"This Florida Gulf Coast city has laid out the welcome mat for cruisers"

[ccannan]

"This Florida Gulf Coast city has laid out the welcome mat for cruisers" (recent Cruising World article), yet Sarasota charges cruisers to anchor in navigable, federally regulated waterways that are ostensibly free for use by everyone!

Shame on Cruising World for publishing this article giving the impression that cruisers are being accommodated when in fact the law is being bent (nay broken) by big money interests, and we (cruisers) are being offered a bone for which we have to pay!

Anchoring in navigable waterways should be free!

[jen.brett]

Hi Chip- Thanks for your comment. I've been following the Florida anchoring story, and it seems like the the final anchoring ordinance in Sarasota doesn't seem too bad. The restrictions basically include just not being permitted to anchor with 150 feet of shore or the mooring field and not staying in one place for longer than 90 days. Provisions to the 150-feet rule have been made to allow anchoring within 150 in cases of bad weather, mechanical issues, special events, or if the mooring field is full.
What charges are you referring to?

Cheers,
Jen Brett/CW associate editor

[Jan]

Hi Chip -- we were just up there, off Marina Jack's. They strongly encouraged us to pick up a mooring ball, but did grudgingly admit that we could anchor 150 feet behind the mooring field if we were just traveling through (which we were). We didn't check other navigable waters, is there somewhere we should be aware of? Fair winds! Jan & David, sv Winterlude

[Group9]

We stayed at Marina Jacks a couple of nights. Got a kick out of the dolphin with the torn up fin that seems to have adapted the marina. And, they have nice bathrooms!