Gulf Intracoastal Waterway

The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway along Florida's southwest coast is a dredged navigation channel that links bays and lagoons behind the barrier islands. The listed public launches on this stretch are near Osprey, Nokomis, Venice, Englewood and Placida. In 1939 a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers study recommended a route from the Caloosahatchee River north to Anclote Key. In 1945 Congress authorized a channel 152 miles long, 100 feet wide and 9 feet deep. Dredging began in June 1960, working north from the Caloosahatchee toward Boca Grande, and was finished in 1967. The West Coast Inland Navigation District, a special taxing district covering Manatee, Sarasota, Charlotte and Lee counties, was created in 1947 as the local sponsor and has maintained the waterway since 1967. At Venice, an 86-acre angled cut dug in the 1960s made Venice an island. Its banks are lined with rock and carry the Venetian Waterway Park. The tide there flows north from Lemon Bay to the Venice inlets.

Sarasota County runs most of the public launches, including ramps at Blackburn Point Park, Nokomis Beach and Manasota Beach Park. Marina Park and Boat Ramp in Venice sits on the east bank next to the East Venice Avenue bridge. Sarasota County maintains it, the navigation district owns it, and it has a life jacket loaner station. State rule 68D-24.005 sets idle-speed, no-wake zones on the waterway in Sarasota County. They cover the Stickney Point, Siesta Key, Blackburn Point, Albee Road, Circus (US 41) and Manasota Beach bridges, Hatchett Creek and the South Venice Ferry. The navigation district puts up the channel markers and manatee speed-zone signs. Cruising, sailing and fishing now make up most of the traffic.