The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1939-04-18
Beautiful Tropical Birds, Marine
: Colors, Hundreds Of Blue
Channels, Best Fishing

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States richest and greatest ex-
panse of Caribbean waters fish
ing area, and beauty of marine
sights which are unsurpassed.
1t is estimated that there are
ESQ yachts which visit the Florida
Keys and Key West area each
season. with yachts and house
boats of over 100-foot length
making this little city a regular
port of call. From Key West the
larger yachts go to Cuba and the
other islands of the West Indies,
Including Haiti and Porto Rico.
They pass this southernmost civ
ic point also going down to the
adventurer's paradise of Central
and South America. Many take
the run around the Keys to the
Florida West Coast and Gulf
ports and go through the Fort
Myers Canal back to the Atlantic.
- Most yachtsmen this year spend
about five days at the larger har-
'bors of the Keys, drop in to Key
West, and then go back to Miami,
Fort Lauderdaie and Palm Beach.
Others continue on to Fort Myers
and St. Petersburg. A large num-
her go over to Havana, the gilt
.tering city of the West Indies.
Yachismen of the World
o.. Through the Key West Yacht
Basin pass scores of different
types of yachts and boats. There
is the group of ardent fishermen
who come here with a charter
boat out of Miami and spend a
week or two weeks making daily
trips out to the reef. A few
yachts which are making long
Caribbean and even round the
world trips with an adventurous
captain or owner stop in for stays.
Households, usually just below a
hundred feet in length, will bring
some of the better known 'figu-
ures of tine country to Key West
They will remain a few days OF
a week and will usually make the
trip TO Tortugas. Throughout
the year large sailing craft and
the larger yachts drop inion then
way to Havana or to Swanky
Gulf ports. Quite a large mum
Der of battered craft with the
wash hanging out, rusty streakS
Of nails down their sides and not
exactly the best looking cabin
interior, make the trip here and
stay some time enjoying the
beauty of the marine scenery
around Key West and the friend
illness in the quaint town. Some
stay throughout the summer
Small sloopS and cabin cruisers
Continually drop in with a crew
of two or three to see the city
and to fish.
- Few of the yachtsmen who
come here know what wonderful
cruising waters there are through
the Keys. Partly because charts
through their function are pro-
sale and there is little descriptive
marine literature of the area
Partly, also, because yachtsmer
find it difficult to negotiate the
shallow waters and swift cur.
rents of the Keys. Few go out
in drinks and small motorboatS tc
see the fairyland of waters allow.
ing through the mangrove isles
IN the deeper waters nearer the
Gulf Stream they may use theil
yachts or cabin cruisers. An idea
Key boat combination is a "a.
footer with a three-foot draft
which. can sleep four, and has ar
accompanying dink or dinghey Of
a. few inches draft with outboarC
motor. Take along hand lines
heavy rods and reels, and har.
poems.
The. Florida Keys swing south,
westward from the eastern poin
of the Florida mainland with the
shape resembling the scimital
Secretary Singleton of the Cham
Der of Commerce compared it t.
many years ago. The lower par
of the scimitar points almost di
rectly west. AT the tip of thi.
line of mangrove islands is Key
West, an island three miles b,
five, with the best deepwatel
harborage of the entire Keys
Continuing in the same direction
is line of Keys running down tt
MarqueSaS, the only coral atoI- in
America, and beyond it 80 mile.
away and go miles from Key
West is Dry Tortugas with OLE
Fort Jefferson, prison of DR.
Mudd, who set the leg of Johr
Wilkes Booth, murderer of Lin
coln-a fort once believed Il
tortify the passage into the Gull
Of Mexico.
Many Channels Nearby
Around Key West one find.
Southeast channel leading out t.
the Gulf Stream, the main shiy
channel, which ships of 25-foo
draft can negotiate in ease from
the break in the reef seven mile!