The idea of a cruise ship vacation sounds awesome—especially if you’re into partying hard with octogenarians, or lack the creativity to pull off a seaworthy itinerary better than this guy’s.
But love it or loathe it, there’s no denying the industry brings big bucks to small ports such as Key West. And the raging debate over re-dredging Key West harbor to usher meatier cruiseliners into sensitive, tarpon-rich habitat has been heated. It’s also been officially squashed.
According to the Florida Keys News, earlier this week 76 percent of Key West voters helped kill the ballot that could have set major ecological disruptions in motion. The Lower Keys Guides Association board is thanking all those who participated in the conversation and voted NO.
The Silver Lining:
Tom Bie is the founder, editor, and publisher of The Drake. He started the magazine in 1998 as an annual newsprint publication based in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He then moved it to Steamboat, Colorado (1999), Boulder, Colorado (2001), and San Clemente, California (2004), as he took jobs as managing editor at Paddler, Senior Editor at Skiing, and Editor-in-Chief at Powder, respectively. Tom and The Drake are now both based in Denver, Colorado, where The Drake is finally all grows up(Swingers, 1996) to a quarterly magazine.