Photo by Kevin Wadlow at The Keynoter

For some reason, the sub-head of the story about it in the local paper struck me as even funnier. It reads like the voiceover for a really bad movie trailer, no?

Boat ‘stolen’ a second time from Tavernier medical center.
This time, it’s just an image, not a vessel.

Mariners Hospital’s benefit boat vanished again before dawn Saturday — one year to the day since a notorious 2009 theft.

But this time, the culprits had to settle for a life-size picture, not the actual vessel.

“The reaction here was amazement,” said Sheila Konczewski, Mariners spokeswoman. “When I got the call Saturday morning, I had to drive in to see it.”

A sign promoting a Mariners Hospital Foundation benefit drawing for a 14-foot Boston Whaler boat remains at the hospital’s entrance, at mile marker 91.5 in Tavernier.

A gaping hole flaps where the photo image of the boat used to be, before a vandal cut it out.

In January 2009, thieves made off with the actual boat, motor and trailer — a package worth $15,000 — from the same spot.

“After that boat was stolen, we decided not to chance again and put up a billboard instead,” Konczewski said.

Both the 2009 theft and the 2010 sign defacement were reported to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office on the same day, Jan. 23.

If the sign vandalism was intended as an anniversary prank, authorities were not amused. The sign cost the Mariners foundation $935.

“They literally took the boat,” Konczewski said. “They cut it out very well and even left the trailer.”

Thankfully, the recent Bougainvillea Ball was a smashing success in spite of the above, and a lot of money was raised for all the right reasons.

The rest of the article from The Keynoter is here.