Christmas, Key West Style

On the afternoon of December 23, we arrived in Key West's busy ship's channel. The channel was alive with cruise ships, Coast Guard ships, tour boats, jet skis and more. We were awed by the homes on Tank island, now called Sunset Key, a private island. Next to Tank island is Wisteria island, which is surrounded by at least 100 anchored sailboats, many of them look like live-aboards and some having seen their best days, years ago.

We navigated the channel to the east side of Fleming Key which is well-protected from all directions and has much less boat traffic and chop than the channel-side. The City of Key West operates a huge mooring field here with over 200 moorings. We were hoping to land a transient mooring but they are hard to come by as most are rented by the month or year by live-aboards. Josephine arrived before us and luckily scored a mooring. We motored up and down the mooring field but no luck. Instead, we anchored just north of the mooring field.

What's a mooring, you might ask? A permanent "anchor" usually provided by a municipality, state or national park. Moorings are typically more secure than a boat's anchor and save the bottom land (sand, grasses, coral, aquatic life) from being disturbed. There is typically a small fee ($20 per night) but worth it for environmental reasons when available. A mooring also gives you shore access for your dinghy and sometimes includes access to showers and laundry.

Key West is home to a plethora of derelict boats - boats that look like they might sink tomorrow and surely aren't fit to sail. The mooring field has its fair share of these derelict boats which are a sad sight. Some people call these boats home. Folks who have found a way to live cheaply in Key West. Others are abandoned and have been taken over by cormorants and sea gulls which means the smell is untenable. Still others are in the process of sinking or have sunk. This poses a complex problem for the City of Key West, as removing these boats from the harbor can't be cheap. And once they are removed from the water, where do they go...sailboat heaven?

In places like Key West, moorings are your ticket to shore. We were dying to get off Freya, stretch our legs and find some food. We were out of fresh fruits and vegetables and ready for a break from cooking. Our Waterway guide said there was a dinghy dock, close to the City Marina dock where you could pay to leave your dinghy so off we went. We pulled up to Garrison Bight Marina to pay and the staff knew nothing about any dinghy dock. We were exhausted and just wanted to get on land!

We cruised around in the dinghy, trying to find a legal place to tie up the dinghy but had no luck. We were tired and frustrated. Just as we were ready to bag it, we saw a manatee! We had been on the look out for them ever since getting to Florida, as they are quite common and such cool creatures! It surfaced next to the dinghy and proceeded to swim right under us! We held our breath until we saw it come out on the other side, fearful it would surface under the dinghy and flip us into the water. It was huge! Much bigger than the dinghy and could have easily sent us swimming! We were so thrilled to finally see one and figured it was a sign of good luck. We decided to go back to Garrison Bight Marina and try the Thai restaurant next door. They had a dinghy dock for patrons. We had a decent meal and were just happy to be on land. We hadn’t been off Freya in two days.

On Christmas Eve, we woke up excited to explore Key West. Josephine knew of our predicament with getting to shore and invited us to join them. We walked around Key West harbor and scoped out their dinghy dock. It was crowded but looked like doable. We were all starving and found a fun place for lunch called Harpoon Harry’s Diner with original concert posters covering the walls from bands like the Beatles, Bob Dylan and other classic rockers. The best part was watching Blake inhale his French toast served with a full slice of key lime pie in the middle! Needless to say, his sugar buzz had him skipping around all afternoon!

After lunch we walked the streets and enjoyed the beautiful southern architecture and flowering trees and bushes. Then we tackled our other main objective, the grocery store. We were excited to use our sweet new dry bag backpacks for the first time! Fresh produce, here we come! It was a long walk with heavy loads back to the dinghy but it was worth it.

On Christmas Day, we decided to try our luck with the dinghy dock in Key West harbor. Luckily the winds and waves were fairly calm and boat traffic light with everyone home opening presents. We paid the $8 dinghy fee and set off to explore the historic part of town. We walked the beautiful grounds of the Little White House, built in 1890 as the first officer's quarters on the submarine base naval station. The first President to visit the site was William Howard Taft in December 1912. He arrived by Flagler's Overseas Railroad and stayed in Key West before sailing to Panama to inspect the canal then under construction. During WWI, Thomas Edison resided in the house while donating his service to the war effort. He perfected 41 underwater weapons during his six-month stay. The house remained command headquarters through World War II.

The house served as the Naval Station commandant's house until March 1974, when the submarine base was closed due to the Navy's conversion from diesel to nuclear submarines. That year, it was also added to the U.S.National Register of Historic Places. In 1987, it was deeded to the State of Florida and is held in trust as a public museum. We even saw one of Truman's presidential cars which my Hagerty friends will appreciate. Check out more fun facts about the Little White House in the photo below.

Our favorite part of sight-seeing in Key West was the Truman Annex neighborhood of Old Town. The Annex is filled with beautiful historic buildings and homes and gorgeous gardens. It's only open to pedestrians, cyclists and home owners so the streets are quiet. A wonderful get away from the touristy sections of Key West.

On our way back to Freya, we stopped by Josephine and invited them for Christmas dinner. Todd made a hearty soup and Diana brought a fresh salad. The highlight of the evening was listening to Blake sing and play the guitar. He's one of those people who seemingly can do anything and do it well. He kicked off the evening with one of our very favorite Old Crow Medicine Show tunes, Wagon Wheel. Picture this...you're spending Christmas evening with new friends on your lovely floating home...surrounded by sailboats adorned with colorful Christmas lights...tummies happy after a nutritious meal and your friend starts strumming his guitar and covering your favorite tunes like he owns them. Yes, I almost cried. Tears of pure joy and happiness.

Our best (and only) Christmas present was seeing our good friends, the Howards! They spent Christmas vacation in the Keys and as luck would have it, were in Key West on December 26. We were so thrilled to connect with them, see their awesome kids and catch up on Traverse City news. We've been friends for 20 years so the evening was full of laughs and stories, old and new. My cheeks hurt from smiling and my heart was full. Old friends are the best. Thanks to Sunset, another good TC friend who lived in Key West for years, for recommending Amigos. Yum!

That's a wrap on Christmas in Key West. Next stop, Marathon. Go Freya!