Getting to the ocean
The principal deep-water ocean gateway here is Port Everglades. From the Intracoastal you can run north toward Pompano and Hillsboro Inlet, or south toward Dania, Hollywood and Miami.
One caution I give every buyer: Port Everglades harbor depths are published for commercial shipping. Those numbers have nothing to do with the depth at a residential dock, and you should never let anyone quote them to you as though they do.
The bridge question, honestly
This is the market where the neighborhood name tells you the least. Ocean access homes in Las Olas Isles, Harbor Beach, Rio Vista and the other districts differ canal branch by canal branch. Two homes in the same subdivision can have completely different routes to the ocean.
Interior New River routes add road and rail bridge operations on top of that. A home can be genuinely ocean access and still be wrong for a tall tower, a flybridge or a sailing rig. The only thing that settles it is routing your actual vessel’s air draft, address by address.
The bridges on the main routes are opening spans rather than fixed ones, which is good news. But published clearance figures for the Sunrise Boulevard, Las Olas Boulevard and 17th Street Causeway bridges disagree between sources, and I will not print a number here that I have not confirmed against the current NOAA chart the week you need it.
- Sunrise Boulevard bridge: bascule, not fixed. [CONFIRM: vertical clearance at mean high water]
- Las Olas Boulevard bridge: bascule. [CONFIRM: sources conflict, verify closed clearance]
- 17th Street Causeway: high-clearance opening bridge. [CONFIRM: closed clearance]
Depth
There is no honest single answer for canal depth in Fort Lauderdale. The federal Intracoastal channel from Fort Pierce to Miami is authorized at 10 feet deep by 125 feet wide, but that is the project dimension, not a promise of water under your keel on a given day.
The New River, Middle River, Las Olas Isles, Rio Vista, Harbor Beach and the side canals cannot responsibly be given one typical depth. Seawalls range from old systems to rebuilt and raised infrastructure, and sediment varies dock to dock.
- Your dock’s actual depth: [CONFIRM: sounding required at the specific dock]
Slow speed zones, updated
As of November 6, 2025, the FWC established a year-round Slow Speed Minimum Wake area on the Intracoastal between the Oakland Park Boulevard Bridge and the Sunrise Boulevard Bridge. That replaced the earlier seasonal treatment, so if you boated here before, this is a real change.
Finger canals are not automatically no-wake. Under the manatee rule, tributaries and canals are excluded unless specifically described, and the posted sign at the canal entrance is what actually controls.
Marinas and fuel
- Bahia Mar Yachting Center, a major facility with large-vessel slips, close to both the beach and the Intracoastal, and the principal site of the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show. Offers high speed and bulk fuel.
- Pier Sixty-Six Marina, advertising 164 deep-water slips, roughly 5,000 linear feet of dockage, and vessels from about 40 to 400 feet, with high speed in-slip fueling.
- City facilities including the New River Downtown Docks and Cooley’s Landing, generally public and first-come.
Ramps and public access
- Cooley’s Landing, 450 SW 7th Avenue. Boat ramp and marina amenities on the New River, with pump-out service.
- Cox’s Landing, 1784 SE 15th Street. City boat ramp with parking and marine access.
- George English Park, boat access and ramp, canoe and kayak landing, and fishing.
The free LauderGO Water Trolley runs a New River route, advertised daily from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., with typical waits of roughly 20 to 30 minutes.
On the calendar
- Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, October 28 to November 1, 2026.
- Seminole Hard Rock Winterfest Boat Parade, December 12, 2026.
- Fourth of July, centered on the beachfront with the fireworks program over and along the oceanfront.
Docks, seawalls and permits
City approval alone never completes waterfront permitting here. Broward County Environmental Permitting licenses docks and seawalls as aquatic and wetland resource work on top of the municipal building and engineering permits, and Development Services maintains a Seawall and Dock Permitting Checklist.
Costs move constantly with materials, access and scope, so I do not publish a price band. I will get you two or three real bids from Broward marine contractors after a site inspection instead.
Flood and king tides
The city runs a king-tide program because low elevations and an extensive waterway network make parts of Fort Lauderdale vulnerable to tidal flooding. That is a separate practical issue from your FEMA flood zone, and both matter.
Flood zone and premium are address-specific under Risk Rating 2.0. Elevation, replacement value and exact location matter far more than the city name, and countywide averages are not a useful proxy for a waterfront home.
- Your address’s flood zone: [CONFIRM: run on the current Broward and FEMA map]
- Your flood premium: [CONFIRM: address-specific NFIP and private quotes]
Fishing and diving
Port Everglades inlet is the principal ocean gateway for fishing boats. For named wreck and reef navigation, use the current Broward and FWC artificial-reef resources, and know that FWC itself warns coordinates and condition can change.
