24°33'N 81°47'W · Florida Keys
Key West Yacht Guide
Key West is a 6 to 9 foot town with 12 foot ambitions, and every operational decision starts with draft. The main ship channel carries plenty of water, but once you leave it the Keys give you hard coral and grass flats patrolled by people who will write you a citation for the prop scar. The real big-boat answer is Stock Island, one harbor east, where the dredged basins and the working waterfront live; downtown Key West Bight is for boats under about 130 feet and captains who enjoy maneuvering in a crowd. It is the end of the road in every sense, which is the charm and the constraint: thin provisioning, one small airport, and 60 miles of nothing between you and the Dry Tortugas.
Season & Arrival
High season is December through April, dry, breezy from the east at 15 to 20, and booked solid around Christmas, race week in January, and spring. June through November is hurricane season with the most exposure of any US port you will visit; Key West has no hurricane hole, no haulout for big boats, and a 36 hour head start is your only real plan. Summer diving and Tortugas weather is glassy and superb if you accept the risk math.
The Guide
Marinas
Stock Island is where the water is: the Stock Island Marina Village basin carries 10 to 12 feet and takes boats well past 200 feet, with the Perry Hotel on the dock and the only real superyacht-capable infrastructure in the lower Keys. The neighboring basins, Safe Harbour's working docks and the Stock Island Yacht Club side, cover the sportfish and 60 to 100 foot fleet with fuel and a boatyard culture left over from the shrimping days. Downtown, the Key West Bight, the Galleon, A&B, and Conch Harbor, puts you in the middle of everything with 8 to 10 feet at the face docks and limited maneuvering room when the schooner fleet starts its sunset parade. The Galleon's outer face takes the largest boats downtown, call it 130 feet practical, and books out a year ahead for Christmas through New Year. Margaritaville Resort Marina, the old Westin docks, handles transient mid-size traffic at resort pricing. Everything downtown shares one truth: the basins are tight, the current runs through the Bight on the tide, and an afternoon easterly at 20 knots makes the face docks sporty for anything with windage.
Operating Data
- Stock Island Marina Village
- 10-12 ft basin, berths past 200 ft, the big-boat answer
- Key West Bight (Galleon, A&B, Conch)
- 8-10 ft, practical max ~130 ft, downtown core
- Christmas-New Year
- Downtown face docks book ~12 months out
- Current in the Bight
- Sets through on the tide, plan landings for slack
Operating data is updated each season. Confirm critical figures with the operator before arrival.
Captain Notes
- Draft discipline is everything here: outside the marked channels assume 6 feet or less, and a prop scar on seagrass is a state citation with restoration costs attached.
- Stock Island for the boat, downtown for the guests; a 10 minute car ride buys you 4 feet of water and half the docking drama.
- Time Bight landings for slack; the current through the downtown basins will set you onto the schooner fleet at exactly the wrong moment.
- Tortugas trips are expedition logistics: full bunkers, full water, float plan filed, and a hard weather gate on the return leg.
- Check the cruise schedule; two ships in port puts 8,000 people on Duval Street by 1000 and your guests will want the boat, not the town, until 1700.
Local Red Flags
- No hurricane refuge and no big-boat haulout within 100 miles; June through November your storm plan is a 36 hour head start to Lauderdale or beyond, and insurers know it.
- Cruise ship days transform downtown; Mallory Square and Duval are shoulder-to-shoulder from mid-morning until the ships sail around 1700.
- The anchorage has a derelict-vessel population and theft from unattended tenders at the dinghy docks is a known problem; lock everything, lift the tender at night.
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