Florida & the Keys

• Region: south-east Florida from Palm Beach to Miami, plus the Florida Keys and the Dry Tortugas
• Season: November to May, hurricane season officially 1 June to 30 November
• Chain: the Keys run about 127 miles along the Overseas Highway, starting some 15 miles south of Miami
• Reef: the Florida Reef extends about 170 miles and is the third-largest barrier reef system in the world
• Largest berthing: Safe Harbor Rybovich, West Palm Beach, slips of 80 to 450 feet, draught to 25 feet, unrestricted air draft and beam
• Heavy lift: Rybovich operates a 660-ton travel lift, Lauderdale Marine Center up to 485 tons
• Refit: Safe Harbor Lauderdale Marine Center covers 65 acres and works yachts of roughly 90 to 200 feet
• Sanctuary rule: the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary Areas To Be Avoided restrict vessels of 164 feet (50 metres) and over
• Sanctuary rule: no anchoring on living coral, 4 knots and no wake within 300 feet of shorelines, moored vessels and reef markers
• Dry Tortugas: about 70 miles west of Key West, overnight anchoring only on sand within 1 nautical mile of Garden Key lighthouse, no fuel or water in the park
• Charter: the Passenger Vessel Services Act bars foreign-flagged vessels from carrying passengers between US ports
• Airports: Fort Lauderdale, Miami and Palm Beach international, with Opa-locka and Fort Lauderdale Executive for private jets

A base first, a cruising ground second

An owner needs to be honest about what Florida is. The stretch from Palm Beach through Fort Lauderdale to Miami is the densest concentration of yacht infrastructure anywhere: yards, paint sheds, engineers, brokers, crew agencies, sailmakers and parts. If something breaks on a 50 metre boat in the western hemisphere, this is where it gets fixed, and it usually gets fixed properly and fast. What it is not is a place people cruise for pleasure.

The cruising happens either 50 nautical miles east across the Gulf Stream in the Bahamas, or south down the Keys. Florida itself is the entry point, the winter berth and the workshop. That is a genuine reason to base a boat here for the season, and it is why so many owners do. It also means guests arriving expecting the French Riviera will find a marina in an American city.

The shape of the ground

North to south the useful coast runs about 70 miles, from West Palm Beach through Fort Lauderdale to Miami, all of it linked by the Intracoastal Waterway and all of it with deep inlets to the Atlantic. Port Everglades at Fort Lauderdale is a commercial deepwater port and handles the largest yachts without difficulty. The repair yards sit inland on the New River and the Dania Cut-off Canal, reached by a slow, tight run through bridge openings that is a piece of theatre in itself.

South of Miami the Keys begin, a coral archipelago running some 127 miles to Key West with the Florida Reef a few miles offshore. Between the two is Hawk Channel, the sheltered inside route, and beyond Key West lies the Dry Tortugas, about 70 miles further west with nothing on it but a nineteenth-century brick fort. Florida Bay on the north side of the Keys is shallow, tidal and effectively closed to any yacht of size.

Florida is where the fleet gets fixed, and the cruising starts fifty miles east of it.

A week, and two weeks

A week from Fort Lauderdale realistically means the Bahamas. Cross to Bimini or the Berry Islands, work down to Nassau and the Exumas, and come back. The alternative is a run down Hawk Channel with nights at Islamorada and Marathon and three or four days at Key West, which suits a boat under 50 metres and gets progressively more constrained as she gets bigger.

Two weeks opens up the full Keys plus the Dry Tortugas, which is the only genuinely wild place in the state and worth the passage for anyone who dives. Owners crossing the Atlantic in autumn often arrive here in November, spend a fortnight on yard work at Rybovich or Lauderdale Marine Center, and start the season proper in the Bahamas in December. The fortnight in Florida is a work fortnight.

Where a 50 metre boat fits, and where it does not

Safe Harbor Rybovich in West Palm Beach is the top of the market, with slips from 80 to 450 feet, draught to 25 feet, no beam or air draft restriction and deep water straight in from the Atlantic. It runs a 660-ton travel lift. Safe Harbor Lauderdale Marine Center is the working alternative, 65 acres on the Dania Cut-off Canal, lifting to 485 tons and handling yachts of roughly 90 to 200 feet. Between them, plus the Fort Lauderdale and Miami marinas, a large yacht has no berthing problem on this coast.

The Keys are the opposite. Hawk Channel is shallow, the reef line is unforgiving and the marinas at Islamorada, Marathon and Stock Island are built for sportfishers and yachts well under 50 metres. Key West's main channel is deep, but the berths are limited and the town is busy. A large yacht in the Keys anchors in permitted water and works the reef by tender, which is the same answer as the Grenadines with far more paperwork attached.

The sanctuary, the reef and the 50 metre line

The whole Keys reef tract sits inside the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, and the rules are enforced. Anchoring on living coral is prohibited outright. Speed is limited to 4 knots and no wake within 300 feet of shorelines, moored or anchored vessels and reef navigation markers. Sanctuary Preservation Areas, habitat conservation areas and nursery restoration zones are marked with 30-inch round yellow buoys and carry their own restrictions, with a further anchoring prohibition in those zones scheduled to take effect in 2027.

The rule that matters most to this readership is the Areas To Be Avoided, which restrict vessels of 164 feet, or 50 metres, and over. There are also mooring buoys designated specifically for large vessels, and a boat may not tie to one that is not designated for her size. In practical terms, a 50 metre yacht is legally excluded from parts of the reef that a 40 metre yacht can use, and the captain needs the current sanctuary chart before planning any of it.

Weather, the Gulf Stream and the season to avoid

Winter weather here is driven by cold fronts sweeping down from the north American landmass every few days from November to March. Ahead of a front the wind goes south and soft. Behind it the wind swings hard into the north and blows for a day or two. The Gulf Stream runs north up this coast at two to four knots, so a northerly against that current builds a short, steep and genuinely dangerous sea, and every Bahamas crossing is timed around the fronts.

Summer is hot, humid and thunderstorm-prone, with the hurricane season officially running from 1 June to 30 November and the peak in August, September and October. Almost the entire large-yacht fleet leaves for the Mediterranean or moves north in that window, and insurance conditions generally require it. The Keys have no ground above about 20 feet, so storm surge is the risk that defines the whole archipelago.

The season, and getting guests aboard

The season is November to May, with the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show each autumn as the traditional opening and Easter as the effective close. The show week is when yards, brokers and crew all converge, berths in central Fort Lauderdale are impossible, and the waterfront belongs to the trade. Christmas and the weeks around Presidents Day are the busiest for guest use. Yard slots for winter work are booked well in advance.

Access is the best in the yachting world and it is not close. Fort Lauderdale, Miami and Palm Beach all have full international airports within twenty minutes of the berths. Opa-locka and Fort Lauderdale Executive are the private-jet fields, and Palm Beach International handles heavy metal directly. Key West has its own airport a few minutes from Stock Island. An owner can land at nine in the morning and be at sea by eleven.

Ashore: Palm Beach, Miami and Key West

Palm Beach is the discreet end. Worth Avenue for shopping, The Breakers as the landmark hotel, and a residential season that runs from Thanksgiving to Easter. Miami is the loud end, with the Design District, Wynwood, the Art Deco strip on South Beach and the December week of Art Basel Miami Beach that takes over the entire city. Fort Lauderdale in between is a yachting town, honest about it, with Las Olas Boulevard as its main street.

Key West is a different country in temperament. Duval Street, the Hemingway house, sunset at Mallory Square and a bar culture that has been running for a century. The food across the region is strong and international, particularly in Miami, and the reef and flats fishing out of Islamorada and Marathon is world class. Guests who want tarpon, bonefish and permit will be happier here than anywhere in the Caribbean.

Fuel, support, charter law and the honest downside

Fuel, provisioning, parts and specialist labour are all available in depth and at short notice, which is the single strongest argument for the region. Clearance for a foreign-flagged yacht is routine, and a cruising licence covers private use. The catch is commercial. The Passenger Vessel Services Act prohibits foreign-flagged vessels from carrying passengers between US ports, which means a foreign-flag yacht cannot run a conventional crewed charter out of Florida. That is why the charter fleet works the Bahamas and only refits here, and any structure that claims otherwise needs proper legal advice.

The downside beyond that is honest enough. The cruising is thin, the Keys are shallow and regulated, the water on the mainland coast is not what guests picture, and hurricane season removes six months of the year. Berth and yard costs are among the highest in the world. What an owner gets in exchange is a place where a broken gearbox is a phone call, and where the boat can sit all winter within twenty minutes of a runway that takes a Global.

Who it is for: An owner who wants the boat within reach of the best technical support in the world, and treats the Bahamas and the Keys as the season and Florida as the base.