Florida & the Keys
| Regione | Florida sudorientale da Palm Beach a Miami, più le Florida Keys e le Dry Tortugas |
|---|---|
| Stagione | da novembre a maggio, stagione degli uragani ufficialmente dal 1 giugno al 30 novembre |
| Catena | le Keys corrono per circa 127 miglia lungo la Overseas Highway, a partire da circa 15 miglia a sud di Miami |
| Barriera | il Florida Reef si estende per circa 170 miglia ed è il terzo sistema di barriera corallina al mondo per dimensione |
| Ormeggio più grande | Safe Harbor Rybovich, West Palm Beach, posti da 80 a 450 piedi, pescaggio fino a 25 piedi, nessun limite di altezza d'aria e di larghezza |
| Sollevamento pesante | Rybovich usa un travel lift da 660 tonnellate, Lauderdale Marine Center fino a 485 tonnellate |
| Refit | Safe Harbor Lauderdale Marine Center copre 65 acri e lavora su yacht grosso modo da 90 a 200 piedi |
| Regola del santuario | le Areas To Be Avoided del Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary limitano le unità da 164 piedi (50 metri) in su |
| Regola del santuario | divieto di ancoraggio sul corallo vivo, 4 nodi e niente onda entro 300 piedi da coste, unità ormeggiate e segnali della barriera |
| Dry Tortugas | circa 70 miglia a ovest di Key West, ancoraggio notturno solo su sabbia entro 1 miglio nautico dal faro di Garden Key, nel parco non ci sono carburante né acqua |
| Charter | il Passenger Vessel Services Act vieta alle unità di bandiera estera di trasportare passeggeri tra porti statunitensi |
| Aeroporti | gli internazionali di Fort Lauderdale, Miami e Palm Beach, con Opa-locka e Fort Lauderdale Executive per i jet privati |
| PVSA penalty | USD 300 per passenger transported and landed under 19 CFR 4.80, inflation-adjusted to USD 996 per passenger for 2025 |
| Cruising licence | issued under 19 CFR 4.94 for up to one year, allows arrival and departure without formal entry at each port, covers private use only and confers no right to carry passengers for hire |
| Successive licences | a non-resident owner must leave a gap of at least fifteen days between cruising licences |
| Berth cost | Rybovich and Lauderdale Marine Center publish no rates, checked 28 July 2026, and third-party 2026 figures put megayacht dockage at Pier Sixty-Six and Bahia Mar at USD 80 to 200 per foot per month |
| Keys berth cost | City Marina at Garrison Bight, Key West, USD 4.10 plus tax per foot per day and USD 56.26 plus tax per foot per month effective 1 August 2026 |
| Discharge | the sanctuary is a federal No Discharge Zone and Florida Statute 327.521 sets a civil penalty of up to USD 250, and up to USD 250 for each day a discharge continues |
| Grey water | not classed as sewage under current Florida law and not prohibited, which is the gap a large yacht should manage voluntarily |
Prima una base, poi un'area di crociera
Un armatore deve essere onesto su che cosa sia la Florida. Il tratto da Palm Beach attraverso Fort Lauderdale fino a Miami è la concentrazione di infrastrutture nautiche più fitta del mondo: cantieri, capannoni di verniciatura, tecnici, broker, agenzie di equipaggi, velerie e ricambi. Se qualcosa si rompe su una barca di 50 metri nell'emisfero occidentale, è qui che si ripara, e di solito si ripara bene e in fretta. Quello che non è, è un posto in cui la gente naviga per piacere.
La navigazione avviene o 50 miglia nautiche più a est attraverso la Corrente del Golfo, alle Bahamas, oppure scendendo lungo le Keys. La Florida in sé è il punto di ingresso, l'ormeggio invernale e l'officina. È una ragione seria per basare qui una barca per la stagione, ed è per questo che tanti armatori lo fanno. Significa anche che gli ospiti che arrivano aspettandosi la Costa Azzurra troveranno una marina in una città americana.
La forma dell'area
Da nord a sud la costa utile corre per circa 70 miglia, da West Palm Beach attraverso Fort Lauderdale fino a Miami, tutta collegata dall'Intracoastal Waterway e tutta con imboccature profonde verso l'Atlantico. Port Everglades a Fort Lauderdale è un porto commerciale in acqua profonda e gestisce senza difficoltà gli yacht più grandi. I cantieri di riparazione stanno nell'entroterra sul New River e sul Dania Cut-off Canal, raggiungibili con una risalita lenta e stretta tra aperture di ponti che è già di per sé uno spettacolo.
A sud di Miami cominciano le Keys, un arcipelago corallino che corre per circa 127 miglia fino a Key West con il Florida Reef poche miglia al largo. In mezzo c'è Hawk Channel, la via interna riparata, e oltre Key West stanno le Dry Tortugas, circa 70 miglia più a ovest, dove non c'è nulla se non un forte in mattoni dell'Ottocento. Florida Bay, sul lato nord delle Keys, è bassa, soggetta alle maree e di fatto chiusa a qualunque yacht di dimensione.
La Florida è dove la flotta si fa riparare, e la navigazione comincia cinquanta miglia più a est.
Una settimana, e due settimane
Una settimana da Fort Lauderdale significa realisticamente le Bahamas. Traversata verso Bimini o le Berry Islands, discesa fino a Nassau e alle Exumas, e ritorno. L'alternativa è una discesa lungo Hawk Channel con notti a Islamorada e Marathon e tre o quattro giorni a Key West, che va bene per una barca sotto i 50 metri e diventa via via più vincolata man mano che la barca cresce.
Due settimane aprono tutte le Keys più le Dry Tortugas, che sono l'unico posto davvero selvaggio dello Stato e valgono la navigazione per chiunque faccia immersioni. Gli armatori che attraversano l'Atlantico in autunno spesso arrivano qui a novembre, passano due settimane sui lavori di cantiere da Rybovich o al Lauderdale Marine Center e fanno partire la stagione vera alle Bahamas a dicembre. La quindicina in Florida è una quindicina di lavoro.
Dove ci sta una barca di 50 metri, e dove no
Safe Harbor Rybovich a West Palm Beach è la cima del mercato, con posti da 80 a 450 piedi, pescaggio fino a 25 piedi, nessun limite di larghezza o di altezza d'aria e acqua profonda diretta dall'Atlantico. Usa un travel lift da 660 tonnellate. Safe Harbor Lauderdale Marine Center è l'alternativa operativa, 65 acri sul Dania Cut-off Canal, con sollevamento fino a 485 tonnellate e yacht grosso modo da 90 a 200 piedi. Tra questi due, più le marine di Fort Lauderdale e di Miami, su questa costa un grande yacht non ha problemi di ormeggio.
Le Keys sono l'opposto. Hawk Channel è basso, la linea della barriera non perdona e le marine di Islamorada, Marathon e Stock Island sono costruite per sportfisher e yacht ben sotto i 50 metri. Il canale principale di Key West è profondo, ma i posti barca sono pochi e la città è affollata. Nelle Keys un grande yacht ancora in acque consentite e lavora la barriera in tender, che è la stessa risposta delle Grenadine con molte più carte attaccate.
Il santuario, la barriera e la linea dei 50 metri
Tutta la fascia di barriera delle Keys sta dentro il Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, e le regole vengono fatte rispettare. L'ancoraggio sul corallo vivo è vietato del tutto. La velocità è limitata a 4 nodi e senza onda entro 300 piedi da coste, unità ormeggiate o all'ancora e segnali di navigazione della barriera. Le Sanctuary Preservation Areas, le aree di conservazione dell'habitat e le zone di ripristino e vivaio sono segnate con boe gialle tonde da 30 pollici e portano restrizioni proprie, con un ulteriore divieto di ancoraggio in quelle zone previsto in vigore dal 2027.
La regola che conta di più per questi lettori sono le Areas To Be Avoided, che limitano le unità da 164 piedi, cioè 50 metri, in su. Ci sono anche boe di ormeggio designate espressamente per le unità grandi, e una barca non può legarsi a una che non sia designata per la sua misura. In termini pratici, uno yacht di 50 metri è escluso per legge da parti della barriera che uno yacht di 40 metri può usare, e il comandante ha bisogno della carta aggiornata del santuario prima di programmare qualunque cosa.
Meteo, la Corrente del Golfo e la stagione da evitare
Il tempo invernale qui è governato dai fronti freddi che scendono dalla massa continentale nordamericana ogni pochi giorni da novembre a marzo. Davanti a un fronte il vento gira a sud e si ammorbidisce. Dietro, il vento salta con forza a nord e soffia per uno o due giorni. La Corrente del Golfo risale questa costa a due o quattro nodi, quindi un vento da nord contro quella corrente alza un mare corto, ripido e davvero pericoloso, e ogni traversata verso le Bahamas si programma attorno ai fronti.
L'estate è calda, umida e soggetta ai temporali, con la stagione degli uragani ufficialmente dal 1 giugno al 30 novembre e il picco ad agosto, settembre e ottobre. In quella finestra quasi tutta la flotta dei grandi yacht parte per il Mediterraneo o risale a nord, e le condizioni assicurative in genere lo impongono. Le Keys non hanno terreno sopra i 20 piedi circa, quindi l'onda di tempesta è il rischio che definisce tutto l'arcipelago.
La stagione, e portare gli ospiti a bordo
La stagione va da novembre a maggio, con il Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show di ogni autunno come apertura tradizionale e Pasqua come chiusura di fatto. La settimana del salone è quando cantieri, broker ed equipaggi convergono tutti insieme, i posti barca nel centro di Fort Lauderdale sono impossibili e il lungomare appartiene agli addetti ai lavori. Natale e le settimane attorno al Presidents Day sono le più intense per l'uso da parte degli ospiti. Gli slot di cantiere per i lavori invernali si prenotano con largo anticipo.
L'accessibilità è la migliore del mondo yachting e non c'è partita. Fort Lauderdale, Miami e Palm Beach hanno tutte aeroporti internazionali completi entro venti minuti dai posti barca. Opa-locka e Fort Lauderdale Executive sono i campi per i jet privati, e Palm Beach International gestisce direttamente i velivoli pesanti. Key West ha un aeroporto suo a pochi minuti da Stock Island. Un armatore può atterrare alle nove del mattino ed essere in mare alle undici.
A terra: Palm Beach, Miami e Key West
Palm Beach è l'estremo discreto. Worth Avenue per lo shopping, The Breakers come albergo simbolo e una stagione residenziale che va dal Thanksgiving a Pasqua. Miami è l'estremo rumoroso, con il Design District, Wynwood, la fascia Art Deco di South Beach e la settimana di dicembre di Art Basel Miami Beach che si prende l'intera città. Fort Lauderdale in mezzo è una città di yachting, onesta nel dirlo, con Las Olas Boulevard come strada principale.
Key West è un altro Paese quanto a temperamento. Duval Street, la casa di Hemingway, il tramonto a Mallory Square e una cultura da bar che va avanti da un secolo. Il cibo in tutta la regione è forte e internazionale, soprattutto a Miami, e la pesca sulla barriera e sui flat da Islamorada e Marathon è di livello mondiale. Gli ospiti che vogliono tarpon, bonefish e permit saranno più contenti qui che in qualunque punto dei Caraibi.
Carburante, supporto, legge sul charter e il difetto da dire
Carburante, provviste, ricambi e manodopera specializzata sono tutti disponibili in profondità e con poco preavviso, che è l'argomento più forte in assoluto della regione. Lo sdoganamento di uno yacht di bandiera estera è routine, e una licenza di navigazione copre l'uso privato. L'inghippo è il lato commerciale. Il Passenger Vessel Services Act vieta alle unità di bandiera estera di trasportare passeggeri tra porti statunitensi, il che significa che uno yacht di bandiera estera non può fare un normale charter con equipaggio partendo dalla Florida. È per questo che la flotta charter lavora le Bahamas e qui fa solo refit, e qualunque struttura sostenga il contrario ha bisogno di una vera consulenza legale.
Al di là di quello, il difetto è facile da dire. La navigazione è scarsa, le Keys sono basse e regolamentate, l'acqua sulla costa continentale non è quella che gli ospiti immaginano, e la stagione degli uragani toglie sei mesi all'anno. I costi di ormeggio e di cantiere sono tra i più alti al mondo. Quello che un armatore ottiene in cambio è un posto dove un riduttore rotto è una telefonata, e dove la barca può stare tutto l'inverno a venti minuti da una pista che prende un Global.
What a month on this coast costs
The yards that matter publish nothing. Safe Harbor Rybovich and Safe Harbor Lauderdale Marine Center quote against the dates and the boat, and no rate card for either could be found on 28 July 2026. The best-sourced third-party figures for 2026 put standard Fort Lauderdale dockage at USD 18 to 40 per foot per month and the megayacht berths at Pier Sixty-Six and Bahia Mar at USD 80 to 200 per foot per month, which for a 164 ft yacht is USD 13,120 to 32,800 a month. Down in the Keys the municipal tariffs are public and much smaller: the City Marina at Garrison Bight in Key West charges USD 4.10 plus tax per foot per day and USD 56.26 plus tax per foot per month effective 1 August 2026, with a revision due on 1 October, and Key West Bight Marina takes vessels to 140 ft with a USD 10.00 utility fee and electricity at USD 0.16 per kWh.
That makes a Fort Lauderdale winter roughly comparable with a Mediterranean summer and considerably better value in what it buys. Marina di Porto Cervo's published 2026 tariff charges EUR 3,698 a day in the band to 40 m between 1 and 20 August, about EUR 102,000 for the month, against a top-end Fort Lauderdale megayacht berth at around USD 32,800 for the same length of time. The difference is that the Italian number buys a view and the Florida number buys a berth twenty minutes from a paint shed, a 660-ton travel lift and every specialist trade in the western hemisphere. The costs that catch owners out here are not berthing at all. They are the yard slot booked a year ahead, the fuel uplift before the Gulf Stream crossing, and the six months of hurricane season when the insurance conditions move the boat somewhere else and the berth is still being paid for.
The PVSA, the cruising licence and what a mistake costs
The rule is absolute and the number attached to it is now public. The Passenger Vessel Services Act bars a foreign-flagged vessel from transporting passengers between two United States points, and the penalty under 19 CFR 4.80 is USD 300 for each passenger so transported and landed, adjusted annually for inflation and standing at USD 996 per passenger for 2025. A twelve-guest charter that embarks in Fort Lauderdale and lands in Key West is therefore an exposure approaching USD 12,000 before the vessel's own liability, and the penalty attaches to the carriage, not to the intent. There is no licence that cures it. The workaround the fleet uses is not a workaround at all: the charter starts and finishes in the Bahamas, and Florida is the yard.
What a foreign-flagged yacht can have is a cruising licence, issued under 19 CFR 4.94 for a stated period not exceeding one year, which lets her arrive at and depart from United States ports without formally entering and clearing at each one. It is available only where the flag state gives United States yachts the same treatment, and a non-resident owner cannot simply run successive licences, with a minimum gap of fifteen days between them. The licence covers private use and nothing else. It confers no right to carry passengers for hire, it does not touch the PVSA, and an owner who treats it as a charter permit has misread it.
Discharge in the sanctuary, and where the grey water sits
The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary is a federal No Discharge Zone and the discharge of untreated sewage from a vessel is prohibited under the Clean Water Act and under Florida law. The state penalty is set by section 327.521 of the Florida Statutes at a civil penalty of up to USD 250, and up to USD 250 for each day a prohibited discharge continues. That sits on top of the sanctuary's own regulations, the anchoring prohibition on living coral, the 4 knot no-wake rule within 300 feet of shorelines, moored vessels and reef markers, and the Areas To Be Avoided that exclude vessels of 164 ft and over from parts of the reef.
The distinction that matters aboard a large yacht is grey water. Under current Florida law grey water is not sewage and its discharge is not prohibited, which is why a boat can be entirely compliant and still be pouring galley and laundry water over a reef tract. Sanctuary staff and the local fleet notice. Pump-out is available through the Keys marinas and holding everything for the length of a Hawk Channel run is the practice among boats that intend to come back.
A terra, accessi e prenotazioni
| The single rule that decides how a foreign-flag yacht can be used here | A yacht cruising the United States on a licence to cruise issued by Customs and Border Protection under 19 CFR 4.94 may not engage in trade: the regulation provides that she shall not transport merchandise nor carry passengers for pay. In practice that means no charter and no carriage for hire, and there is no permit that changes it. Brokers commonly go further and warn that even cost-sharing among friends can look commercial, and that caution is worth heeding, but note that federal law is not absolute on the point: 46 USC 2101 expressly excludes from consideration the voluntary sharing of the actual expenses of a voyage by monetary contribution or by donation of fuel, food or supplies. The safe reading is that a Florida winter is a private cruise, and that anything resembling a commercial arrangement should be taken to counsel first. |
|---|---|
| Which yachts can hold a cruising licence at all | The licence is not open to every flag. It depends on reciprocity rather than on any treaty: 19 CFR 4.94(b) turns on the Secretary of the Treasury being satisfied that yachts of the United States are allowed to arrive at and depart from ports in that country without entering or clearing at the customhouse and without paying charges. Owners are regularly told a treaty is required, which is the wrong concept and can send a search down the wrong path. |
| The tax position, stated the way the state states it | Florida's own guidance for boat owners and purchasers is precise and often misquoted. The maximum tax on the sale of a boat or vessel is USD 18,000, and that single cap covers sales tax, use tax and discretionary sales surtax together; it is not a use tax cap. Separately, and far more useful to anyone bringing a yacht here for work, the maximum tax on the repair of a boat or vessel is USD 60,000, applied to each repair occurring in Florida, with subsequent and separate repairs each subject to their own cap. And a foreign-flagged vessel holding a valid licence to cruise in the waters of the United States, issued under 19 CFR 4.94, is not subject to Florida use tax at all. |
| Listing the boat while cruising her, and what actually happens | The common warning is that a yacht on a cruising licence may not be offered for sale. That is not quite the law, and the real position is more useful. On the federal side, the brokerage industry reports that Customs treats a yacht offered for sale or charter in the United States as ineligible for a cruising licence. On the state side, Florida's Department of Revenue has advised that where a yacht is used inconsistently with 19 CFR 4.94(b), for example by being offered for sale or charter within the United States, the state may deem her commingled and assert use tax at that point. So the consequence is loss of the exemption and a tax assessment, not a prohibition. Note also that the separate Florida exemption for a boat brought in for the sole purpose of sale at retail is a different provision: it requires the boat to be under the care, custody and control of a registered dealer or broker with no personal use while she is in Florida. |
| Anchoring in the Keys, and the jurisdictional split nobody explains | This is more complicated than any summary admits, and the complication is the useful part. NOAA's Restoration Blueprint rewrote the sanctuary rules and took effect on 5 March 2025 in federal waters only, because the Governor of Florida certified the regulations unacceptable in Florida state waters under the National Marine Sanctuaries Act. State waters are a large share of the sanctuary, put at somewhere between about half and two thirds depending on the source, and they continue to run on the previous rules. So there are two regimes in one sanctuary. Under the new federal text, anchoring on living coral is prohibited outright; under the older text still operating in state waters the prohibition is conditional, applying in depths under 40 feet when the seabed can be seen. What does not exist anywhere is a prohibition on anchoring in seagrass: the seagrass rule addresses operating a vessel so as to strike or injure seagrass and other immobile organisms, which is prop scarring, not anchoring. |
| The 2027 change, and the rule for large vessels | NOAA delayed several Blueprint provisions to 19 January 2027, including the prohibition on anchoring in Sanctuary Preservation Areas. NOAA's public materials list six SPAs where anchoring survives the change: Hen and Chickens, Cheeca Rocks, Newfound Harbor Key, Eastern Dry Rocks, Rock Key and Sand Key. Read that list against the jurisdictional split above rather than as a conservation judgement, and note that Rock Key is one of the SPAs the federal rule eliminates altogether. Already in force and unambiguous: vessels of 50 metres or greater in registered length are prohibited from anchoring on the portion of Tortugas Bank within the sanctuary west of Dry Tortugas National Park that is outside the Tortugas Ecological Reserve. From 19 January 2027 it will also be prohibited to tie a large vessel to a mooring buoy not specifically designated for large vessels. |
| The moorings are free, but they are not sized for this fleet | The sanctuary has run mooring buoys in the Keys since 1981 and there are now more than 600, white spheres with a blue stripe, first come first served at no cost. The sizing is the part that matters here: NOAA's standard 18 inch buoys are rated for vessels up to 59 feet, the 24 inch buoys for vessels between 60 and 100 feet and those exist at premium locations only, and above 100 feet there is no buoy rated to take you. For tenders and smaller boats the buoys remove the anchoring question; for the yacht herself they generally do not. |
| What a breach actually costs | Two different penalty regimes get confused here, and the gap between them is enormous. Florida state law sets anchoring penalties under its anchoring limitation provisions at up to USD 100 for a first offence, USD 250 for a second and USD 500 for a third or subsequent, with derelict vessels removable at the owner's expense. Sanctuary violations are federal and are assessed under the National Marine Sanctuaries Act at up to roughly USD 130,000 per day per violation, with each day treated as a separate violation. Anyone reading a hundred-dollar figure and assuming it covers a grounding on protected coral is out by three orders of magnitude. |
| Where a large yacht actually berths | Pier Sixty-Six in Fort Lauderdale runs 164 slips over about 5,000 linear feet and takes hulls to 400 feet; it publishes no rate and asks that you contact the marina office before arrival for pricing. Bahia Mar Yachting Center holds more than 250 wet slips to 300 feet. Seahaven's headline 250 feet is a statement about drawbridge-free ocean access rather than berth capacity, with its designers describing 40 superyacht slips across 2,400 linear feet and third-party listings carrying a maximum LOA nearer 230 feet. Between them Fort Lauderdale offers berth supply at a scale nowhere in the Caribbean or the Mediterranean matches, which is the practical reason the fleet winters here. |
| The yards, which are the real argument for the state | Safe Harbor Lauderdale Marine Center describes itself as the largest yacht building and repair facility in the country, across 65 acres. Bradford Marine publishes more than 5,500 linear feet of covered dockage, though it has been removing roofs from covered slips to take larger hulls, taking one from 130 to 164 feet, and now does much of its painting under tenting alongside four paint sheds. RMK Merrill-Stevens on the Miami River is another full-service yard, with marine painting one of nine in-house disciplines and a 2,700 ton Pearlson shiplift across its two yards handling vessels from about 30 to 240 feet. Safe Harbor Rybovich and Derecktor Fort Pierce complete the picture. Set that capacity against the USD 60,000 per-repair tax cap and the case for doing the work in Florida is largely made. |
| Key West, and the five miles nobody mentions | The Perry Marina, until recently Stock Island Marina, is the large-vessel address for Key West with 288 slips, and it sits five miles from downtown. Guests who picture stepping off the passerelle onto Duval Street are picturing the wrong marina and the transfer needs planning into every evening ashore. Booking platforms also record a 40 foot minimum charge on slip reservations, which is a billing floor rather than a bar on smaller boats, though the marina does not state it in its own materials, so confirm it when you book. |
| Dates to plan around | The Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show is the largest in-water show in the world and its 67th edition runs 28 October to 1 November 2026 across seven venues: the Broward County Convention Center, Bahia Mar Yachting Center, Hall of Fame Marina, Las Olas Marina, the 17th Street Yacht Basin, Pier Sixty-Six Marina and the Superyacht Village at Pier Sixty-Six South. It draws more than 100,000 visitors, and the marine industry association puts the value of product on display at around four billion dollars, which is a display figure rather than an order book. Against that, hurricane season runs June to November and most policies and most owners treat Florida as a November to May proposition. |
Cosa riferiscono armatori ed equipaggi
Offering the yacht for sale can cost her the cruising licence itself
The brokerage industry reports that Customs treats a foreign-flagged yacht offered for sale or charter within the United States as ineligible for a cruising licence, and has framed the warning as an alert to owners about existing law on dutiability rather than as a new restriction. It is the federal half of a problem most owners only hear about from the state side.
International Yacht Brokers AssociationFlorida has spelled out what it will do, and it is a tax assessment rather than a ban
The Department of Revenue has advised that where a yacht is used inconsistently with 19 CFR 4.94(b), giving as its example the yacht being offered for sale or charter within the United States, the state may deem the yacht commingled and assert use tax at that time. The wording is permissive and the consequence is assessment, which is why the widely repeated claim that state law prohibits listing the boat is wrong.
Florida Department of Revenue, Technical Assistance Advisement 09A-025There is a route into US charter, and it does not involve changing flag
The recognised structure is formal entry with duty paid combined with a demise or bareboat charter, which is not treated as commercial use of the yacht by her owner. The vessel remains foreign-flagged; re-flagging to the United States is not the answer and would not by itself help, since a foreign-built hull cannot obtain a coastwise endorsement. The Passenger Vessel Services Act still bars point-to-point carriage of passengers for hire.
AGL Yacht SalesThe covered-shed advantage at the yards is being traded away for length
Bradford Marine has been removing roofs from covered slips to take larger hulls, in one case going from 130 feet to 164 feet, and now carries out much of its painting under tenting alongside four dedicated paint sheds. An owner choosing a yard on the assumption that covered means weather-proof paintwork should check what is actually still covered at the length in question.
Megayacht News, October 2024The buoys on the reef are rated, and the ratings exclude most of this fleet
NOAA rates its standard 18 inch mooring buoys for vessels up to 59 feet and its 24 inch buoys for vessels of 60 to 100 feet, the latter at specific premium locations only. There is no rated buoy above 100 feet, and from 19 January 2027 tying a large vessel to a buoy not specifically designated for large vessels becomes a prohibited activity in its own right.
NOAA Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary
Cosa convince e cosa va valutato
Punti di forza
- The deepest refit and trade base in the western hemisphereSafe Harbor Lauderdale Marine Center calls itself the largest yacht building and repair facility in the country, Bradford Marine runs more than 5,500 linear feet of covered dockage, and RMK Merrill-Stevens adds a 2,700 ton shiplift on the Miami River, with Rybovich and Derecktor behind them. Capacity at that density means competitive quotes and a realistic chance of a slot between seasons.
- The repair tax cap is the number that should decide where a refit happensFlorida caps the tax on a boat repair at USD 60,000, applied to each separate repair. On a major refit that ceiling is worth more than any yard discount on the coast, and it is the single most useful figure on this page for an owner planning work.
- Foreign Trade Zone coverage is broad here, not a two-yard privilegeLauderdale Marine Center, Bahia Mar, Pier Sixty-Six, the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina and Roscioli all sit within Foreign Trade Zone 241. For an owner of a foreign-flag yacht that means the duty question can be managed at most of the serious addresses rather than at one.
- Berth supply at a scale no rival offersPier Sixty-Six alone runs 164 slips over 5,000 linear feet and takes 400 foot hulls, and Bahia Mar adds more than 250 wet slips to 300 feet. The Riviera constraint of a few dozen berths for large yachts simply does not exist here.
- A foreign-flag yacht on a cruising licence pays no Florida use taxThe state's own guidance says so plainly for any vessel holding a valid licence to cruise issued under 19 CFR 4.94. No other major yachting jurisdiction treats a visiting hull this lightly.
Da valutare
- A foreign-flag yacht cannot charter hereA cruising licence permits no carriage of passengers for pay and no trade. An owner used to offsetting a European season with charter revenue writes that income off for the Florida winter, and the routes out of it, formal entry with duty paid and a demise charter structure, are a tax and legal project rather than a booking decision.
- Marketing the boat can cost the exemptionCustoms is reported to treat a yacht offered for sale or charter in the United States as ineligible for a cruising licence, and Florida has advised that such use may cause the yacht to be deemed commingled with use tax asserted from that point. Owners who cruise while quietly listing her are the ones this catches.
- The sanctuary runs two sets of rules at onceThe Blueprint took effect in federal waters in March 2025 but was certified unacceptable in Florida state waters, which are roughly half to two thirds of the sanctuary. A captain therefore cannot apply one anchoring rule across the Keys, and most published summaries do not mention the split at all.
- The free moorings do not fit the boats this page is written forNOAA's buoys are rated to 59 feet on the standard size and 60 to 100 feet on the larger ones at premium sites only. Above 100 feet there is no buoy for you, and from 19 January 2027 tying a large vessel to a buoy not designated for large vessels is itself prohibited.
- At 50 metres and over you are already excluded from Tortugas BankVessels of 50 metres or more in registered length may not anchor on the sanctuary portion of Tortugas Bank west of the Dry Tortugas National Park outside the Tortugas Ecological Reserve. The remotest and least crowded ground in the Keys is closed to precisely the boats most able to reach it.
- Fort Lauderdale's big marinas do not publish a ratePier Sixty-Six directs enquiries to the marina office for pricing and Bahia Mar quotes on application. For all the depth of this market, an owner still cannot cost a month alongside from public information the way Albany in the Bahamas now allows.
- Key West's large-yacht marina is not in Key WestThe Perry Marina, the 288 slip facility that takes the big boats, sits five miles from downtown. Every evening ashore is a transfer, which is not what the destination promises.
A chi si rivolge: L'armatore che vuole la barca a portata del miglior supporto tecnico del mondo, e che considera Bahamas e Keys la stagione e la Florida la base.