Key West’s only water taxi adds a little convenience to the lives of boaters that cruise and live on the United States’ southernmost cruising grounds. So, the next time you drive or sail down to Key West, check out the harbor’s latest service, the Magic Penny Water Taxi.

Begun a year and a half ago by a local live aboard couple, Arno and Naja, the Magic Penny is a converted Navy life boat which now transports live aboard boaters in anchorages around Key West to shoreside facilities for groceries, appointments & the like.

Arno and Naja live aboard their 85’ motor yacht, anchored in the waters off of Key West, near Christmas Tree Island. They came up with the idea since previous water taxi services were not meeting the needs of the community.

“Its’ almost like a public service in a way. We have an 85’ yacht that we were renting rooms on, so we were already shuttling our tenants back and forth, once a day, and then they would use the water taxi service in off hours, so we thought ‘It’s all there, its already happening’, so we put it together,” said Naja. “The community was pretty happy about it,” she added.

In addition to providing rides for locals & tourists, the Magic Penny has earned the respect of the local boaters for helping out when the weather gets rough. The Magic Penny has come to the aid of boats that have drug anchor during storms. ”We do the taxi, which brings a little bit of money, and then Arno also does salvage, and a little bit of towing. So whenever there is a storm… he is out in the middle of it. Just last week we had 65 knots and a couple of boats washed ashore,” said Naja.

In addition to providing services with the Magic Penny, Arno does diesel engine repair, and he is currently building a 64’ sailboat, which is also anchored just offshore. Arno and Naja share their live aboard lifestyle with their two children, Alexis and Clementine.

“The kids love it. It’s not a very organized way of life,” said Arno. ”There’s not a lot of people that are living with children on their boat, but there’s a few, so we all kind of meet on the island, or on one of our boats. There’s this crew of little boat kids, four little ones and teenagers too. Almost everyone is homeschooling, so in the morning they can’t meet because everybody is doing school. But then in the afternoon they just swim around.”

The Magic Penny monitors channels 16 and 68, and also receives calls to their cell phone for taxi service, tours and other services. Their service is prompt and best of all, friendly and helpful.