New Years at Key West

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December 31, 2023 – January 2, 2024: I cruise down to Key West, meet up with Jason, and become a spectator in Key West’s busiest night of the year.

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In my last travelogue blog post, I recounted the last few days of my cruise down the Florida Keys with a destination of Key West. It was on New Years Eve day that I did the final leg of that trip, sitting up in the command bridge with my pups, cruising at about 14 knots while taking photos, texting with friends, and dodging crab pot buoys.

It was a gorgeous day. Sunny and warm, with light winds and mostly calm seas. It was a Sunday on a holiday weekend, so there were plenty of other boats out and about, although none seemed to be on the same track as me. I was in Hawk Channel on the south (ocean) side of the Keys and other than dealing with a bit of ocean swell, it was a smooth cruise.

A view from the command bridge as I cruised southwest to Key West on Sunday morning.

One of the folks I was texting with was Jason, who was on a United Airlines flight from Washington DC to Key West. I used FlightRadar24 to get his flight info. He was on the ground before I made the turn northbound into the Key West channel and sent me photos of the weird things he was seeing as he made his way from the plane to the terminal to a taxi.

Arriving at Key West

Boat traffic around Key West was crazy and no one was slowing down, so I didn’t either. As a result, we bounced around on the wake generated by other boats while trying to figure out where to go. It was a little excitement after a lot of boredom.

I called Galleon Marina when I had it in sight and got them on the second try. They gave me a slip assignment and directions. A few minutes later, I was pulling into slip 52 near the sea wall and a dockhand was waiting to take my lines. I was unprepared so I came in slowly and got the boat to a stop without touching the edge of the dock. While the dockhand fastened one line, I came down, dropped the fenders, and fastened another. Then he was gone; he was the only one on duty.

Here’s my Nebo log for December 31, 2023. Download a PDF log file with more info. Track Do It Now on Nebo.

And then Jason was there with a big hug. He’d arrived at the marina just as I was pulling into my slip.

I got everything shut off while he stowed his bag. Then we got my pups on leashes and took them for a walk. That’s when I realized how completely un-dog-friendly the marina and Key West are. All around the marina were signs saying dogs were not allowed on the property or in the planted areas. Outside the marina, we were hard-pressed to find anything resembling soil, let alone grass. We finally took them to do their business along the edge of a hotel parking lot. Then it was back to the boat for them and off to lunch for us.

Do It Now in its slip at Galleon Marina. The fairways between slips at the marina were surprisingly narrow given the size of most of the boats there.

New Years Eve at Key West

We ate at Alonzo’s Oyster Bar but, for some reason, did not have oysters. I think it’s because I felt like eating something more solid. It was close to the marina and we could eat outside and watch the tourists and pigeons and wild chickens roam around. (Key West is totally overrun with wild chickens.) We had a conch fritter appetizer and I had a poke tuna bowl which definitely had the wrong sauce on it. It wasn’t terrible, but the right sauce would have been nice.

Afterwards, we walked around for a while. We both planned to nap before dinner so we’d be awake for the midnight celebration. We’d even picked the “drop” we wanted to see — Key West has five of them — the “wench drop” at nearby Schooner Wharf Bar.

Of course, when we got back to the boat at around 4 PM, one of our neighbors in a very large cruising boat had the stereo on loud. If that wasn’t bad enough, he was playing total crap “music” at a level far beyond what his speakers could handle, so it sounded like shit. There was no escaping from the sound. Another boater tried to get their attention to ask them to turn down the music but they’d disappeared inside the boat. Finally, I started leaning on my boat’s horn to get their attention. Then the other boater asked them to turn down the “music” and they complied.

It was not the first time these people would disturb the peace.

We napped and then made dinner: lobster ravioli with a homemade cream sauce that would have been better if I’d had some parmesan cheese on board. Then we each showered and drank champagne and found other ways to kill time.

It was about 9 PM when we wandered back off the boat in search of dessert. We found key lime pie and ate some and later found a much better desert place called The Baklava — sorry, no link because no website; I won’t link to Facebook — with all kinds of Turkish and Mediterranean desserts. We each had a coffee to help us stay awake. Then more walking. We found crowds gathering at the various drop places. Most folks were either drunk or on their way to getting drunk. It was a real party atmosphere and we veered away from it.

I hardly took any photos that night. (I actually took very few photos in Key West at all. Go figure.) The Christmas lights were pretty, though.

Eventually, at around 11 PM, we ended up where the wench drop was going to be. By then, we were both tired. We found a place to sit and wait. The crowd grew. People showed up with kids. (Kids! WTF?) We both started getting antsy. By 11:40, we’d convinced ourselves that we’d be able to see and hear everything from the boat, so we went back.

And we did. Kind of. We heard the countdown and the cheers. We kissed and finished our champagne.

And then the loud neighbors turned on some more “music,” even louder than before.

Okay, so it was New Year’s Eve. Midnight had just happened. They were celebrating on the upper deck of their boat, dancing to the crap music crackling out of their boat speakers. (What was really weird about this is that they had all been quietly gathered inside the boat prior to midnight. Watching the ball drop on TV?) But one song turned into two and three and four. And it looked like they’d keep it up all night. Other boaters were returning to their boats and I knew that most of them would want to do exactly what we wanted to do: go to bed.

So I called the marina office and complained. And by 12:45 AM, it was much quieter.

Understand this: when I pay for a place to spend the night, I expect to be able to sleep. If my marina neighbors want to party, they could do it at any of over 100 bars that were open, most of which had live music way better than the crap they were playing through their shitty underpowered speakers. They could continue their party there. There was no reason they should keep all their neighbors up until they decided it was time to call it quits.

So I commend the marina staff for doing something about the noise. And I’m certain Jason and I weren’t the only folks happy about them quieting down at 12:45 AM.

New Year’s Day

Because one day really isn’t enough at Key West, we booked a second night at the marina. I was really hoping our loud neighbors would leave, but they didn’t. A lot of other folks did, though.

I made my usual veggies and eggs breakfast for the two of us. And I fed and walked my pups. Then Jason and I prepped to go out and explore the town.

We got my bike out onto the dock and I attached the basket to the back rack. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know that I used to have a cart that attached to the back of the bike. That cart’s wheels had some rust-related issues and after buying a cart that just wasn’t right, I settled on a collapsable milk crate style basket that I can screw onto the back rack for my pups or groceries. I set all that up and Jason pulled out his Onewheel. Then we headed south on Duval with my pups in the basket. I wanted to revisit the Southernmost Point marker and Dog Beach and had the thought of lunching at Louie’s Backyard, where I’d once had dinner thirty years before.

Key West was just waking up and so was the traffic. There were tons of rental bikes and golf carts on the road. But we did fine on the 1.3 mile ride from the marina. We parked near the Southernmost point, locking up my bike and hiding Jason’s Onewheel behind some bushes, and walked around a bit. The tourists were crowding the Southernmost Point marker so I didn’t take any photos. It wasn’t at all like I remembered it from 30 years before. It was so much more crowded. I didn’t recognize the motel near there where I’d stayed, either, although it was probably one of the ones nearby that had been renovated over the years. We walked to Dog Beach, which turned out to be right next door to Louie’s Backyard. I let the girls loose and they ran around a little, with Rosie running into the water periodically to keep Lily from catching her. It was too early for lunch so when the girls got tired, we leashed them back up and walked back to our transportation. Then we headed back to the boat.

I locked up my bike at a bike rack near the marina, since I’d been warned that I couldn’t park a bike on the dock and I didn’t want to put it away. I started looking for other lunch places that might interest Jason since he hadn’t seemed very interested in Louie’s. I found a Cuban coffee place that served lunch, Key West Cuban Coffee. I settled my pups in the boat’s interior — Lily is quite the Houdini and can escape from the boat if she’s not confined inside. Then we headed out again on my bike and his Onewheel.

The restaurant was one of those small local places off the main tourist drag. It had a good menu. I had an empanada and arepas and they were tasty. Jason ate most of his food, but I could tell something was up with him. He admitted that he wasn’t feeling very well — he wasn’t 100% recovered from the cold he’d caught on his trip to Michigan. So after lunch, he went back to the boat and I headed out on my own to explore around the city.

I wound up in a super touristy area near the cruise ship terminal. There was a Carnival Cruise ship in town and it had dumped a few thousand people into the area. While lots were probably busy with ship-arranged tours and other activities, the rest were on those rented bikes and golf carts and walking around the shops. I spent about an hour just walking around, looking in some shops and getting a closer look at the cruise ship. At one point, I went into a shop selling sportswear and tried on some pants. Other than a pair of easily dirtied white cotton pants, the only long pants I have with me on the boat are jeans and jeans are simply not practical for a tropical climate. I was unsuccessful in my attempt to get something more practical, mostly because of limited choices for women. There may have been 200 different sun dresses available, but not a single pair of quick drying slacks. The only pair I tried on was from the men’s department.

I revisited The Baklava and had a piece of good but overpriced baklava. Then I retrieved my bike from a bike rack and rode back to the boat.

Jason was feeling somewhat better after resting up at the boat. I decided to get some rest, too. I napped for a while, but that’s when the loud neighbor’s dog, which had apparently been left alone, started whining and howling. It was pretty awful. I felt bad for the animal — it obviously has problems being left alone — and nothing but a seething hatred for my neighbors. (Nice way to start the new year, eh?)

Around sunset, which is the main event in Key West, we put my pups on leashes and walked over to Sunset Pier, the northernmost part of the long pier where most people gather to watch the sunset. We happened to get to the counter facing west just as another couple was leaving, so we took their seats. We had an unobstructed view of the horizon, which is a lot more than could be said for most of the pier south of us, which was blocked by that giant cruise ship. As we waited and chatted and watched the boats heading out to give their passengers the best views, the area around us filled with people.

The sun sank lower and lower and got more and more orange. Then it simply sunk into the sea.

Sunset is a major spectator event at Key West every single evening.

The crowd applauded.

There weren’t many clouds, so I wasn’t expecting much of a light show. Jason was still not near 100% so we headed back to the boat, taking the girls for a quick walk along the way.

Back at the boat, I fed my pups and heated up a can of Progresso chicken and dumpling soup for Jason. I had some cheese and crackers. I was still pretty full from lunch and Jason didn’t have much of an appetite. I finished the soup. We listened to the neighbor’s dog for a while. Then they came back and the dog shut up and by some miracle, it was relatively quiet for the rest of the night.

Departure Day

On Tuesday, the holiday was over and so was our time at Key West. I was not interested in paying for another night at the marina. In all honestly, I was extremely disappointed with their amenities, considering what the place cost me.

Tuesday morning’s predawn sky was a sight to behold.

After taking feeding my pups and taking them for their morning walk, Jason and I wandered around the wharf area, looking for breakfast. It wasn’t quite 8 AM but most places that claimed to have breakfast were still closed. After passing one place that looked kind of crappy and another place that looked about to open, we wound up at a place called The Koffee House. We each ordered the Turkish Eggs, which were pretty amazing. (I’m always up for trying different flavor combinations and breakfast is my favorite meal of the day.)

At this point, we had chores to take care of before departure. We needed groceries and Jason was pretty convinced that he needed to talk to someone at an urgent care facility about his cold symptoms. So he called an Uber. It dropped him off at urgent care and took me to a Publix supermarket. I got enough groceries to take us to Miami, where we’d next be able to shop. He was already back at the boat when I returned.

More chores: he needed to pick up a prescription — he’d been diagnosed with a sinus infection — and I needed to put away the groceries and arrange for a pumpout. And I also needed to put away the hose and power cord and prep the boat for departure. And, when he got back, we needed to make an adjustment to the packing nut on my drive shaft, which had been dripping a little more than it should. That required me to walk to a nearby marine supply store and buy a tool. Even then, we weren’t successful with the adjustment; the nut needs to be brushed clean to unlock it and we simply didn’t have time.

Finally, by noon, we were ready to go. Jason cast off the lines, climbed aboard, and pulled in the fenders while I steered us down the narrow fairway and out of the marina. Soon we were retracing my route into Key West and heading east again.