Florida Keys and Okeechobee Waterway Quick Reference Cruising Guide

Florida Keys and Okeechobee Waterway Quick Reference Cruising Guide: Plan Tomorrow's Run in Minutes

The Florida Keys and Okeechobee Waterway Quick Reference Cruising Guide is a fast-scan, topic-tabbed reference that answers the questions a cruiser actually asks on this route: where can I anchor tonight that's protected from the wind, where's the next fuel or pump-out, how do I time the bridges and locks, and can my boat clear the Okeechobee crossing. It covers the entire Florida Loop in one book: the Florida Keys, the Okeechobee Waterway, Southwest Florida, and Florida's east coast from Stuart to Miami. Everything is arranged by topic and then by location clockwise around the loop, so you land on the answer in seconds instead of piecing it together from charts, apps, and other guides.

Because the Keys route and the cross-state Okeechobee route are both in the same book, you don't have to decide which way you're going when you buy it: cruise one corner, run down and back, or do the whole Florida Loop, also known as Smuggler's Run. That makes it a natural fit for Great Loop cruisers and snowbirds heading down Florida. And for the crossing itself, the guide lists the number the decision turns on: the 49 ft controlling clearance at the Port Mayaca railroad lift bridge, the lowest fixed height on the Okeechobee route now that the tipping service is gone.

Choose Tonight's Anchorage by Wind Direction

In the Keys the hardest call of the day is where to drop the hook, because good anchorages are limited, holding is thin in places, and a wind shift can turn a calm spot into a rough night. Every anchorage in the guide is marked for whether it's protected from each direction, north, east, south, and west, so you run your eye down the columns and stop at a spot that's protected from tonight's forecast wind. Anchorages that make good storm holes are flagged on their own, so when weather is coming you can pick the most protected water ahead of time instead of scrambling for it in the dark.

Each entry also gives you depth, tide range, holding, current, wake exposure, and dinghy access, plus a dog-walking rating, which matters on this route, where landing spots are few and many beaches are off-limits to pets. You can weigh the real trade-offs and choose the right anchorage before you ever change course.

Everything for Tomorrow's Run in One Book

The guide is organized by topic, with tabs, so you go straight to the kind of answer you need and then find your location in order around the loop. Anchorages, free docks, inlets, bridges and locks, fuel and services, haulouts, and hazards are all in the same book, so building tomorrow's hop list, a protected anchorage, the next fuel, groceries, a pump-out, and the bridges and locks in between, happens in one place:

• Anchorages & moorings: protection by direction, storm-hole flags, depth, tide, holding, current, wake, dinghy access, dog walking, and Active Captain names.
• Inlets & cuts: tide, current, distance to the ICW, all-weather suitability, which services are reachable for vessels over 65 ft air draft, and notes on timing and hazards.
• Free docks: depth, tide, and stay limits, so an inexpensive overnight stop is easy to find.
• Bridges & locks: clearance, tide, VHF channel, opening schedules, and contact numbers for the opening bridges of the east coast and the locks and fixed bridges of the Okeechobee Waterway, including the 49 ft controlling clearance at the Port Mayaca railroad bridge that decides whether a sailboat can cross.
• Services: fuel (diesel and gas), slips, moorings, pump-outs, showers, laundry, groceries with distance, propane, water, and marine supply, with VHF and phone.
• Navigation alerts: shoaling, strong-current areas, algae blooms, crab and lobster pot zones, and other caution areas, with the nature of each problem spelled out.
• Haulouts & boatyards: travel-lift capacity, maximum beam and length, depth, whether DIY work is allowed, and whether you can stay aboard, so you can find a yard that actually fits your boat.
• Dredging and horn signals: how to read and pass a working dredge safely, and what the standard whistle signals mean.

Anchorage Names That Drop Straight Into Your Navigation App

All anchorage names in the guide are Active Captain names, so they overlay directly on the navigation app you already use, including Aqua Map, Garmin, and Navionics. Find an anchorage in the guide, search the same name in your app, and go straight to it. The guide feeds the tools already on your boat rather than competing with them, pulling the scattered details into one place you can scan.

Every Edition Fully Re-Checked

On this route the details that matter most change constantly: bridge and lock schedules, shoaling, and marina and service details. That's why each new edition is verified through personal cruising experience, direct phone calls to marinas, boatyards, stores, bridge tenders, and lock tenders, company websites, charts, Local Notices to Mariners, and Army Corps of Engineers surveys. Reports from other boaters are added only when they can be independently verified. The door is held open for late changes right up until the edition uploads to the printer, so nothing known to be out of date goes to press, and a banner on the cover tells you when the information was last confirmed, so you can see at a glance how current your copy is.

A Fast Reference, Not a Replacement for Your Charts

There are no chartlets, by design. Tables you can scan beat pages of charts and narrative when you need one fact in a hurry. The guide rides alongside the charts, chartplotter, and nav apps you navigate with: for the day-to-day decisions, anchorage, fuel, docks, bridges, and services, it's the reference you reach for first, while aerial photos, town history, and sightseeing stay the job of your other books.

Spiral-Bound, for Planning and the Helm

The guide is spiral-bound and lays flat, 8.5" x 5.5" on heavyweight, glare-free paper, so it sits open at the nav station while you plan tomorrow's run and stays readable in the cockpit while you make it, with no power or signal needed.

Details

• Coverage: the full Florida Loop, Florida Keys (both the Atlantic/Hawk Channel side and the Gulf side), Okeechobee Waterway, Southwest Florida (Marco Island to Fort Myers), and Florida's east coast from Stuart to Miami, including Key West and the Dry Tortugas.
• Best for: cruisers planning the next day's run in the Keys or Southwest Florida, cruisers who need to change plans on the fly and find the next option fast, and Great Loop and snowbird cruisers crossing Florida who want both the Keys route and the Okeechobee route in one book.
• Organization: by topic with tabs, then by location clockwise around the loop.
• Sections: Anchorages & Moorings, Inlets/Cuts, Free Docks, Bridges/Locks, Services, Nav Alerts, Haulouts, Dredging, Horns.
• Format: spiral-bound print, 8.5" x 5.5", lay-flat, heavyweight paper.
• Edition: 2025 edition (3rd edition), cover dated November 2025.
• Authors: Larry Webber and Carolyn Shearlock.