Miami For Visitors

Information about fishing in Miami and other parts of South Florida.

Sportfishing Charters and Fishing Tours in Miami

A directory of fishing boat charters and tours in the greater Miami Florida area

Fishing Tournaments in Miami

All types of fishing tournaments in Miami and other parts of South Florida. Includes billfishing tournaments, marlin tournaments, sailfishing tournaments, swordfishing tournaments, and more.

Florida Fishing Licenses and Laws

How to get a Florida fishing license for recreational or commercial use and information about Florida freshwater fishing and saltwater fishing regulations. From the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Florida Boating and Fishing Brochures

Free brochures with information about the best fishing and boating areas in the State of Florida. Includes guides to fishing and boating in Biscayne Bay, the Florida Keys, Collier County, and other areas.

Biscayne Bay Fly Shop

Fly fishing and light tackle supply shop based at 8243 South Dixie Highway in Miami Florida. Stock includes fishing rods, clothing, fly tying materials, books, videos, and other fly fishing supplies. For more information call 305-669-5851 or 888-669-5851.

Motor powered vessels operated in Florida for more then 90 days must be registered with the State of Florida Tax Collector’s Office and a fee must be paid.

Long non-powered vessels must also be registered. Florida boat owners must also have a title certificate issued by the State of Florida.

Owners of boats operated in Florida for 90 days or or less must have an owner’s certificate issued by an authorized entity.

Florida Boat Registration and Titles FAQ

Frequently asked questions about registering a boat in the state of Florida and obtaining a title certificate.

Facts About Registering a Boat in Florida

Statistics on vessels registered in Florida, definitions of different types of boats, and information about title certificates, registration exemptions, renewing registration, and other boat registration related issues.

Where to Register Your Boat in South Florida

• Florida boats can be registered at a county tax collector’s office in the state of Florida. The first section on each of the following pages has locations for obtaining a driver’s license and the second section has locations for registering a vehicle or boat.
• Miami-Dade County
• Broward County
• Palm Beach County
• Monroe County
• Collier County

Determining the Owner of a Boat

You can obtain copies of a Florida boat’s ownership history by submitting an application to the Florida Division of Motor Vehicles and paying a small fee.

Information about cruise lines offering gambling cruises and multiple-night cruises out of the Port of Palm Beach in South Florida.

Celebration Cruise Line
Offers two night cruises between the Port of Palm Beach and the Bahamas Islands.

Both nights are spent on the ship and one full day is spent at the Lucaya Beach and Golf Resort on Grand Bahama Island. Also offers cruises that include several nights spent at the reorts.

The Celebration Cruise Line began operating in 2009 and they moved all of their operations from Port Everglades to Port Palm Beach in March of 2010.

Black Diamond Casino Cruises
Offers non-smoking gambling and dining cruises out of the Port of Palm Beach.

Day cruises and evening cruises are available that include lunch or dinner, entertainment, complimentary cocktails while gambling, and access to blackjack, craps, roulette, poker, baccarat, and nearly 250 slot machines.

Information about the two elevated rail systems in Miami and the Greater Miami area of South Florida.

MetroRail of Miami-Dade County
24 mile elevated rail rapid transit system.

Free Miami-Dade MetroMover
The MetroMover is a free elevated rail transportation system serving downtown Miami. Transport is in individual cars moving on a 4.4 mile track. The service began in 1986 with only the downtown loop and the Omni and Brickell extensions were added in 1994.

There are twenty-one Metromover stations in downtown Miami and the system connects with the Metrorail system at the Government Center and Brickell stations.

The downtown loop is sometimes called the inner loop and the Omni Loop and Brickell Loop are sometimes called the outer loops.

Miami-Dade MetroRail
This rapid transit system runs on 21 miles of elevated rails and it serves a wider area than the free MetroMover system described above. MetroRail runs seven days a week, usually from 5:00 am to midnight.

There are twenty-two MetroRail stations covering the area from Medley and Hialeah in the north, through downtown Miami, through Coral Gables, South Miami, and ending in southwest Miami-Dade at the Dadeland Mall.

By 2016 the MetroRail will be extended to serve the Miami International Airport, Florida International University, and Dolphin Stadium. Longer-term plans include extending it to Coral Gables, Western Kendall, and Adventura.

Not long after Christopher Columbus reached the New World in 1492, adventurer Ponce de Leon and fellow Spanish chronicler Antonio de Herrera set sail toward Florida in search of the elusive Fountain of Youth. They never found the Fountain but they did find the Florida Keys.

The day was Sunday, May 15, 1513.

Here is precisely what Herrera wrote for posterity: “To all this line of islands and rock islets they gave the name of Los Martires [The Martyrs] because, seen from a distance, the rocks as they rose to view appeared like men who were suffering; and the name remained fitting because of the many that have been lost there since.”

There is no record that anyone from their ship came ashore and for hundreds of years, the island chain was left mostly to the pirates. Eventually, the pirates were chased away by a fledgling U.S. Navy pirate fleet established here in 1822.

Settlers followed while the native Indian population, the Calusa and mainland tribes, died out. The early settlers set up groves of Key limes, tamarind and breadfruit. In the Lower Keys, pineapple farms flourished and a large pineapple factory was built which furnished canned pineapple to most of eastern North America.

In later years, a thriving shark processing factory was established on Big Pine Key. Amidst the abandoned farms, it employed workers to catch sharks and skin them. The hides were salted down and sent north to the home factory in New Jersey. Here, they were processed into a tough leather called shagreen.

Other settlers in Key West and in Islamorada became wreckers who salvaged goods from ships that foundered on the nearby reefs. Some say the wreckers deliberately lured ships onto the shoals. Whatever the truth, Key West became the wealthiest city in the United States. Later, sponge harvesters found a good market for the sponges they gathered in the waters of the Keys.

Still later, cigar makers from Cuba established factories in Key West. Railroad tycoon Henry Flagler built his impossible railroad “that went to sea,” and wealthy visitors traveled to vacation in the Keys.

All this, in turn, died out, and in the Great Depression the Keys seemed to face a bleak future. The city of Key West went bankrupt. It was then, with federal aid, that Keys officials decided their islands still had something to offer: sea, sun and a good year-round climate. In the weather beaten, shabby era of the 1930s, the railroad was destroyed by a ferocious hurricane and the concept for a highway to take its place was born. The famed Florida Keys Overseas Highway opened in 1938, but the outbreak of World War II dashed prospects of tourist gold.

The U.S. Navy, which had driven off the pirates a century earlier, came to the rescue again by turning Key West into a submarine base.

In 1949, shrimp were harvested commercially in the Keys for the first time. They quickly earned the nicknamed pink gold. Tourists finally began to come in earnest. Today, more than three million visitors arrive each year. For most, the Florida Keys are the closest thing they will ever find to the fountain of youth.