Jacksonville FL., October 3rd 2013 – A tiny panhandle fishing town has hooked this year’s Florida By Water “Boaters' Best Getaway” award. Each year a city is selected based on criteria that include, but are not limited to, boat ramp access, water accessible accommodations, dockside dining, boating locations/activities and marina availability. This year's award goes to Carrabelle, Florida, located in Franklin County. The award was presented to Sheila Hauserof Southern Breeze Media and Suzanne Zimmerman, Executive Director-Carrabelle Chamber of a Commerce, on Saturday. September 28, 2013.

GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN & BOATING: Biscayne National Park is closed until further notice. Most of that park is comprised of water.
Everglades National Park is closed, putting almost all of Florida Bay off limits. Dry Tortugas is closed as well. The closure applies to fishing guides, kayakers and pleasure boaters.

Next weekend (Columbus Day weekend at Elliot Key) is one of the biggest boating parties in the country. However, Elliot Key is closed due to government shutdown. If you go to the park's website it reads, "Because of the federal government shutdown, all national parks are closed and National Park Service webpages are not operating." This will mean limited resources deal with boating emergencies, out of control boaters and not to mention, environmental damage. 

We will update this article when we have more information. 

We are excited to announce the new and improved Florida By Water. Over the summer we have spent many hours ensuring that the award-winning site is ready to meet the demands of our users. During the process we felt it was important to keep the look and feel as close to the original as possible. Most content on the site can be easily located in 3 clicks or less. The following is a list of a few of the major changes.

1. Mobile Detection: If you open the site on your smart phone you will get the mobile version of the site. This will give you access to Destinations, Tropical Drink Recipes, Events, Articles, and even access to the "World of Boating" radio show archives which can be played right on your phone. Just click on the three little bars to the left of the hourglass to access the menu.

If there is one thing most boaters love to do, it is raft up. A formal definition is “the roping together of a number of small vessels to form a raft-like structure; a social gathering based upon such a structure.” However, over the years the term has come to focus much more on the social aspect rather than the roping together of boats. A raft up is about a destination. It could just as easily be called a party spot where boaters congregate. These pristine locations are usually sandbars or small islands that are only accessible by boat. They are perfect for relaxing, people watching, playing in the water and socializing. From time to time there are organized events, but for the most part it’s just the place to be.

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