The Citizen Newspaper Article

BUSINESS
& CLASSIFIED
1C
THE KEY WEST CITIZEN ◆ SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2012
HOW TO GET ALONG WITH
ANYONE: PART II
Mastering
the art of
assertiveness
BY ELISA LEVY
Citizen Staff
People
make
a subsconscious
choice
every time
they get
angry.
PEOPLE SMARTS
Two of
the three
options will almost always fail,
and are the ones we know best:
Passive and aggressive behaviors.
Why do they fail? Passive
behaviors help you avoid
conflict, but not anger, which
then festers until it’s released
in some unhealthy way. Also,
people take advantage of you
when you are passive.
Aggressive behavior doesn’t
work either. When we attack,
we invite more anger and frustration. If a co-worker puts you
down at a meeting and you
respond with a snide remark,
chances are, the behavior
will just get worse. Aggressive
behavior often escalates.
Assertive behavior is the only
option that will work with people – be it your boss, co-worker
or spouse. Unfortunately, most
of us don’t know what it means,
and thus tend to confuse assertive with aggressive behavior.
Assertive behavior means
you take care of your needs,
while also considering the
needs of others. Assertiveness
starts with an intent to take
care of yourself while doing the
least harm in the process.
Let’s say someone is arguing with you and will not
listen. Every time you open
your mouth, he tries to interrupt and overpower you. The
passive response would be
to back down, apologize and
show intimidation. The aggressive response would be to yell
louder and give it right back.
The assertive person, however,
will stand confidently and not
react. He will speak in a normal
Sky’s
the
limit
Photos by ROB O’NEAL/The Citizen
Key West Seaplanes co-owner Nikali Pontecorvo flies past Little Palm Island off the Saddlebunch Keys in a Cessna 172
Amphibian. The company has become the Florida Keys’ largest air charter business. Left, the Cessna 206 Amphibian is
the company’s newest aircraft.
Local pilots
prove there’s more
to Keys than Tortugas
BY MANDY MILES
Key West Seaplanes
305-294-4014
www.keywestseaplanes.com
Citizen Staff
Two local pilots are altering the
course of seaplanes in the Florida
Keys.
The floating flying machines once
were synonymous only with the
remote islands of the Dry Tortugas,
but Nikali Pontecorvo and Julie Ann
Floyd filed a different flight plan when
they launched Key West Seaplanes.
With the late-2011 addition of a
new custom-built, amphibious
plane, Key West Seaplanes now
boasts the largest air charter fleet in
the Keys — two amphibious and one
land-based seaplane.
With more water than land comprising the Keys, the pilots are using
geography to their advantage, providing quick and convenient air travel
among the islands, to the mainland
and throughout the Caribbean.
“Our company has never done
Tortugas trips,” said Pontecorvo,
who flew for the now-defunct and
similarly named Seaplanes of Key
West, before he and Floyd started
Key West Seaplanes in 2009. “There’s
still confusion about the names, but
Seaplanes of Key West is gone.”
Fortunately for Floyd and
Pontecorvo, their business plan
was not reliant on Tortugas trips, as
changes in the national park’s concession agreements allowed only
one seaplane company to service
the area. That company is based in
Alaska and owned by Florida Keys
developer Pritam Singh, Pontecorvo
said.
Passengers regularly see wildlife, such as rays, sharks, dolphins and seabird
flocks, like this one off Sugarloaf Key at low tide. Below, an aerial view of Bahia
Honda Key is among the charter’s spectacular sights.
See SEAPLANE, Page 2C
See ASSERTIVE, Page 2C
BOTTOM LINE
Key Largo company wins national award
Key Largo’s Safe Harbor Design Build recently received
accolades from the construction industry during the World of
Concrete trade show in Las Vegas. Safe Harbor Design Build won
an award in the large residential home category for its insulated
concrete forms, which offer resistance to hurricane winds and
energy efficiency.
Mariners Hospital honors Bell
Mariners Hospital employees nominated nurse
Marti Bell as employee of the quarter.
When Bell learned that a patient who was
traveling through the Florida Keys with his cats
had been involved in an accident requiring an
extended hospital stay, she and her husband,
Bell
John, had the patient’s RV towed to their home for the neces- testing to uncover underlying metabolic disturbance rather than
sary repairs and rescued the cats from the animal shelter. The just treating the symptoms. His practice has been located at
patient is recovering at a local convalescent center, and the Bells 1217 White St. in Key West since 2002.
frequently bring him to their house to visit his cats.
Bell received a $250 bonus, a plaque and a designated parking Gargan, Slavin hit five-year mark
space.
First State Bank of the Florida
Keys
congratulates Christina
Williams completes post-doctoral course
Gargan, insurance specialist,
Ross Williams was awarded a certificate in the practice of func- and Frank Slavin, mailroom
tional medicine after completing a post-doctoral course of study clerk/courier, on their fifth anniversary with the bank.
in functional diagnostic medicine.
Gargan joined First State in
Williams is a board certified chiropractic physician who proGargan
Slavin
vides natural health care options through traditional chiroprac- 2006, and lives in Tavernier with
her husband.
tic, clinical nutrition and functional medicine.
Slavin has lived in Key West for 14 years and volunteers atnuHe uses a science-driven functional approach that emphasizes
individualized medicine along with use of advanced laboratory merous bank-sponsored community events.
Luck of the Ir ish
May you always have walls
for the winds,
A roof for the rain,
Tea beside the fire,
Laughter to cheer you,
Those you love near you
And all your heart might desire.
May good luck
be your friend
In whatever you do
And may trouble be always
A stranger to you.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day
May the luck of the Irish
be on your side!
For $30 you can send your loved ones the
Luck of the Irish this St. Patrick’s Day, March 17.
Deadline is Wednesday, March 14 at 5:00pm
Contact Misty at 305-292-77787 ex. 213
or by e-mail: mgraves@keysnews.com
349719
KEYSWIDE CLASSIFIEDS ◆ keysnews.com/classifieds
FOR CLASSIFIEDS ◆ 305-292-7777, Option 4
2C
THE KEY WEST CITIZEN ◆ SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2012
BUSINESS
KEY WEST
FLORIDA KEYS
FLORIDA KEYS
KEY WEST
Aquarium opens stingray exhibit Wreck divers win prizes
Tropic Cinema goes 3-D
The Key West Aquarium this month
opened its new, hands-on Stingray Bay
exhibit, featuring eight juvenile cownose
rays that visitors can feed and touch.
In the same family as the spotted eagle
ray, cownose rays are known for being docile, said Piper Smith, marketing director for
Historic Tours of America, which operates
the aquarium, at 1 Whitehead St.
The rays in Stingray Bay have had the
barbs, which grow from the base of the tail,
trimmed for the safety of guests.
Monroe County residents receive free
admission the first Sunday of every month
for Locals Appreciation Day.
For more information, email ggerwin@
historictours.com, call 305-296-6021 or
visit www.keywestaquarium.com.
Key West’s nonprofit Tropic
Cinema began screening 3-D
movies this month with projectors funded by the Rodel
Foundation and the Monroe
County Tourist Development
Council.
Martin Scorcese’s film,
“Hugo,” is the first 3-D film
to be shown at the nonprofit
theater.
The movie has been nominated for 11 Academy Awards,
including Best Picture.
The theater is at 416 Eaton
St., Key West.
For tickets and information,
visit www.tropiccinema.com.
More than 100 divers completed the first-ever Florida Keys
Wreck Trek Passport Program by
exploring a series of nine shipwrecks between Key West and Key
Largo. Ten of those divers were
selected at random as winners of
various prizes, including vacation
packages and dive equipment.
The winners hailed from various parts of Florida, Ohio and
California.
The popularity of the contest has prompted organizers to
plan a Wreck Trek 2.0 that will
continue through January. For
information, visit www.fla-keys.
com/diving/wrecktrek.
Photo courtesy of First State Bank of the Florida Keys
First State Bank of the Florida Keys provided a sponsorship donation to Friends of Fort
Taylor for its annual Civil War Heritage Days Festival. The bank’s support allowed local
students to attend the event. From left: Peggy Gilbert, Don Lanman and Tecia Cotton.
COMMENTARY
Seaplane
Financial Focus:
Continued from Page 1C
“People still hear ‘seaplanes’
and assume we go to the
Tortugas,” Floyd said. “But, oh
my god, there’s so many other
things to do out there. We’re
local and have always wanted
to show people the Keys the
way we see them — from the
air.”
Many people don’t realize
that amphibious seaplanes
don’t have to land in the water,
and a water landing doesn’t
mean passengers get wet
wading to shore, Pontecorvo
said. Once the plane touches
down, the pilot becomes a
boat captain and sidles up to
a dock.
Key West Seaplanes offers
transportation to and from
mainland airports, as well as
private, waterfront residences
with appropriate docking facilities.
“As long as it’s safe and legal,
we can land at a private dock
and take people wherever they
want to go,” Floyd said, adding
that the planes need about 18
inches of water to land and
taxi, but it all depends on the
weight of the passengers and
cargo.
Passengers have chartered a
plane to go shopping in Naples,
or fishing in Bimini for a day,
while others have needed lastminute documents flown to
the mainland after missing the
Putting tax deferrals to work
SPECIAL TO THE CITIZEN
nvestors may, at times,
feel frustrated, as their
portfolios often are at the
mercy of unpredictable and
volatile financial markets
that are beyond anyone’s
control.
Controlling the quality and
diversification of the investments you own will improve
your chances of meeting
your long-term financial
goals. One way to do it by
putting as much money as
you can afford, year after
year, into tax-deferred investments.
When you contribute to a
tax-deferred account, your
money has the potential to
grow faster than it would in
a fully taxable investment
— that is, an investment on
which you paid taxes every
year. Over time, this accelerated growth can add up to a
big difference in your accumulated savings. For example, if you put $200 each
month into a taxable investment that earned a hypothetical 7 percent a year, you’d
end up with about $325,000
after 40 years, assuming you
were in the 25 percent federal tax bracket. If you put that
same $200 per month into a
tax-deferred investment that
earned the same hypothetical 7 percent a year, you’d
accumulate about $515,000
— or nearly $200,000 more
than you’d have with the
taxable investment. (This
example is for illustrative
purposes only, and does not
reflect a specific investment
or strategy.)
Of course, you’ll eventually
have to pay taxes on the taxdeferred investment, but you
may be in a lower tax bracket
by the time you retire. Also,
depending on how much you
withdraw each year from a
tax-deferred account, you can
have some control over the
amount of taxes you’ll pay.
Tax deferral can be a smart
choice, but there are several
options available.
One of the most attractive
choices is an employer-spon-
I
ROB O’NEAL/The Citizen
Nikali Pontecorvo and Julie Floyd prepare a Cessna 182 for a flight at the Key West International Airport.
deadline for overnight shipping, Floyd said.
The company also has done
emergency trips, like meeting a
man at the Key West airport 10
minutes after speaking to him
because his daughter had gone
into labor on the mainland.
“We’re selling convenience
and time,” Pontecorvo said,
adding that prices are listed for
the whole plane, which accommodates between two and five
passengers, depending on their
weight and amount of luggage.
Key West Seaplanes offers
day trips to Little Palm Island
for $450 round-trip. Passengers
enjoy a luxurious island lunch
and then take off whenever
they want for a sightseeing trip
back to Key West.
“We’re selling convenience
and time,” Pontecorvo said.
They’re also selling a worldclass view of the island chain
from 500 feet in the air. Lowaltitude flying offers an incomparable view of the blue-green
water of the Keys.
“We see turtles, dolphins,
stingrays, the reef and shipwrecks,” Floyd said, always
excited about charters to uninhabited offshore islands that
are outside the Florida Keys
National Marine Sanctuary,
where seaplane landings are
permitted.
The company will pull up
onto a beach and serve a gourmet picnic lunch, complete
with beach chairs, snorkel gear,
umbrellas and coolers. Both
pilots have performed private
weddings on secluded islands.
Thirty- and 50-minute sightseeing tours around Key West
and the Lower Keys are also
popular, and allow for plenty
of photo opportunities, Floyd
said.
“We’re just trying to get people to realize that there’s not
just one destination for seaplanes in Key West,” Floyd said.
“The Keys are a seaplane pilot’s
dream. I fly every day and they
never lose their beauty.”
mmiles@keysnews.com
KEY LARGO
Art store sells, ships and entertains
BY STEVE GIBBS
Citizen Staff
Artists of all stripes can now find their
supplies at The Art Box, next to Keys Kritters
at Mile Marker 100.
In the same store, which was opened last
October by a long-time local couple, shoppers can also find plenty to entertain young
children on a rainy day.
Jon and Joanna Dreaver (of the Key Largo
Conch House Dreaver family) moved their
arts and crafts store from the Tradewinds
Plaza last fall and dropped the crafts portion to focus on art supplies.
“We are now focusing on art and artists
from beginners to professionals,” said Jon,
35, who says they keep their prices down
to discourage customers from traveling to
Miami in search of bargains.
“We sell everything at the manufacturer’s
suggested retail price, no mark ups,” he
said. “Often we hear that smaller Keys businesses price themselves out of the market.
It’s difficult to survive but we want to provide services people can afford. I hate to see
people drive up the [18-Mile] Stretch.”
Joanna, 29, says they have plans to eventually bring in local artists to teach art
classes, but the space for classes is now
being used for shipping services. However,
an enclosed backyard awaits sprucing up
for outdoor painting classes.
Their small shop also includes Key Largo
Pack and Ship, a full-service shipping facility with arrangements with UPS, FedEx and
DHL.
“We are an authorized shipping center
for FedEx and DHL, and we also ship UPS,”
he said. “We ship more than our art supplies and kids’ supplies. We ship freight,
musical instruments, anything you want
to legally ship. We have the ability to ship
animals — legal reptiles and reef fish for
college labs — and we ship key lime pies.”
As he spoke last Friday morning, an
employee was busy cutting cardboard to
ship a guitar.
Besides art supplies and shipping, The Art
Box provides merchandise for children, too.
“People need something for the kids to
do on a rainy day. Almost 50 percent of our
store is devoted to entertaining children,”
he said.
A tall shelf along the wall is filled with
painting by numbers, jigsaw puzzles, sticker and construction pads, bead-stringing
kits, watercolor sets, feathers for making
jewelry and kits to decorate horses, houses,
fish and cupcakes. A variety of crayons and
markers are also stocked.
The Art Box, according to the Dreavers, is
striving to be a “multi-tasking” store.
“There’s something in the box for everybody,” Jon quipped.
sgibbs@keysnews.com
sored retirement plan, such
as a 401(k). Your earnings
have the potential to grow
on a tax-deferred basis, and
since you typically fund your
plan with pre-tax dollars, the
more you put in, the lower
your annual taxable income.
As many employers match
some of your contributions,
it’s almost always a good idea
to put as much as you can
afford into your 401(k), up
to the contribution limits,
and to boost your contributions every time your salary
increases. In 2012, you’re
allowed to contribute up to
$17,000 to a 401(k), plus an
additional $5,500 if you’re 50
or older.
Even if you participate
in a 401(k) plan, you can
probably also contribute to
a traditional IRA. Your earnings have the potential to
grow tax-deferred and your
contributions may be tax
deductible, depending on
your income level. In 2012,
you can put in up to $5,000
to a traditional IRA, or $6,000
if you’re 50 or older. (If you
meet certain income guidelines, you might be eligible
to contribute to a Roth IRA,
which offers tax-free earnings, provided you don’t start
taking withdrawals until
you’re 591⁄2 and you’ve had
your account at least five
years.)
Finally, if you’ve “maxed
out” on both your 401(k) and
your IRA, you may want to
consider a fixed annuity. Your
earnings grow tax-deferred,
contribution limits are high
and you can structure your
annuity to provide you with
an income stream you can’t
outlive.
The more years in which
you invest in tax-deferred
vehicles, the better, so it’s
best to start contributing to
tax-deferred investments as
soon as possible.
This article was written by
representatives from Edward
Jones and submitted by Will
Pena, a financial advisor in
Islamorada. For more information, visit www.edwardjones.com.
TOURISM SNAPSHOT
recognize the other person’s
feelings. In an argument, for
example, it’s essential for you
Continued from Page 1C
to state the other person’s position and make sure she knows
tone, remain calm and say
something like, “I realize you’re you understand it. That doesn’t
upset, but if you continue yell- mean you agree or are going to
give her what she wants; it siming, I’m going to have to end
ply means that you are taking it
the conversation.”
into account.
Assertiveness is a learned
2. Use repetition. When
skill that requires a great deal of
practice. But it’s worth it if you people are upset they don’t liswant to maintain your sense of ten to anyone but themselves.
For that reason it’s important
integrity and feel good about
to state your position several
your actions. Here are three
times. If your boss is asking
exercises to practice:
you to stay late, and you can’t,
1. Acknowledge the other
person. Remember that being you may have to say it three
or four times before he underassertive isn’t just about your
stands that you are not going to
own needs. It’s important to
Assertive
change your mind.
3. Explain the consequences. Assertive people know how
important it is to give others a
choice about how they behave.
Instead of closing down and
walking away from someone
who’s acting inappropriately,
give him the option to change
his behavior. You can say, “If
you continue to do that, I’ll
have to leave.” This gives the
person the choice to change.
Remember that consequences
aren’t threats; they are actions
you will take to make sure your
needs are met.
Martin Luther King Jr. once
said, “Never let a man pull
you so low as to hate him.”
When people try to hurt us, our
immediate response is to hurt
back. Although it may feel like
justice, it ultimately perpetuates the problem.
When people attack you,
they want a good fight; they
want you to stoop to their level.
When you give them a fight,
you give them what they want,
and you lose no matter what
the outcome. Assertive behavior is the only way to win the
game, so practice.
Elisa Levy conducts seminars on conflict resolution and
anger management. For more
information, contact her at 305296-5437 or visit http://www.
elisalevy.com.
Lodging occupancy report for the week of Feb. 12-18, 2012
The following is a glimpse of what percentage of hotel rooms were booked in
Key West and the Florida Keys during the previous week based on information
provided by lodging properties throughout Monroe County.
KEY WEST
Sun
12
Mon
13
Tues
14
Wed
15
Thur
16
This Year
84.6
92.1
95.3
97.1
99.4
99.4 100.3
Last Year
93.3
96.6
97.4
97.7
98.5
99.7 100.1
% Change
-9.3
-4.7
-2.2
-0.6
0.9
-0.3
0.2
Sun
12
Mon
13
Tues
14
Wed
15
Thur
16
Fri
17
Sat
18
This Year
74.8
82.2
86.0
89.5
92.9
93.7
97.5
Last Year
81.7
85.9
84.0
86.7
89.7
94.7
98.2
% Change
-8.4
-4.3
2.5
3.2
3.6
-1.1
-0.7
OCCUPANCY (%)
Fri
17
Sat
18
FLORIDA KEYS
OCCUPANCY (%)
Courtesy of Monroe County Tourist Development Council
Source: Smith Travel Research, Inc./STR Global, Ltd. 2012