a small, worn boat by the dinghy dock in early July, the sun boring down. His shirt read: “Normal People Scare Me” and he wore a Tampa Bay Buccaneers cap backwards.

“Where I live at, we look out for one another, but there’s certain boats and certain ones that come and go that are up to no good,” Minnick said. “We gotta look out for one another. We’re kind of like a family out there.”

Minnick said he and other boaters have been accused of tearing up seagrass.

“They’re saying that, in time, that they’re going to end up having to make us move into deeper waters,” he said. “You’re not hurting it if you’re not moving. If you’re just anchored there, you’re not hurting it, right? Now the tour boats and the bigger boats that are going in and out and your jet ski ... They’re the ones tearing up the seagrass. It’s not us.”

Minnick paused when asked what he felt could be done to improve the quality of life for boaters.

“That’s a hard question because a lot depends on ourselves, when it comes to living on the water,” he said. “We’ve had it rough.”

This story was originally published August 6, 2016 at 7:11 PM with the headline "Life on a boat in troubled waters."