A Nice Cold Can...

I think I shot this at Haulover Marina after one of the South Florida Fishing Club tournaments. The marina, together with a boat launching ramp, bait & tackle shop, and restaurant is all part of Miami-Dade County's Haulover Park, which includes a beach on the ocean side of U.S. A1A and runs for a mile or two north from Baker's Haulover Cut connecting Biscayne Bay with the ocean.

The name dates back to the nineteenth century when a guy named Baker used to haul boats across the narrow piece of land at that point using mules and wheeled carts running on rails. It saved about a 25 mile voyage around the south end of Miami Beach, a long trip back when water transportation was with sail and oars. Eventually a hurricane blew an opening there, and Uncle Sam deepened the channel and constructed rock jetties along both sides to keep it from closing up again. Today it's mostly fishing and pleasure boats going in and out of the bay through the cut.

There used to be a public fishing pier extending about eight or nine hundred feet out into the ocean just to the north of the cut, with good fishing for mackerel, bluefish, pompano and other fish in season. Hurricane Andrew destroyed the pier about 13 years ago and the county collected the insurance money. Big mystery! Where did the money go? Nobody seems to care about places where the average Joe, the kid on a bike, can fish. It's just all about catering to the folks with money. There's still no pier.

P.S. Want an archival quality print of this or one of my other photos? E-mail me at preacherpop42@aol.com for details.