Boot Key anchoring area

Boot Key Anchoring Limitation Area lies outside the harbor, in the Atlantic Ocean west of Boot Key, between the entrances to Boot Key Harbor and to Boot Key channel. It is a box of 1,300 by 2,600 ft – 80 acres – and the position above is boundary point A of the rule. It is one of the seven areas FWC designated in Monroe County, under Fla. Admin. Code 68D-14.002(1)(g), in force since 3 October 2023.

The entrance to Boot Key Harbor lies 4.5 miles north of Sombrero Key Light, and the four radio towers on the south-west end of Boot Key are the landmark the Coast Pilot gives for it. The harbor entrance channel is reported at 7 ft, with shoaling on its south side. Depths change – the current chart decides.

Inside Boot Key Harbor the City of Marathon runs a mooring field and its own anchorage; this designated area is the water outside. The difference matters for how long you may stay: on a mooring the 90-day rule does not apply, while a boat at anchor in the designated area has to move at least 0.5 nm, or into another designated area, after 90 days.

The rule caps vessel draft here at 6 ft. That is a limit on the boat, not a statement about the water: 68D-14.003 leaves the depth under your keel to the operator. Our sources carry no shelter report for this box – it is open Atlantic water west of the key.