Cruising/Navigating - Florida’s AICW

St. Marys River to Key West

Florida’s segment of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AICW) has its beginning in the north at St. Marys River at (MM "713.7"), the Georgia/Florida State Line. Your general course will trend in a near south-southeasterly direction to the vicinity of the Port of Palm Beach (Lake Worth Inlet) where it takes up a nearly southerly heading leading to Miami (Government Cut). From there it is southwesterly to Cross Bank (MM "1153.4") near Plantation Key and the official end of the AICW. Continuing on in a generally southwesterly direction will lead you to Key West.

In the interest of saving time and distance, a better option is to depart the AICW at Government Cut and make use of Hawk Channel. While the distance savings is small (≈10.8 NM), the deeper and more open waters will allow much higher speeds with significant time savings.

Aids to Navigation

Buoys and Marks

Intracoastal Waterway buoys and navigational markers are like most other lateral marks in the U.S. the difference is that yellow triangles or yellow squares are added to the mark to indicate they are ICW markers. The rule is: When proceeding southbound on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (Norfolk, VA to Cross Bank in the Florida Keys) or northbound / westbound on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (Ft. Meyers, FL to Brownsville, TX); markers with yellow triangles are kept to starboard and yellow squares are kept to port at all times.

While Yellow Squares are typically found on green buoys or beacons and yellow triangles are typically found on red buoys or beacons, this is not always the case. Use Caution!

• “Yellow Squares are ALWAYS kept to port”
• and
• “Yellow Triangles are ALWAYS kept to starboard”

Regardless of the Color of the Mark!

Charts

NOAA Charts #11489, #11485, #11472, #11467, #11451, #11445, and #11446 provide coverage of the Florida portion of the AICW.

Chart #11489 covers the AICW from (MM "675.7") at St. Simons Sound, GA to the Tolomato River at Shell Bluff Landing, FL (MM "768.7").

Chart #11485 covers the AICW from (MM "768.7"), Tolomato River to (MM "910.2") at Palm Shores, FL.

Chart #11472 covers the AICW from (MM "910.2"), Palm Shores to (MM "1024.9") at West Palm Beach.

Chart #11467 covers the AICW from Mile (MM "1024.9"), West Palm Beach to (MM "1099.7") in Biscayne Bay.

Chart #11451 covers the AICW from (MM "1099.7") in Biscayne Bay to Plantation Key at (MM "1153.4") and then on to Bahia Honda Key.

Chart #11445 covers the Florida Keys from Bahia Honda Key to Sugarloaf Key via the Hawk Channel.

Chart #11446 covers the Florida Keys from Sugarloaf Key to Key West via the Hawk Channel.

Chart #11489 - St. Simons Sound, GA to Tolomato River, FL
Chart #11485 - Tolomato River, FL to Palm Shores, FL
Chart #11485 - Palm Shores, FL to West Palm Beach, FL
Chart #11467 - West Palm Beach, FL to Miami, FL
Chart #11451 - Miami, FL to Vacca Key, FL and on to Bahia Honda Key, FL
Chart #11445 - Bahia Honda Key, FL to Sugarloaf Key, FL
Chart #11446 - Sugarloaf Key, FL to Key West, FL

Distances and Mileages

All distances along the Florida Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway are given in statute miles unless otherwise noted. Statute miles are used in order to conform to the distances shown on the small craft charts typically used along this route.

The Florida portion of the AICW (southbound) is measured based on increasing mileage between St. Marys River (MM "713.7") and Plantation Key (MM "1153.4") which marks the official end the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway.

Channels

The Federal project depth for the Florida segment of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway provides for the following depths:

• St. Marys River to Ft. Pierce – 12 feet.
• Ft Pierce to Miami – 10 feet.
• Miami to Cross Bank – 7 feet.

The actual controlling depths in the channels may vary due to shoaling. This reduces the available water depths to less than the Federal project depth until maintenance dredging can be accomplished.

Communications

Bridges – VHF Channel 09.

Found along the shores of the Florida Intracoastal Waterway

Bridges, Locks, and Overhead Power Lines

Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway - Florida Bridge Schedule

The following table lists the bridges; their schedules, and restrictions along the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AICW) in Florida.

The minimum overhead clearance of fixed bridges over the Florida portion of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway is the Julia Tuttle Causeway Bridge in Miami (mile marker 1087.1) at 56 feet.

This list is believed to be accurate as of July 2021. If any errors or omissions are noted, please e-mail us at with any corrections or recommendations.

The above tables can be downloaded for your personal and private use. The Florida Intracoastal Waterway Bridge List contains the tables in Statute Miles, Nautical Miles, and Kilometers. The files are Zipped Adobe (.pdf) format.

The entire AICW Bridge List (Norfolk to Miami) can be downloaded for your personal and private use below. The ZIP files contain the schedules in Adobe (.pdf) file format:

AICW Florida Bridge Schedule - Download

AICW Bridge and Lock Schedule (Norfolk to Miami) - Download

AICW - Florida Locks

None.

AICW - Florida Overhead Cables and Power Lines

Quite a few overhead cables cross Florida’s Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. A few cable crossings, (3), are noted with a minimum authorized clearance of 80’. These are located between (MM "720..8") and (MM "746.9"). All other clearances for overhead cables and power lines along the Florida AICW are higher.

Caution - Many of the overhead cables over the waterway carry high voltage, and an extra margin of safety should be allowed during threatening weather.

Tides

The tides along the east coast of Florida are semi-diurnal from St. Marys River south to Plantation Key exhibiting (2) equal high and low tides every ≈24 hours 50 minutes. South of Plantation Key, the tides are Mixed-Semi-Diurnal exhibiting (2) unequal high and low tides every ≈24 hours 50 minutes.

Beginning at St. Marys River with tides of 5.8 feet, the tidal range decreases southbound. St. Johns River is 4.9 feet, Port Canaveral 3.6 feet, Ft. Pierce 2.6 feet, Port Everglades 2.5 feet, Miami 2,4 feet, Bahia Hionda Key 1.2 feet, and Key West is 1.3 feet.

Entrances, Inlets, and Passes

There are numerous Entrances, Inlets, or Passes between the deep waters of the Atlantic Ocean and the East Coast of Florida. From St. Marys Entrance in the north to Miami in the south.

While many of these are only suitable for shallow draft vessels with local knowledge, some can be considered navigable for most vessels. We have listed them on the next page along with useful information on each to aid you in deciding if you wish to use a particular inlet.

NEXT - Florida’s East Coast - Entrances, Inlets, & Passes