Arrival to Key West and the Mooring Field

We arrived to Key West in the early afternoon, tied up to our mooring ball without issue (we’re getting good at this stuff now!), and took the dinghy into the office to get checked in. Afterward, we headed the mile or so on foot to the famous old historic section of Key West where the famous Duval Street resides, as well as the schooner warf area, the cruise ship docks, and Mallory Square. While walking the dock area we saw all the racing sailboats coming back in to dock that we had seen earlier out racing from Holiday. It was cool seeing all the crews working on the boats after the days racing. Check out the guy working up the mast! Oh, and the cruise ship in the background…in case you missed it!

Later, back on Holiday we watched a beautiful sunset, had a great night’s sleep, and then watched an equally beautiful sunrise the next morning in the mooring field.


The mooring field in Key West, while not holding quite as many boats as Boot Key Harbor, is very large. We had read a lot of reviews on the mooring field and also heard a lot from other cruisers. Mostly, people are lukewarm to negative about the place sighting a long dinghy ride to town, exposure to waves from northerly winds making for uncomfortable living and wet dinghy rides, spartan bathroom facilities, etc. The anchorages get bad reviews too, so it’s not like there is an obvious better choice. We found it to be a pretty nice place. Click here for our in depth video review of the mooring field including video of conditions in different winds up to 35 plus knots.

One of the first things I noticed was how clear the water around Holiday was. You could see to the bottom like a swimming pool. In fact, all the water around Key West is surprisingly clear. Even inside the harbor area where the dinghy dock is where we would often see trash or other pollutants floating and expect the water to at least be cloudy, it was crystal clear. Awesome! For sure, the water all through the Keys is beautiful and a wonderful turquoise, but so far, Key West takes the cake, especially when you are talking about the water right next to land.

Another neat aspect of mooring field life was the proximity to the Army Special Forces training base next door on Fleming Key. It’s where they do their underwater operations training. We saw all sorts of cool stuff going on whether it be parachutists coming down to the island or the water or cool helicopters like this one dropping people and inflatables into the water and retrieving them.

The daily air shows were completed by fighter jets from the Naval Air station on Boca Chica Key on the opposite side from Fleming flying around pretty much every day.

Life in the mooring field was great, and we spent a lot of our time during our month at Key West aboard Holiday reading, relaxing, cooking, eating, playing the uke, watching the comings and goings of boat folk, and doing the occasional boat chore. Of course, we spent a lot of time enjoying all that Key West has to offer ashore too. Stay tuned!