Cuban Boat People Boats

Stock Island, Florida

Inspired by the Vietnam "boat people" refugees of the 1970s, Cubans desperate to come to America began building rickety watercraft "chugs" to cross the 90-mile open water channel between Cuba and the Florida Keys. Around a dozen of them are displayed here, an odd decorative addition to the Key West Tropical Forest and Botanical Garden.

Each boat is identified by a small sign. Their age ranges from the mid-1980s to the early 2000s. All of them are rotting in the subtropical climate, although some were in bad shape even when new. That said, these are the most seaworthy examples, since many of these overloaded vessels never made it across the shark infested Straits of Florida. Some of these dinghies are nothing more than plastic sheeting wrapped around styrofoam. One, according to its sign, has a "unique wheel system" in its hull, which suggests that it was secretly built in someone's home, then rolled down a street and into the sea.