Anchoring in the Florida Keys: rules, mooring fields and good spots

The rules

There is no general ban on anchoring in the Keys, and none of Florida’s night-time no-anchoring zones is in Monroe County. But the whole county is an anchoring limitation area under F.S. 327.4108. If you lie within 10 nm of a public mooring field or a designated anchoring area, you must move under your own power at least 0.5 nm – or into another designated area – every 90 days, and you may not come back for 90 days.

FWC has designated seven anchoring areas in the county: Fleming Key, Sigsbee and Garrison Bight Flats at Key West, Cow Key Channel West and East, Niles Channel, Bahia Honda Channel and Boot Key. Statewide, you may not anchor within 150 ft of a marina, boat ramp or boatyard, within 300 ft of a public mooring field, or inside a mooring field without a contract (F.S. 327.4109).

New since 1 January 2026: if you are anchored 14 days or more within a 30-day period near the same spot, you need a free long-term anchoring permit from FWC (F.S. 327.4111, FWC). Since 1 July 2026, cities and counties can let their own code officers enforce it. Fines start at $100 and rise to $500, and a boat that counts as “at risk of becoming derelict” can be removed.

In the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary no sewage may be discharged at all, and a boat may not lie anchored on living coral other than hardbottom in less than 40 ft where the seabed can be seen (15 CFR 922.163). In the sanctuary preservation areas and ecological reserves it is stricter: no part of the anchor, chain or rope may touch living or dead coral, and where a mooring buoy is free you take it instead of anchoring (15 CFR 922.164). If you stay more than 10 days at anchor or on a mooring, Monroe County wants proof of a pump-out within the last 30 days – and its mobile pump-out boat is free: fly the orange flag.

Mooring field or anchor?

Seagrass and holding

Much of the Keys is shallow seagrass over sand and rock, and the best holding is in the sand patches you can see in good light. Running aground or cutting prop scars in seagrass breaks sanctuary rules, and in Florida’s aquatic preserves the fines run from $100 up to $1,000 for repeat offences.

At the reefs, use one of the more than 600 free sanctuary mooring buoys: standard buoys take boats up to 59 ft, the larger ones up to 100 ft. If none is free, anchor in sand, well clear of coral and grass (NOAA).