Ask 1stFlorida
Two meanings, both answered. For a short trip on the water, the river and spring cruises are the ones with something to look at: Wakulla Springs runs a guided river cruise past alligators and wading birds, Silver Springs in Marion County runs glass-bottom boats, and Myakka River State Park in Sarasota County runs what it calls the largest airboat of its kind.
Sunset sailing trips run out of Key West, Clearwater, Naples and Destin most evenings. For a cruise ship, Florida has the busiest ports in the world: Port Canaveral in Brevard County, PortMiami in Miami-Dade, Port Everglades at Fort Lauderdale, Port Tampa Bay, and Jacksonville in Duval County.
Wakulla County. The spring opening lies 180 feet down, and the average flow is about 400,000 gallons a minute, with peaks measured at 860,000. That is a river coming out of a hole in the ground.
Open the guide →Marion County. Glass bottom boats have run on this water since the 1870s, which makes them the oldest continuously operating attraction of their kind in the state, and they still leave from the head spring.
Open the guide →Sarasota County. The Civilian Conservation Corps laid this park out in the 1930s and it opened in 1941, which makes it one of the oldest and by far the largest of Florida's state parks.
Open the guide →Monroe County. At the ocean end of Duval Street, open sunrise to sunset, within walking distance of the shops and restaurants at the bottom of the street. The water is shallow and the Emma Carrero Cates Pier runs out from the sand.
Open the guide →Pinellas County. The city's main beach, guarded seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with towers staffed according to season and weather. Pier 60 runs out from the middle of it.
Open the guide →Collier County. The sand at the foot of 12th Avenue South, where the Naples Pier stands. The pier is closed and being rebuilt: Hurricane Ian destroyed about 460 feet of it in 2022 and the city is replacing the whole structure, higher and on larger pilings, with construction that began in January 2026 and that the city expects to take about 18 months.
Open the guide →Brevard County. At the mouth of Port Canaveral, with a fishing pier, a campground and a camp store opened in 2025. Day passes and annual passes are sold online. Cruise ships pass close to the sand on turnaround days, and it is one of the nearest public viewpoints to the launch pads.
Open the guide →Six Florida ports send cruise ships out, and a seventh, Key West, is a port of call.
Read the answer →Six Florida ports send cruise ships out, and a seventh, Key West, is a port of call.
From PortMiami, on Dodge Island off downtown Miami in Miami-Dade County. The port lists 26 cruise lines that sail from it or call there, and MSC, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, Carnival and Virgin Voyages have terminals of their own; Terminal C takes ships from several lines and Terminal J the small and luxury ships.
From Port Everglades at Fort Lauderdale in Broward County, with Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport less than two miles away.
Have a different question? Ask 1stFlorida →