Boating, Fishing, and Travel Information for Everglades City, FL

The town has several marinas.
Navigation:
Click the “Map View” button above to see a chart of this harbor.
Everglades City, about 0.5 miles above the mouth of the Barron River, is the tourist center for Everglades National Park. It is also a center for sport fishing in The Everglades and the offshore waters of the Gulf. It is 3 miles by road, on State Route 29, from the Tamiami Trail (U.S. Route 41), the main highway across The Everglades from Miami to Tampa.
Indian Key Pass (25°48.0’N., 81°28.0’W.), 38 miles N of Northwest Cape, is the approach to Everglades City. A dredged channel leads from the Gulf of Mexico through Indian Key Pass, across Chokoloskee Bay, and up the Barron River to a turning basin about 1.3 miles above the mouth of the river. In 2002, the midchannel controlling depth was 4.8 feet. The channel is well marked by lights and daybeacons. Overhead power cables with clearances of 65 feet and 49 feet cross the river about 0.5 and 0.7 mile above the mouth, respectively. A 5-mph no-wake speed limit is enforced on the river.
In 1983, the microwave tower at Everglades City was reported to be a good landmark from offshore although it is obscured closer in. When making the approach to Indian Key Pass, it is reported that mariners should steer about 053° for the microwave tower while it is visible, then hold that course until Indian Key Pass Light 1 can be identified. The light is reported to be difficult to distinguish from its background.
A privately dredged channel, marked by daybeacons, leads SE from the channel at the mouth of the Barron River to a turning basin and the protected basin of the National Park Service. In 2000, depths of less than 4 feet were reported in the channel with shoaling in the basin. A visitors center of The Everglades National Park is at the basin.
Indian Key Pass Light (25°47’59″N., 81°28’04″W.), 16 feet above the water and shown from a pile on the S end of the bank extending off the S end of the key, marks the entrance to the pass.