The Rhythm of Cruising in Boot Key Harbor

By Capt. Scott Buckley
Location Boot Key Harbor Florida
I have not written in a while and I will say I was getting used to the rhythm of cruising in Boot Key Harbor.  It is the most comfortable word I can find to describe what it feels like.  A gentle and subtle rhythm.  It has ups and downs and musical components.  It has repetition interspersed with periods of rest.  It has excitement, romance and serenity. 

It feels like waking up on Saturday over and over again.  It feels like all the parts of a vacation over and over again.  It does not feel like routine.  It does not have the melancholy that you get at the end of a vacation when you know it will be over tomorrow.

The components of the rhythm has adventure interspersed with the mundane and a chorus of new friends that understand and live in the rhythm with you.

Every evening in Boot Key harbor just as the sun goes below the horizon the cruiser sound their conch shell horns.  Each horn and horn blower has and unique and individual note.  They are play separately and together and the song they play at sunset is different each night and becomes part of the rhythm.


The wrap wrap wrap of someone knocking on your hull as they pass by to see if you are there and want to visit.  This includes a little dance as they stand up on their dinghy deciding if they are going stand there on their dinghy holding onto the side of your boat or go ahead and come on board knowing it will be hours before they get underway again.  It is their decision, the invitation has been offered and the decline has not been fully accepted.


The rhythm is the wind whistling in the rigging and deciding the laundry can wait another day.  The rhythm is the slapping of the oars on the water as they row to this chore or that.  The rhythm is the cruisers net on the radio as you welcome new arrivals, say good bye to old friends and offer help to those that request it.  The rhythm is the ebb and flow of the little boats at the dinghy dock.

There is rhythm to the events of Boot Key Harbor.  The weekly pump outs give the rhythm some funk.  The weekly musical jam sessions at the tiki hut give notes to the beat. The weekly movie night add color and the weekly yoga classes give strength.  The daily cruiser’s net on the radio give the place community.
There is a rhythm to the weather that pumps sailors and their boats to the island like a giant heart.  The cold fronts blow through and cause the winds to clock.  As the winds clock around the cold front the sailor get ready and head from the mainland to the islands from 5 until 9.  As the winds clock the sailors make their plans and gather in great excitement asking; “Are you going?..Are you going?”.  As the time draws near the the winds are passing from 2 o’clock to 4 the harbor looks like a musical stage as sailors dance back and forth making ready and all dancing the same dance.  Cruiser dance this dance together, sharing rides, asking questions, offering advice.

When the winds hit 5 o’clock the anchors are weighed the sails are raised and the harbor is emptied of its nervous first timers and its confident veterans for the next batch of new arrivals.  The rhythm continues.