Anchoring In Boot Key Harbor
Another GREAT report from our Florida Keys correspondent, Captain Charmaine Smith Ladd!
Thursday, April 23rd, 2009
Boot Key Harbor Anchorage
Boot Key Harbor
24°42’23.58’³ N 81°5’33.05″
Marathon, FL Keys
by Charmaine Smith Ladd
Boot Key Harbor (BKH) offers the very best protection in all of the Florida Keys for boats looking to get out of weather. The Harbor is accessed from the Atlantic by way of two inlets. The west inlet has a controlling depth of 6 feet. The south inlet, Sister’s Creek, has a controlling depth of just a couple of inches over four feet.
Since the completion of the 226-ball mooring field in
Boot Key Harbor, many have erroneously made the conclusion that anchorage is no longer available.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
As you pass the permanently upright bascule bridge and enter the Harbor, you will find the anchorage area begins immediately to your right (south). The water is relatively much shallower prior to reaching red marker 16. Deeper water (minimum 7-8+ ft.) is found just south of the western inlet channel between red markers 16 and 18. The anchorage here is approximately 350 yards in length (west to east) and about 100 yards wide (south to north). Shallower draft vessels can anchor beyond the 100 yards nearer to the southern line of mangroves.
There is also a much smaller, much shallower anchorage located at the opposite (east) end of Boot Key Harbor. This anchorage is ideal for multihull vessels and drafts of no more than 3-1/2 feet. There are some deeper spots in the area, but those are usually taken.
Dinghy dockage is offered by the Marathon City Marina at $13/day, $43/week, or $127.50/month.
The dinghy fees include trash disposal, the use of the new bathhouse and adjoining laundry facilities, access to potable water (.05 cents/gallon), and weekly pumpout.
If you are anchoring and don’t need shore access often enough to warrant the City Marina dinghy fees,
you can dinghy to the far eastern end of the Harbor to Hurricane Hole Marina. There they offer a daily dinghy dockage rate of only $5.00 and are in close proximity to Publix grocery and other frequented stores. This is strictly a daily rate and offered as a courtesy as their closeness to stores is unsurpassed.
So come on down to beautiful Boot Key Harbor where the protection from winds is as good as it gets, the atmosphere relaxed and laid back, and the people (boaters and landlubbers alike) are arguably the friendliest in all of mainland Florida and the Florida Keys.
Charmaine Smith Ladd,
SSECN’s Regional Correspondent for the Florida Keys,
bringing you “The Low Down from Down Low.”
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