I was on the commercial dock slip waiting list 14 years to get the dock slip lease from the City of Key West. Obviously, they don't come up very often. The slip is located in an excellent high pedestrian count walk by area of the Key West Bight on the main Harbor Walk seawall in between the Turtle Kraals Restaurant and the old Waterfront Market building, directly in front of the Public Restrooms building. Many years ago this particular dock slip was leased by Jimmy Buffett for his sail boat SAVANNAH JANE. The monthly fee for the dock slip is $622.75. That includes water, electric, trash pickup, restrooms, etc. The City of Key West writes all dock slip agreements in the Key West Bight the same. The lease is written as a month to month tenancy with no set end date. All the City is after is to have the rent paid on time and for everyone to follow the rules. I have never known the City to kick anyone out of a lease. You would have to have been a pretty bad person for that to happen. I am set up with the City for auto-pay on a credit card each month so I don't even have to think about it. Once per year, effective on October first, the city may adjust the rental amount according to some cost of living index. The City did not raise the rate in October of 2009 or 2010 from the 2008 rate. With the recent change of the size of the boat from 28' to 21' the rate came down even lower as noted above.

I will train you in the business if you want to run the boat yourself (a USCG Captain's License is required) or you can continue on with my hired Captain(s), or both. I am getting old and am ready to retire. The hired Captain works as an independent contractor as opposed to an employee and definitely wants to stay on in his present position with a new owner. I pay him only for the trips he runs. The amount varies depending on the length of time of the trip: 1 hour $25, 2 hours $50, 2.5 hours sunset $60. 3 hours and 4 hours private charters and per person trips $70 unless there happens to be only 2 people on a per person trip then $60. 5 hours $87.50. 6 hours $105. 7 hours $125. 8 hours $140.

Sale Price reduced to $85,000. I don't want to do seller financing but it is negotiable. I do not have any preconceived numbers in mind but in general the higher your down payment and the better your credit report the more likely we would be able to come to terms.

Potential maximum gross income using the current scheduling concept is easy to figure: 6 people per trip times 2 trips per day times 365 days a year times $85 per person = $372,300.00 plus the sunset trip 6 x $75 x 365 = $164,250, totals for the 3 trips = $536,550. Bad weather will knock out some days, of course. Getting the customers to fill up the 6 seats on each of the 3 trips per day when the weather is good enough to go out is the marketing challenge you would face.

Lowering the price per person could possibly bring in a bigger volume of people. The slip will hold a larger USCG certified boat that could carry more passengers per trip. A former boat that occupied the slip could carry 22 people although there exists other boats that will fit the slip that are rated for lots more than that. Any change of concepts, passenger rating counts of the boat, and an actual new boat would have to be approved by the City of Key West. You could change the concept to other water sports if you desired with the exception of charter fishing. There is a cap on charter fishing boats and no new ones are allowed in the City Marina at Key West Bight.

I have just recently (October 2010) bought another boat to replace the old boat. It is a bow rider/deck boat, a 2006 21' Mariah DX212 with a 2006 150HP Mercury outboard 2 stroke engine. It has large comfortable seats, an enclosed bathroom compartment with a porta potty, and for lots of shade--two bimini tops with a custom made connecting panel.

The City does allow living aboard boats should you want to save money on expensive Key West housing and live aboard a boat in the slip. The slip is right in front of the rest room building which has showers for live aboard tenants. If you wanted to switch boats to one that had live aboard capability, that would be up to you. The clearance between the poles is approximately 13'9". I think the ideal boat would be one that was certified for say, 22 to 25 passengers and also was designed for living aboard. I have not found one like that yet. If you know of one, please let me know. The marina has wireless internet available with good reception at the slip. Comcast TV cable/high speed internet is available to the slip.