Psneeld, I get some of your point, but it seems a little harsh to me. You say "way more self sufficient". More self sufficient than what? I don't understand where you draw that line. Remember, they are just near shore cruising -- pleasure boating, if you will. Not crossing oceans. Miami. The keys. This type of cruising. I completely respect your knowledge a experience and have enjoyed your posts and advice here for years, but I am not sure what is a realistic expectation of a typical cruiser on the loop, for example, that lives aboard.
If a cruiser needs a marina after 14 days at anchor that would not stop me from considering that fellow boater to be a "real" cruiser. Nor would I think they need to be more self sufficient. Would you?
What does it take to meet your real cruiser guideline? Let's say your answer is 30 days self sufficiency minimum -- which seems like a high standard for near shore cruising. Perhaps they were 25 days into that, and headed in to a marina, when things got wacky. They had reservations which got cancelled by text message when they were hours into their journey to the marina. By the time they got the cancellation text, their back up marina is now full or closed.... and the other direction from where they pulled up anchor that AM. More fuel burnt.
Not everyone has a water maker (or the power to run it forever or are located where it is practical to produce water); and I would say well under 30% of us cruisers (real or not) are able to produce our own diesel fuel from jelly fish and seaweed, or have farms onboard to produce nourishment for weeks. Heck, 30% might even be high. It's probably under 20%
Imagine if they butchered their last onboard cow just last week. Even real cruisers have such needs no matter how prepared.
To dinghy in to get diesel fuel in cans will not get one very far. Even IF dingying in to fill cans with diesel (as you suggest) got them out of the municipality/county/etc. that is imposing the ridiculous rules (which is an impractical premise but let's go with it), keep reading to see how that didn't help. Also, the grocery store I have been to over the past week has had no water. We have looked 3 times. So even if they wanted to fill their 200 gallon water tanks with 16.9oz bottles of Smart Water just to keep going (which is just stupid), they could not. There was no water at Winn Dixie (or wherever).
However, the marina that turned them away had no interruption in their water supply, or fuel, or pumpout facility, or dinghy dock, nor do they expect any such interruptions. It was all operational and right there....All of which were "locked down" in this case as they were turned away.
Further, I will ask, which direction should these not real cruisers go now that they (following your suggestion) filled their diesel cans at Circle K on land and dinghied back to the underprepared mothership? They now have 47 gallons of fresh road diesel in the tank, 6.5 gallons at at time by dinghy and cans -- woohoo let's go! Do they go to the next county or municipality that also turns them away? Will that happen south of them, so they should have gone north? How can they know?
I actually know people who left Monroe County (Keys) in FL headed to Miami because Monroe was getting a little nutty. Miami seemed like a better option..... until it didn't. They had already made the journey, though. They cannot get in there now. They burnt fuel, time, energy to get there. Now what? Plan C.... but will the plan C locale also lock them out? At some point it does not end well unless something changes.
I appreciate FoxtrotCharlies well wishes/hopes that loopers and cruisers have found safe refuge. They haven't. Some of them are pretty stressed. Actions like the mayor took is not helping.