Jacksonville Boating Guide

Jacksonville has 30 public boat ramps on the JaxParks Waterways list, open to motorized and non-motorized boats.

JaxParks lists the ramps alphabetically, from Alimacani at 11080 Heckscher Drive to Wayne B. Stevens at 4555 Ortega Farms Blvd., and gives a street address for each (City of Jacksonville). Four listed ramps have Heckscher Drive addresses: Alimacani at 11080 Heckscher Drive, Sisters Creek/Jim King Park at 8203 Heckscher Drive, Palms Fish Camp at 6359 Heckscher Drive and Big Talbot Island State Park at 15500 Heckscher Drive. Mayport (Michael B. Scanlon) is listed at 4870 Ocean St., Goodbys/John T. Lowe at 9021 San Jose Blvd. and Tommy Hazouri Sr. (Mandarin) Park at 14780 Mandarin Road.

The other ramps on the list are Bert Maxwell at 680 Broward Road, County Dock at 2403 County Dock Road, Curtis Lee Johnson Marina Park at 5434 San Juan Ave., Dinsmore at 6800 Dunn Avenue Ter., Fort George Island Cultural State Park (Ribault Club) at 11241 Fort George Road, Fulton Road Landing at 5099 Fulton Road, Half Moon Island Preserve at 17847 Main Street North, Harborview at 4100 Harbor View Drive, Hood Landing at 12804 Hood Landing Road, Joe Carlucci at 8414 Heritage River Road, Lonnie Wurn at 4131 Ferber Road, McCue Park at 2510 2nd Ave. N., New Berlin at 9002 Frederick St., Oak Harbor at 2428 Seaway St., T.K. Stokes at 2120 Riverview Ave. and Thomas Creek Fish Camp at 17198 Ethel Road (City of Jacksonville).

Last verified: October 15, 2026, on the City of Jacksonville website.

The St. Johns Marina ramp at 901 Museum Circle is closed from August 1, 2026, to Summer 2028, and the city names the Arlington Road and Arlington Lions Club ramps as the next closest.

The closure covers the construction of the adjacent South Bank Residences, and the city plans significant improvements to the ramp facility during that time (City of Jacksonville). The city lists the two alternatives as Arlington Road Boat Ramp at 5103 Arlington Road and Arlington Lions Club Park at 4322 Richard D. Gatlin Road.

The closure dates are the city's planned dates, so the JaxParks Waterways page, or JaxParks at [email protected], is the place to confirm the ramp's status before a trip.

Jacksonville allows docking for up to 72 hours at any city marina or floating dock not marked with other signage, and the Ortega River limits anchoring to 45 consecutive days in a 6-month period.

The 72-hour rule appears on the JaxParks Waterways page, which also links a Downtown Docking Map and Metro Park Marina information (City of Jacksonville). The Ortega River anchoring limitation area runs between the Grand Ave. Bridge and the Timuquana Rd. Bridge, under COJ Ord. 2022-61-E. The same page links the Water Access Map, the Fishing Pier Map, the Greater Jacksonville Paddling Guide and the Timucuan Trail Waterway Guide, and JaxParks takes questions at [email protected].

Anyone born on or after January 1, 1988, needs a Florida Boating Safety Education ID card to operate a boat of 10 horsepower or more on Jacksonville waters, after an approved boating safety course.

The requirement applies on all Florida waters, and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says the card does not expire and is not a boating license (FWC). The FWC boating guide for Duval and Nassau counties, which lists City of Jacksonville Parks and Recreation as a contact, repeats the same January 1, 1988, cutoff for motorboats of ten horsepower or more (FWC Duval boating guide).

The guide covers sharing the river with cargo and passenger ships, DEP-designated Clean Marinas, boat ramps and paddling trails, but its figures are old: it still says that over 33,000 pleasure boats were registered in Nassau and Duval counties in a period it prints as "20010 and 20011", so it should not be read as a current count (FWC Duval boating guide).

Every motorized boat operating on Florida public waterways, Jacksonville included, must be titled and registered at a county tax collector or license plate agent office within 30 days of purchase.

For a Jacksonville owner, Florida law gives the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles the job of issuing vessel titles and registrations, but the applications are filed at a county tax collector or license plate agent office (FLHSMV). A vessel that must be titled is titled at the same time it is registered. Owners can register for one year or two years. During the 30 days after purchase, proof of the purchase date has to be kept aboard, and FLHSMV classes running an unregistered vessel once that window has passed as a second-degree misdemeanor (FLHSMV).

Proof of ownership for a Jacksonville registration can be a bill of sale, a builder's contract, a manufacturer's statement of origin or a federal marine document. If sales tax was not paid at purchase, it is collected with the registration and titling fees. The titling fee is $5.25 for an electronic title, $7.75 for a paper title or $11 for an expedited title, and Duval is not among the counties FLHSMV lists as charging the optional county registration fee (FLHSMV).

The St. Johns River through Jacksonville carries a moving security zone from Reddie Point to the Fuller Warren Bridge, security zones at Naval Station Mayport and NAS Jacksonville, and manatee speed zones along the river.

The FWC marine zone maps for Duval County split the river into sections (FWC Duval marine zones). The Pablo Creek and mouth of the St. Johns River map shows the moving security zone, the NS Mayport security zone, manatee speed zones and boating safety zones on the San Pablo River. The Port of Jacksonville and downtown map shows manatee speed zones and the moving security zone from Reddie Point to the Fuller Warren Bridge. The upper St. Johns River map shows manatee speed zones and the NAS Jacksonville security zone.

A fourth map, the Lower St. Johns River from the Port of Jacksonville to the river mouth, shows moving, conditional and permanent security zones, manatee speed zones and local boating zones at Huguenot Memorial Park. The maps come as PDF downloads on the FWC page (FWC Duval marine zones).

The Cedar Point ramp into Horseshoe Creek, run by the National Park Service in the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, is a free launch for powered and non-powered boats.

The Timucuan Preserve is mostly waterways and wetlands, and the park service tells boaters to check the weather, the tides and their equipment before heading out (National Park Service). Cedar Point is listed on the JaxParks ramp list at 9023 Cedar Point Road (City of Jacksonville). Big Talbot Island State Park has a boat ramp on its estuarine side for fishing and for touring the salt marsh (City of Jacksonville).

Paddlers have their own JaxParks list of kayak launches, covered in the Jacksonville kayaking guide, and the Jacksonville fishing guide covers licenses and the inshore species these Timucuan ramps reach.

The park service says visitors can fish, kayak and watch dolphins in the thousands of acres of Timucuan marsh, and lists the preserve's mailing address as 12713 Fort Caroline Road, Jacksonville, with a phone of 904-641-7155 (National Park Service).