Key West Harbour Marina – Stock Island

Staying at Key West Harbour Marina affords us the best of both worlds.

We’ve stayed at Stock Island several times before. We keep going back to Key West Harbour Marina because it just makes sense. We usually stay a month in the Key West area and the downtown marinas are too expensive to stay long. Not sure we’d appreciate the crazy activity of downtown Key West for more than a few days. Staying at Key West Harbour Marina affords us the best of both worlds. Because we trailer our boat to Florida, we have transportation while in the lower Keys. So, we enjoy the laid-back island lifestyle on beautiful Stock Island knowing we can drive the short distance into Key West any time we want to experience the attractions of that busy little tourist town.

But first, we have to leave Marathon. We’ll anchor out a few nights on our way to Stock Island. So, we went from the Florida Bay side of the Keys, under the old and new bridges that connect the Keys, to Hawks Channel side to get to our first anchorage, Newfound Harbour.

Our first night’s anchorage was at Newfound Harbor. A new spot for us.

Newfound Harbour, (above and below). The anchorage is in the lower keys between Big Pine, the Torch Keys, and Ramrod Key. The anchorage is fairly shallow – that’s not a problem in our tug. We did drag that night, but the anchorage is so wide open it was not a problem.

We arrived at Stock Island one day early on our reservation’s arrival day, so we decided to anchor just inside Boca Chica Channel, the cut between Stock Island and Boca Chica island. It was a little exposed to the east, but it was a fair weather day and it turned out to be a very delightful spot.

We left our anchorage late morning to go the short distance to Key West Harbour, our home for the next month.

The crews of Roam and Illusions joined us for an afternoon and evening of fun. After they brought our truck down from Marathon, we all hopped in and headed down to Key West. Starting at Hogfish Bar And Grill on Stock Island.

Our dock neighbor introduced us to his pet parrot who had a lot to say upon meeting us.

One of the perks of staying at Stock Island is that the Stock Island Lobster Co. is right next door, within walking distance. We couldn’t wait to pick up a spiny lobster for dinner.

    

    

We met up with the crew of Shady Lady and a few of their friends at Square Grouper, it was a halfway point between our respective marinas.

We heard about this party from other boaters in the marina. It is a monthly celebration of the full moon. Local bands provide music to listen or dance to. We heard a lot of different bands that night and felt like we were at a private party, in someone’s backyard.

We liked our spot at the marina. Quiet and close to shore for easy access to our truck and showers. Our month-long stay on Stock Island really brought on the full-blown effect of the famous condition known as “Keys Disease.”