At the community of Ponce Inlet, about 1 mile below Inlet Harbor inside the north side of Ponce de Leon Inlet, there are several small-craft facilities where berthage with electricity, gasoline, diesel fuel, water, ice, launching ramps, and a 70-ton lift are available. Hull, engine and electronic repairs can be made.
Navigation:
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Ponce de Leon Inlet is 53 miles southward of St. Augustine Light and 41 miles northwestward of Cape Canaveral Light. It is used by both recreational and small commercial vessels bound for New Smyrna Beach or Daytona Beach, as well as others entering for an anchorage.
Ponce de Leon Inlet Light (29°04’50″N., 80°55’41″W.), 159 feet above the water, is shown from a red brick conical tower on the north side of the inlet.
The inlet, protected at the entrance by jetties, is entered through a channel that leads over a bar and through the jetties. The outer end of the north jetty is marked by a light, and the inner end of the jetty is awash. In 2010, the controlling depth through the inlet was 14 feet. Safe navigation may also be hampered by numerous recreational fishing vessels that anchor inside the north jetty.
Inside the inlet, three channels lead to the Intracoastal Waterway; northward through Halifax River, westward through Rockhouse Creek, and southeastward through Indian River North. The channels through Halifax River and Indian River North are marked by buoys. In 2010, the midchannel controlling depth was 5 feet; thence in 1986, the midchannel controlling depth in Rockhouse Creek was 7 feet; thence in 2010, the controlling depth was 9 feet to the Intracoastal Waterway by way of Indian River North.
The Intracoastal Waterway is just inside the entrance to Ponce de Leon Inlet, passing through Halifax River from the north and Indian River North from the south.
