IMMIGRATION

While maritime arrivals of Cuban emigrants are down so far this year, Coast Guard and immigration officials are starting to encounter more people fleeing the communist nation as summer nears, bringing calmer water.

Posted - Thursday, May 23, 2013 04:40 PM EDT

Sal Zappulla pleaded no contest to third-degree felony computer hacking this week. He is pictured here speaking at a Key Largo Wastewater Treatment District meeting in 2011. (Reporter file photo)

KEY LARGO

The former chief finance officer of the Key Largo Wastewater Treatment District pleaded no contest to felony computer hacking Tuesday and was sentenced to one year of probation.

The plea was a settlement stemming from Sal Zappula’s arrest in March 2012 on 13 counts of computer crime with intent to defraud, seven counts of modifying information without authority and one count of deleting information from the special taxing district’s computer system.

Zappulla, 50, must also pay $420 in court costs, $100 to pay for the prosecution and $100 for the investigation, said Demetrios Efstratiou, supervising attorney with the Upper Keys State Attorney’s Office.

Posted - Thursday, May 23, 2013 04:38 PM EDT

Monroe County Circuit Court Judge David Audlin on Wednesday signed off on what's called a writ of mandamus that could bring commercial electricity to No Name Key in less than one week.

Posted - Wednesday, May 22, 2013 03:24 PM EDT

Fish Tales with Capt. Donald Deputy

We had another big week of fishing off the Upper Keys last week, both offshore and in the backcountry.

Posted - Thursday, May 23, 2013 04:12 PM EDT

Jeff Lassinger and Don Rodgers, from Pittsburgh, fished three trips with the 'SeaSquared' last week. Their offshore day netted dolphin and a deep-water snowy grouper.

There's a full moon arising, and it will impact all sorts of fishing. For starters, the May full moon typically spurs on the Palolo worm hatch. These little red worms spawn en masse on the surface and become culinary nirvana for the tarpon.

A huge school of tarpon crazily gulping a sea of red is quite the sight. This is your best opportunity to catch tarpon on fly, as the worms are easily mimicked.

Posted - Wednesday, May 22, 2013 11:00 AM EDT

Captain Steve Thomas and his client John Avallone from Philadelphia hold on to another big tarpon caught on live bait in Islamorada. This tarpon was quickly released unharmed to fight another day. (Photo by Capt. Mike Makowski)

Fish Tales with Capt. Mike Makowski

Every where I go around town people are talking about the great fishing all over the Upper Keys this past week. It’s all about the dolphin, grouper and tarpon oh my!

Posted - Thursday, May 16, 2013 06:02 PM EDT

The benthic (bottom) layer of the sanctuary is diverse and contains the building blocks of the ecosystem. (Photos by Tim Grollimund)

Dive Time with Tim Grollimund

Last year I bought a house. It’s an old house that needs a lot of work. If I hadn’t bought it when I did, I’m sure it would have been condemned by now. I have a comfortable space with my office, kitchen and big screen for baseball games. I’ll get the repair work done over time. I’m a simple guy, so none of the sub par stuff bothers me.

Posted - Thursday, May 23, 2013 04:10 PM EDT

Since it went down 11 years ago, the 'Spiegel Grove' has attracted more than 200 species of fish -- and thousands of divers.

The Spiegel Grove is free and clear after a decade plus a year.

A payment made last week closed the books on a loan taken out by the Key Largo Chamber of Commerce to finance the sinking of the mothballed U.S. Navy ship Spiegel Grove, now one of the diving world's best-known shipwreck reefs.

Posted - Wednesday, May 15, 2013 06:00 AM EDT

A diver puts the size of a Goliath grouper in perspective. (photo by Tim Grollimund)

Dive Time with Tim Grollimund

The other day I got a note from my science mentor Suzy Roebling about a goliath grouper that was swimming around Molasses Reef in distress. It had been speared. The animal was spotted by one of the glass bottom boats while cruising over the south end of the reef.

Posted - Thursday, May 09, 2013 06:45 PM EDT

A satellite view shows the Carysfort Reef Light, just right of center, surrounded by an abundance of coral on a broad reef tract.

Snorkeling Into History: Carysfort Reef

OFF KEY LARGO — While thousands of reefs grow in the turquoise waters encompassing the Florida Keys, Carysfort Reef is the single most dangerous tract of coral in the chain.

Posted - Friday, April 06, 2012 12:00 AM EDT

PIGEON KEY

On Jan. 2, 1908, Henry Flagler began construction of the Florida East Coast Railway. It was Flagler’s dream, one he personally financed with $80 million of his own money, to see the coast of Florida connected by train from Jacksonville to Key West.

Posted - Friday, May 11, 2012 12:00 AM EDT

To the uninitiated it looks like a toy. Twelve feet of purple formed plastic, pointed at both ends with a dip in the middle and a hatch both front and rear. But to those who know, that 60-pound piece of plastic is the pure, distilled essence of freedom in the Florida Keys.

Posted - Friday, April 06, 2012 12:10 AM EDT