Windsurfer Baudoin Found his Moorings in the Keys

By Christina Baez,
Florida Keys News Bureau

When champion windsurfer Hubert Baudoin traveled to the Florida Keys for a competition in the 1980s, he found blue waters, warm weather and a lush tropical land reminiscent of his childhood home on West Africa’s Ivory Coast.

“When I first drove into the Keys, it was love at first sight,” Baudoin said. “I just needed to find a ploy to stay.”

He found that “ploy” at The Moorings in Islamorada, and since has grown the property into one of the tropical world’s foremost luxury resorts. Yet as a young man he had dreamed of operating a far different enterprise.

While in his early 20s, Baudoin had hoped to open a windsurfing shop. He consulted an Upper Keys real estate agent in search of a beachfront shack, but instead she showed him a tiny hotel property whose beach he had once explored after a windsurfing equipment malfunction. It was called The Moorings.

The owner, a writer who had inherited the property, wasn’t enthusiastic about most potential buyers’ plans to gut the existing cottages and build a large hotel on the land.

“I knew nothing about hotel management, but I told the previous owner I would run the hotel from their original homes,” Baudoin said. “He thought it was crazy and I thought it was crazy too.”

The original furniture and décor at the hotel dated back to the 1960s. But because of guests’ demands for the place to remain open, Baudoin never closed for renovations. He simply revamped the property little by little as guests came and went.

“I realized quickly that when you only have three units you cannot afford to have a manager. I was the gardener, the security guard at night and pretty much did it all,” said Baudoin, who admits he loved the experience. “At one point, one of the cottages was decorated with furniture from my college dorm room.”

A passionate environmentalist, he wasn’t pleased when development of a three-story concrete beachfront hotel began next door soon after he purchased The Moorings. Baudoin rallied people to join him to protest the development, and eventually they stopped the project. He subsequently put the land to a more environmentally friendly use, incorporating it into The Moorings.

Today, The Moorings is an 18-acre property harboring 18 cottages and homes, a serene white-sand beach, abundant plant life that includes more than a thousand palm trees and a serene beauty that inspires what Baudoin calls “indescribable inner peace.”

The resort’s verdant tropical atmosphere and stylish elegance are its claim to fame, attracting guests from around the world and drawing famed photographers like Bruce Weber to shoot advertising campaigns and catalogs for such well-known brands as Chanel and Abercrombie & Fitch.

Baudoin lives in the middle of The Moorings in a small home that was one of the property’s original 1930s cottages. As the original homes were renovated and others built, his goal was to re-create their flavor of the unspoiled heyday of the Keys.

“I tried to restore my house to exactly how it was in the 1930s, but deep down I know it’s just a bunch of termites holding hands,” he said.

For Baudoin, the best part about living at and managing The Moorings is the people he has encountered. “The people who’ve stopped in this oasis in the last 20 years have incredible stories, and I get to be a part of that,” he said.

From time to time, Baudoin reads through the guestbooks of the property’s homes. Over the years he’s discovered entries from people who have taken their first family vacations at The Moorings, those who vacationed there as children and later returned with their own kids, and even terminally ill guests whose last wish was to visit The Moorings.

As well as creating the resort, Baudoin is the guiding spirit behind two Islamorada beachfront culinary treasures, Morada Bay Beach Café and Pierre’s Restaurant. His stated mission is to provide diners “an awakening of the senses.”

While he occasionally considers replicating his accomplishments somewhere else in the world, after 24 years in the Keys he’s generally content with the status quo.

“I love to travel and do so quite frequently, but there’s no place like home,” said Baudoin. “The Moorings is my home.”

Baudoin lives in the middle of The Moorings in a small home that was one of the property’s original 1930s cottages, among serene beauty that inspires what Baudoin calls “indescribable inner peace.”

Baudoin lives in the middle of The Moorings in a small home that was one of the property’s original 1930s cottages, among serene beauty that inspires what Baudoin calls “indescribable inner peace.”

Baudoin has transformed The Moorings into an 18-acre property harboring 18 cottages and homes, a serene white-sand beach and abundant plant life that includes more than a thousand palm trees. Photos by Kicka Witte

Baudoin has transformed The Moorings into an 18-acre property harboring 18 cottages and homes, a serene white-sand beach and abundant plant life that includes more than a thousand palm trees. Photos by Kicka Witte

The resort’s verdant tropical atmosphere and stylish elegance attract guests from around the world and draw advertising and catalog photo shoots for such well-known brands as Chanel and Abercrombie & Fitch.

The resort’s verdant tropical atmosphere and stylish elegance attract guests from around the world and draw advertising and catalog photo shoots for such well-known brands as Chanel and Abercrombie & Fitch.

The atmosphere around Morada Bay Beach Cafe has reminiscent splashes of Baudoin's colorful past as a champion windsurfer.

The atmosphere around Morada Bay Beach Cafe has reminiscent splashes of Baudoin's colorful past as a champion windsurfer.

The Moorings Honeymoon Cottage.

The Moorings Honeymoon Cottage.

Close
Close