Sail Past Mallory Square as Key West's Sunset Crowd Gathers Ashore
Two hours offshore from the Historic Seaport with no stops, the sails raised by hand and the bar open the whole way. The season runs from November to June only, because the schooner this sail is named for spends her summers two thousand miles north in Maine.
The booth sits at the very end of William Street, just to the right of the Western Union sign. From there the schooner works out past the Historic Seaport, then past Mallory Square and its sunset celebration, then the Navy Mole where the big ships tie up, and on toward Fort Zachary Taylor and Sunset Key. Two hours. The ship puts in nowhere along the way.
Crew raise the sails once you are clear of the harbor, and anyone who wants to pull is welcome to. The wheel works the same way: take a turn at it if you like.
Beer, wine, prosecco, a full liquor bar and soft drinks come with the ticket, along with a chef's selection of hors d'oeuvres and shrimp cocktail. Gratuity is the one thing the ticket leaves out, and the operator puts a customary tip at fifteen to twenty percent.
One departure a night, one option to choose from, and a booking that takes up to twelve travelers. Adults, children aged four to eleven, and infants under four are each priced on their own band, and an infant rides on an adult's lap. Anyone under eighteen needs a parent or guardian along.
That child fare is worth noticing. The operator names this sail as one of its two top picks for guests of all ages, while its other sunset sail is designed for couples and charges children the full adult rate. The two are not interchangeable when you are bringing kids.
Key West Sunset Sail Aboard Legendary Schooner AppledoreTwo hours under sail from the Historic Seaport, with the bar and the hors d'oeuvres in the ticket. Separate child and infant fares. One booking takes up to twelve travelers.www.viator.comWhy the Season Stops at the Start of June
This sail is on offer for roughly seven months of the year. The booking season opens on the first of November and closes at the start of June, and the operator's own calendar matches it: nothing bookable in October, every night open through November and December, nothing again in June.
The reason is the ship herself. She spends her summers working out of Camden, Maine, and her winters here in the Keys. Twice a year she makes the two-thousand-mile passage between the two home ports. The operator says some of the crew aboard your sail have made that run themselves, and suggests asking them about it.
A July visitor to Key West cannot take this one. If your dates fall outside the window, that is the reason, and the ship is simply at the other end of the eastern seaboard.
The Last Schooner Gamage Built to Order
The Appledore II went into the water on the twenty-second of August, 1978, the last schooner the Gamage Shipyard ever built to order. Harvey F. Gamage had opened the yard at South Bristol, Maine, in 1924, and the hulls that came out of it include the Mary Day, the Shenandoah and the Bowdoin.
She left Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the year she launched and spent eighteen months going around the world. Herbert and Doris Smith, her first owners and captains, had helped build her, and Herbert wrote two books about the voyage. The name comes from Appledore Island off the New Hampshire coast, where Doris grew up.
She measures eighty-six feet overall and sixty-five on deck, draws ten feet, and displaces fifty-two tons. John and Jane McKean bought her in 1988 and set up the two-port year she still keeps; by the autumn of 2013 a Maine paper counting her seasons had her heading south for her twenty-fifth Key West winter. The company that runs her now, Schooner Explorations of Maine, is owned by Paul McGrail, Sean Rowley and Rod Veal.
Two Schooners Share This Dock, and They Sometimes Swap
In the operator's words: "We try to use the ship described in each tour but there are times where the Schooner Appledore II or Schooner Appledore Star are substituted for the other vessel." The company runs more than one wooden schooner from this booth, and that sentence is its own published answer on which one you get. The Star is a bugeye, a Chesapeake Bay oyster-dragging design with a round stern, raked masts and a shallow draft, and she is a different boat to stand on.
Deck space is where it shows. The booking page caps a sailing at thirty-six people and calls the decks roomy at that number. The operator's own page for the Appledore II lists her dimensions down to the thickness of her planking and never gives a passenger figure, though the same company's charter page will put up to forty-nine guests on a schooner for a private event. Thirty-six on a public sunset sail is a deck-space decision, not the hull's limit.
The Clock, the Booth, and What to Bring
Departure time shifts through the season. Across the November-to-June window the booking calendar carries start times from four in the afternoon to a quarter past six, and in November the operator's own calendar shows every sailing at half past four. The hour printed on your confirmation is the one that counts.
Check-in is thirty minutes before departure, at the booth at the very end of William Street. Coming from Elizabeth Street, keep the water on your left and follow Lazy Way Lane past the shops, with The Marker on your right and the Schooner Wharf Bar on your left. The booth is on the left once you pass the bar.
Two things the booth does not have: a restroom and anywhere to leave your bags. The operator points guests to public restrooms past Schooner Wharf, on the right before you reach Turtle Kraals, and asks that suitcases stay at the hotel. A beach bag or a backpack is fine to bring aboard. The ship carries a head. Parking is paid, at the Key West Bight lot on William and Caroline or the Old Town Garage on Caroline and Grinnell, and the operator's own advice is to stop hunting for street parking.
For a sunset sail the operator's packing list is short: a hat, sunglasses and a camera. Add a government-issued photo ID if you plan to drink, because the crew verify age before they pour and can refuse service to anyone who has had enough. If you are unsure about your stomach, the operator suggests an over-the-counter motion sickness tablet or an acupressure band at least an hour before boarding, a light meal beforehand, a seat amidships and your eyes on the horizon.
Weather is the one thing that can take the evening away. Booked through this page, a cancellation made at least twenty-four hours ahead is fully refundable and nothing inside that window is. If the captain calls it off, the operator's stated policy is a full refund or a re-book on another date, subject to availability. By the company's own account these are relatively calm, protected waters and rough conditions are uncommon.
On access, the booking page marks the sail suitable for all physical fitness levels and says service animals are allowed. Neither the operator nor the booking page explains wheelchair access or boarding. If that matters for your trip, ask Key West Schooners before booking.
The operator's own description has the captain maneuvering the ship into position to maximize the view of the setting sun. That is the whole point of the two hours. Everything before it is open water with the sails up and a drink in hand, and the seaport you sailed from still has its bars and its dinner tables a short walk up William Street.