Tell us where and how long. You get the state rules that apply, each with its statute – local ordinances can add more.
Every rule this tool knows, with the place and length of stay it applies to.
In this area a vessel may not anchor at any time during the period between one-half hour after sunset and one-half hour before sunrise. A mechanical failure lets you anchor for 3 business days or until the vessel is repaired, whichever comes first; weather that poses an unreasonable risk lets you anchor until that risk has passed.
You may not anchor or moor within 150 feet of any public or private marina, boat ramp, boatyard or other public vessel launching or loading facility, within 500 feet of a superyacht repair facility, or within 300 feet outward from the marked boundary of a public mooring field – or a lesser distance there if approved by the commission upon request of the local government within which the mooring field is located. This does not apply to government vessels, construction or dredging vessels on an active job site, commercial fishing vessels actively engaged in commercial fishing, or vessels actively engaged in recreational fishing if the persons onboard are actively tending hook and line fishing gear or nets.
The statute gives two figuresSubsection (1)(a)3. gives 300 feet from a public mooring field; subsection (2), which covers mechanical failure and weather, still gives 100 feet. Both stand in the 2026 text and we do not decide between them.
Long-term anchoring means anchoring within 1 linear nautical mile of a documented anchorage point for 14 days or more within a 30-day period. The commission issues the permit at no cost to the applicant. It covers one vessel, expires 1 year from the date of issuance, and must be renewed or updated for each long-term anchoring location. No permit is required if the vessel is docked at a public or private dock or moored to a mooring buoy permitted as provided in s. 327.40.
Apply at FWCIn Monroe County, no less than once every 90 days each vessel anchored within 10 linear nautical miles of a public mooring field or a designated anchoring area must pull anchor and be moved using the vessel's propulsion system and be reanchored no less than one-half linear nautical mile away, or in a different designated anchoring area. The statute adds that it may not be construed to prohibit anchoring for less than 90 days in areas within Monroe County, and it does not apply to vessels moored to approved and permitted moorings.
The designated anchoring areasRaw sewage may not be discharged from any vessel in Florida waters, and the valve directing the sewage must be set and locked so as to prevent direct discharge. On top of that, every vessel owner, operator and occupant must comply with EPA regulations for areas in which the discharge of sewage, treated or untreated, is prohibited. The EPA lists the state waters within the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary as such an area, designated 21 May 2002.
In Monroe County a vessel equipped with a marine sanitation device other than a marine composting toilet that complies with United States Coast Guard requirements must keep a record of the date of each pump-out and the location of the pump-out station or waste reception facility for 1 year, and the record must indicate that the vessel was pumped out within the last 30 days. The duty reaches a vessel that has enclosed living spaces or rooms and is used by a person as a dwelling or living space overnight at any time, and any vessel moored in a public mooring field.
A county or municipality may not regulate anchoring outside the marked boundaries of a permitted mooring field, except for live-aboard vessels, commercial vessels other than commercial fishing vessels, and vessels anchored for an hour or more between one-half hour after sunset and one-half hour before sunrise on more than 30 days in any 6-month period within the jurisdiction of a county with a population of 1.5 million or more. Check the county code where you are.
A county other than Monroe may establish anchoring limitation areas. Each must be less than 100 acres, may not include a mooring field or marina, and must be marked with signs naming the ordinance and with buoys; the areas together may not exceed 10 percent of the county's delineated navigable-in-fact waterways. In such an area you may not anchor for more than 45 consecutive days in any 6-month period.
A local government may require owners or operators of vessels subject to the marine sanitation requirements of s. 327.53 to provide proof of proper sewage disposal when anchored or moored for more than 10 consecutive days inside a permitted mooring field or a no-discharge zone. Such an ordinance takes effect only after the commission has reviewed and approved it.
Not legal advice. State rules only; check for posted signs and buoys, which mark county limitation areas.
