Indian Key Pass

Indian Key Pass is the marked way in from the Gulf of America to Everglades City. The Coast Pilot places it at 25°48.0'N., 81°28.0'W., 38 miles north of Northwest Cape, with wooded Indian Key on the west side of the entrance and Indian Key Pass Light at 25°47'59"N., 81°28'04"W., 16 feet above the water.

For the run in from offshore the Coast Pilot carries a dated instruction: in 1983 it was reported that mariners should steer about 053° for the microwave tower while it is visible, then hold that course until Indian Key Pass Light 1 can be identified. The year belongs to the figure, which is why it stands in the label above.

The Coast Pilot puts the anchorage about 700 yards northeast of Indian Key in depths of 8 to 13 feet, and says it is suitable for drafts up to 7 feet. About 1 mile northeast of the key it gives 12 to 15 feet over a gravel bottom.

Of the anchorage itself the Coast Pilot says it is "well protected from all winds" and "easily entered day or night" – its words. Those are plainer words than the Coast Pilot gives most places on this coast, and 8 to 13 feet is more water than it gives the other anchorages on this stretch. Depths change; the DepthNote above says what these figures can and cannot answer.

A dredged channel leads from the Gulf of America through Indian Key Pass, across Chokoloskee Bay and up the Barron River to a turning basin about 1.3 miles above the mouth. Everglades City lies about 0.5 mile above the mouth of the Barron River, and the Coast Pilot says the town has several marinas.

Two things limit the river. Overhead power cables with clearances of 65 feet and 49 feet cross it about 0.5 and 0.7 mile above the mouth, so the 49-foot cable, not the 65-foot one, is what a masted boat has to work with above 0.7 mile. And a 5-mph no-wake speed limit is enforced on the river. The mean range of tide is 3.4 feet at Indian Key and 2.0 feet at Everglades City.

The National Park Service has its Gulf Coast site at the basin here, and the Coast Pilot carries an old depth for the way to it: in 2000, depths of less than 4 feet were reported in the channel with shoaling in the basin. The Coast Pilot still prints that report with its year attached, and no newer figure for this channel appears in the sources below.

What is on shore has changed. The Park Service reports that the new Marjory Stoneman Douglas Visitor Center opened in 2026, that the site features a kayak launch, and that entrance passes cannot be purchased at the Gulf Coast Visitor Center at this time. The centre is open daily from 9am to 5pm. If you need a park pass, this is not the place to buy one.