Dudas: How long have you been running charters?

Puller: About 8 years, my family has been doing it for about 20 years.

Dudas: During the storm were you here to anchor down the boats?

Puller: Well we spent the day before the storm, just doubling up all the lines and leaving enough line for the surge, to make sure the boats couldn’t hit anything. We put them in the slip sideways, but two of the heavy ropes broke during the storm and we took some damage on one side of the boat. The outriggers were totally bent over sideways so we had to get new ones. And the whole dock was stripped of all the boxes and cutting tables were torn out and some were found over on Virginia Key which is about a mile away. Right here the surge went up about 1214 feet.

Dudas: How has it been since the storm?

Puller: Well this is the off season anyway but it definitely killed business for a while the hotels on Key Biscayne are all down and they probably won’t reopen this year at all. It going to affect the business out here tremendously during the season which starts in January.

Dudas: You depend a lot on Key Biscayne and the hotels for income?

Puller: Without the hotels out here the tourisms is pretty much shut down. If Lipton doesn’t return that could effect us.

Dudas: Were there any strange fish happenings since the storm?

Puller: Well when we got back here there were fish all over the island just laying around. They got left on land, people found fish in their front yards and their houses. Right after the storm there was lots of debris in the water and the water was really dirty for a long time because the storm churned up the bottom and it took a while for it to clear out of the bay. But it didn’t really effect the offshore fishing, not much, just the business. We were going to stay on the boats, but when they upgraded it to a four. Well we shouldn’t have even considered it. When we saw what actually happened afterwards it would have been a really hairy experience to stay here. It wasn’t until the last minute that we decided not to stay with the boats.

Dudas: Were you here to prepare the boats before the storm? What exactly did you do?

Puller: Yes. We evacuated the boats from the marina to an inland waterway, The Coral Gables waterway. It was safe harbor.

Dudas: Did you lose anything?

Puller: Just our dock box and the contents in the box. Everything was taken out of the building. So we had a plan and we executed the plan.

Dudas: So the plan is standard?

Puller: Yes.

Dudas: How has business been since you’ve been back?

Puller: Good. We have a membership with Club Nautico therefore we don’t have to rely strictly on the tourists. Tourists not being here with the lack of hotels would have been a problem. But we have a large membership base so we are doing pretty well. Our customers, we, had another location in Coconut Grove (at Monty’s Marina) which was destroyed, however we’ve been able to draw our customers base over to this Key Biscayne location. So we simply moved the boats here, all the boats.

Dudas: Are you getting a lot of commuting members from the Coconut Grove location?

Puller: Yes.

Dudas: So the hotels didn’t really affect you at all then?

Puller: That was plus business for us and I’m sure it has effected us but with our members we’ve been able to survive based on that.

Dudas: How many days after the storm was it before you were back?

Puller: Two days.

Dudas: What preparations did you take before the storm?

Puller: The preparation was to remove the boat from the Key. The boat was removed to Jupiter, Florida.

Dudas: Since you’ve been back how has tourism effected you?

Puller: Tourism has been a major factor, our business has been reduced by probably about 50% . Due to the closing of the hotels on Key Biscayne. 40 to 50% of the business comes from the hotels. We are fortunate that we have been in business for over 10 years and have established clientele that return. So that has been our blessing. Also visitors from other parts of the country that call us in advance of their arrival.

Dudas: How has the fishing been?

Puller: I don’t think that fishing has been affected by the storm. Possibly bottomfishing was affected for a period of time until the floor settled. The clarity of the reefs was affected for a while, with all the silt that was disturbed. And baitfishing dropped because of not…