Communities · Inlets, bridges, slips and docks
Boating
Three inlets, a handful of bridges that decide what fits under them, the communities and buildings with slips or private docks, and how slip leasing works. Then what I check on a dock before you buy the house behind it.
Tell me the boat’s length, beam, draft and air draft and I will tell you which docks and which route to the ocean work for it.
Also in this section: Private Club Communities · Luxury Condos · Luxury Rentals · New Developments
Start with the water, not the house
The Route to the Ocean Is the Property
Two waterfront homes a mile apart can be very different purchases if one has a 24-foot bascule bridge between it and the inlet and the other has open water. Before I show a dock, I map the route: which inlet, which bridges and their closed clearances, the depth at the dock at low water and the depth of the channel the boat will take. The house comes after.
Figures below are from the Coast Guard’s regulations, FDOT project pages, the state wildlife commission’s boating guide and the cruising guides, as published in October 2026. Bridge clearances and inlet depths change with repairs, dredging and tide; before you buy, we confirm against the current chart and Local Notice to Mariners.
Three ways out
The Inlets
Jupiter Inlet
Not a federally maintained channel. The Jupiter Inlet District dredges the sand trap inside the inlet (two phases in early 2026, in January to February and again in April), while the Army Corps is responsible for the Intracoastal crossing. The bars outside the mouth shift, and in spring 2026 boaters reported days when the channel was not passable without local knowledge. For a boat that will run the inlet regularly, I treat current conditions as part of the diligence and we talk to the dockmasters who use it daily.
Lake Worth Inlet (Palm Beach Inlet)
The deep-water inlet of the county: about 800 feet wide and 35 feet deep by the state boating guide, maintained to that depth since 1967, at Peanut Island near Intracoastal mile 1019. Tidal currents run strong, with ebb flows of several knots and a chop at the south jetty on an easterly wind, but it is the inlet for larger vessels and the one the Flagler Drive and Singer Island buildings use.
St. Lucie Inlet (Stuart)
A man-made cut from 1892 with three recurring shoal areas, between the breakwater and the south jetty, inside the north jetty and just outside the entrance. The Army Corps has recorded channel depths of less than six feet at mean low water in places, with navigation restrictions as a result. North of the inlet on the river, a 65-foot fixed bridge and two low bascule bridges stand between the main stem and the North Fork.
What fits under what
Bridges That Decide the Boat
A fixed bridge is a hard ceiling. A bascule bridge opens, but it opens on a schedule, and its closed clearance is what you live with for every trip that does not line up with the half hour. On the Intracoastal between the two inlets, these are the spans that matter, north to south.
| Bridge | Where | Type | Clearance (closed) | What it means |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US 1 (Loxahatchee River) | Jupiter, river mouth | Twin double-leaf drawbridge, replacement of the 1958 span | Up to 42 feet, 125-foot channel (FDOT) | The old bridge cleared 25 feet; the new one lets most sportfish and many sailboats pass without an opening. FDOT expected openings to fall by about 44 percent. |
| Indiantown Road | Jupiter, Intracoastal south of the inlet | Bascule | 35 feet | Between the Jupiter Yacht Club area and the inlet; opens on the hour and half hour |
| Donald Ross Road | Jupiter and Juno Beach line | Bascule | 35 feet | Between the Jupiter waterfront and everything south |
| PGA Boulevard | North Palm Beach | Bascule | 24 feet | The lowest closed clearance between Jupiter and Lake Worth Inlet; every boat north of it waits for an opening to go south |
| Parker Bridge (US 1) | North Palm Beach | Bascule | 25 feet | Just south of Old Port Cove; opens on the quarter and three-quarter hour |
| Blue Heron Boulevard (SR A1A) | Riviera Beach, Intracoastal mile 1017 | Fixed | 65 feet | The only fixed span on this stretch and the ceiling for anything headed to Lake Worth Inlet from the north |
| Flagler Memorial, Royal Park, Southern Boulevard | Lake Worth Lagoon, West Palm Beach to Palm Beach | Bascule | 24, 21 and 14 feet | South of the inlet; a Flagler Drive slip north of Flagler Memorial reaches the inlet with no bridge at all |
Clearances as published October 2026 by the cruising guides, the Federal Register drawbridge regulations and FDOT, measured at the center of the span at mean high water unless noted. Signage on the fender and the day’s tide govern. The FEC railroad bridge over the Loxahatchee west of US 1 is a separate, low structure; river docks west of it are a different conversation and I map them case by case.
Where the boats live
Communities and Buildings With Slips or Docks
There are three ways to keep a boat at home here: a private dock behind a single-family lot, a slip deeded or assigned to a condominium residence, or a slip leased in a community or commercial marina. Each has different paperwork, and I read it before the inspection period starts.
- Admirals Cove, Jupiter. Private docks behind many of the waterfront homes and a club marina for larger vessels; membership in the club is required with the home. Details on the club page and the Jupiter page.
- Jonathan’s Landing, Jupiter. A marina inside the community with golf membership optional, which is unusual on this coast. See Jupiter.
- Jupiter Yacht Club, Jupiter. Five low-rise condominium buildings on the Intracoastal east of the Indiantown Road bridge, completed 2001 to 2005, with slips that are owned and leased separately from the residences and accommodate boats to about 65 feet. A slip can change hands with a residence or on its own. See Luxury Condos.
- The River at the Bluffs, Jupiter. Riverfront homes with private docks on the Loxahatchee east of US 1. See Jupiter.
- Old Port Cove, North Palm Beach. Towers and low-rise buildings from the 1970s and early 1980s on a peninsula, with the Safe Harbor marina of roughly 200 slips taking vessels from 20 feet to about 200 feet. Slips are leased from the marina, not deeded. See North Palm Beach.
- Frenchman’s Creek, Palm Beach Gardens. Equity club community with 36 holes and a beach club in Juno Beach; ask me about dockage inside the community. See Palm Beach Gardens.
- Flagler Drive, West Palm Beach. Several towers face the Lake Worth Lagoon with the inlet a short run north and no bridge in between. Dockage is by marina lease rather than deeded slips; I confirm building by building. See West Palm Beach.
Before you commit
What I Check on a Dock
Permits for the dock, the seawall and the lift. Every one of them is a permitted structure, often from more than one agency. The state sorts docks by over-water area, with small private docks exempt, mid-sized ones under a general permit and larger ones needing an individual environmental resource permit; the county and the town add their own building permits, and the Army Corps is involved over navigable water. I pull the permit history and the final inspections and compare the permitted footprint with what is in the water. Unpermitted work is a cost and a timeline, not a feature.
The seawall. Age, material, cap condition, any lean or voids behind it, and whether the neighbors have replaced theirs. A seawall is the most expensive item on a waterfront lot after the house, and the lender and the insurer both care about it.
The lift. Rated capacity against the boat’s actual weight with fuel and gear, the cradle width against the beam, the condition of the pilings and cables, and whether the electrical service to the lift was permitted.
Depth and the route. Depth at the dock at mean low water, the depth of the canal or channel to the Intracoastal, and the bridges between the dock and the inlet, measured against the four numbers for your boat.
Submerged land and setbacks. Whether the bottom in front of the lot is privately owned or state sovereign land requiring a lease or consent, and the setbacks from the channel and the side lot lines that would govern a replacement dock.
Association dock rules. In a club or condominium community, who owns the slip, whether it is deeded, assigned or leased, whether it can be rented to a non-owner, the vessel size limit, the liveaboard rule, and the association’s own hurricane requirements. I read the declaration and the marina rules, not the listing remarks.
Habitat. Seagrass, mangroves and manatee zones constrain where a dock can be rebuilt or extended, and mangrove trimming needs its own authorization.
Questions
Frequently Asked
Which docks reach the ocean with no bridge at all?
Docks on the Intracoastal and the lower Loxahatchee between the Jupiter inlet and the first bridge on each side, slips in the Lake Worth Lagoon north of Flagler Memorial Bridge and south of Blue Heron, and anything inside the inlet basins. For everything else I list the bridges in order with their closed clearances.
Is a 65-foot air draft the practical ceiling here?
For a boat that will head south through the Lake Worth Lagoon, yes, because Blue Heron Boulevard is fixed at 65 feet. For a boat based north of it that will only use Jupiter or Lake Worth Inlet, the fixed ceiling does not apply, but the closed clearances of the bascule bridges still set how often you wait.
Can a condominium slip be sold separately from the residence?
It depends on how the declaration created it. Some slips are deeded parcels that can be sold to another owner in the building, some are limited common elements assigned to a unit and move only with it, and some are leased from the association or a marina operator. I read the declaration before anyone prices the slip.
Do you work with buyers whose first requirement is the boat?
Yes, and that is the right order. Give me the four numbers and the inlet you want to use, and I will build the list of docks and slips that work before we look at a single kitchen.
Go deeper
By Town and By Subject
JupiterTown pageAdmirals Cove, Jonathan’s Landing, Jupiter Yacht Club and the river
TequestaTown pageRiver and Intracoastal docks north of the inlet
North Palm BeachTown pageOld Port Cove and the Lake Worth Inlet run
StuartTown pageSailfish Point and the St. Lucie River
West Palm BeachTown pageFlagler Drive slips with no bridge to the inlet
Private Club CommunitiesAlso in this sectionThe clubs with marinas, and what membership costs
Luxury CondosAlso in this sectionBuildings with marinas and how their slips are held
Luxury RentalsAlso in this sectionSeasonal leases with a slip included
Stuart card photo: JonathanPuello, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Send me the four numbers for your boat and the inlet you want, and I will map the docks that work.Monika Phillips, Sales Associate, Douglas Elliman Real Estate, 561-768-3331
Community, club, school and market statements on this page come from public records, BeachesMLS data, and club and association materials as of the last page update, and are subject to change. Recorded documents, a club’s own written terms and the school district control. Listing data from BeachesMLS via IDX is deemed reliable but not guaranteed; listings may be held by brokerages other than Douglas Elliman. Square footage, lot sizes, fees and dues are approximate and should be verified independently.
Monika Phillips, Florida Sales Associate SL3228962, Douglas Elliman Real Estate, 400 S US Highway 1, Suite C1, Jupiter, FL 33477, 561-768-3331. Equal Housing Opportunity.
