Manatee watching at the TECO viewing center, Apollo Beach — in winter, the plant’s warm-water canal right there is closed to boats entirely.
Know before you go
Manatee slow zones, in plain English
Where Tampa Bay slows down for manatees, what “idle” and “slow” really mean, and the dates that matter — checked against the actual Florida rulebook.
Most Tampa Bay slow zones run all year. But the calendar cuts both ways: on Nov 15 the warm-water sanctuaries close to boats (TECO, King’s Bay) — and the same day, the upper bay’s summer slow zones switch off. One rule beats everything on this page: the posted sign on the water wins.
TECO Big Bend — Apollo Beach
NO ENTRY · NOV 15 – MAR 31
The power plant’s discharge canal is closed to all boats in winter — state rule and federal sanctuary at once. The Apollo Beach waters just south of it are idle speed on the same dates. The bay waters offshore are slow speed year-round. Summer: the canal itself carries no state zone, but stay clear of the plant either way.
Alafia River
SLOW / 25 IN CHANNEL · YEAR-ROUND
From the bay to the US 41 bridge: slow speed outside the marked channel, 25 mph allowed inside it. From US 41 up to I-75, the whole river caps at 25 mph. All year-round.
Little Manatee River — Bahia Beach (Ruskin)
IDLE · YEAR-ROUND
The Bahia Beach basin — including the seagrass flats and entrance channel — is idle speed year-round. The open water at the river’s mouth caps at 25 mph.
Hillsborough River
NO STATE MANATEE ZONE
Worth knowing so nobody sells you wrong: the Hillsborough River has no state manatee zone. Downtown’s slow-downs are city no-wake and safety rules, not manatee law — obey them all the same.
Old Tampa Bay — between the bridges
SLOW · YEAR-ROUND
The east side of Old Tampa Bay between the Gandy and Howard Frankland bridges is slow speed year-round (the marked channels run 25 mph). The Rocky Point shore is slow too.
Upper Old Tampa Bay & Safety Harbor
SLOW · APR 1 – NOV 15 ONLY
Here’s the backwards one: north of the Courtney Campbell Causeway, and in Safety Harbor, the slow zone runs in the warm months only — it switches off on Nov 15, the same day the winter zones switch on.
Two hidden sanctuaries
NO ENTRY · NOV 15 – MAR 31
Federal law (easy to miss — they’re not in the state rulebook): the Port Sutton sanctuary at TECO’s other plant outflow on Hillsborough Bay, and the Bartow sanctuary at Weedon Island, close to all waterborne activity Nov 15 – Mar 31.
Pinellas passes & bays
SLOW · YEAR-ROUND
Slow year-round: the Anclote River at Tarpon Springs, Johns Pass and Boca Ciega Bay, the Frenchman Creek / Indian Key area, the Broadwater and Boca Ciega Isle canals, and Mullet Key Bayou at Fort De Soto. North of Clearwater’s Memorial Causeway, even the Intracoastal channel itself is slow — no running on plane through that stretch.
Whitcomb Bayou — Tarpon Springs
SLOW · NOV 15 – MAR 31
Pinellas’s only winter-seasonal zone: the bayou south of the Craig Park ramp line slows down Nov 15 to Mar 31.
Boca Ciega summer zones
SLOW · APR 1 – OCT 31
A block of Gulf-beaches waters — Indian Rocks, Redington, Treasure Island, Tierra Verde and more — is slow Apr 1 to Oct 31. They’re already off for the winter.
Manatee River
SLOW · YEAR-ROUND
West of I-75: slow speed within 500 feet of either shoreline. East of I-75 up to the Lake Manatee dam: slow everywhere, with the main marked channel a 25 mph corridor as far as the Fort Hamer ramp. Nothing in Manatee County is seasonal — same rules in January as July.
Terra Ceia Bay & Snead Cut
IDLE (CUT) / SLOW · YEAR-ROUND
Snead Cut — the shortcut between Terra Ceia Bay and the Manatee River — is idle speed, the county’s only state idle zone. Terra Ceia Bay is slow along its shores, with a 25 mph corridor through Flounder Pass and the middle of the bay.
Port Manatee & Bishop Harbor
SLOW · YEAR-ROUND
Slow speed in the waters south of Port Manatee around Bishop Harbor. The port itself and the big ship channel carry no manatee speed limits at all.
Braden River
SLOW · YEAR-ROUND
Slow speed from the mouth to the dam below SR 70 — except the main marked channel and a couple of main-branch reaches, which run 25 mph max.
Anna Maria Sound & Palma Sola Bay
SLOW · YEAR-ROUND
Slow along the shores and island waterways — but the marked Intracoastal channel (and 100 feet either side of it) is excluded, so you can run the ICW. Side channels like the Kingfish ramp channel run 25 mph.
Sarasota’s rule of thumb
25 IN THE ICW · SLOW OUTSIDE IT
Sarasota County flips the usual assumption: inside the marked Intracoastal channel the max is 25 mph; step outside it — Roberts Bay, Little Sarasota Bay, Blackburn Bay, the bayous — and it’s slow speed almost everywhere. Two open-water pockets of Roberts Bay allow 35 mph.
Pansy Bayou — St. Armands
NO ENTRY · YEAR-ROUND
Pansy Bayou, north of St. Armands Key, is closed to boats all year, not just winter.
Sarasota’s idle spots
IDLE · YEAR-ROUND
Idle speed year-round at the Hyatt boat basin and in the Forked Creek / Englewood canal system.
Warm Mineral Springs — North Port
NO ENTRY · NOV 15 – MAR 15
Salt Creek at Warm Mineral Springs closes to boats Nov 15 — and reopens Mar 15, two weeks before everything else. The Myakka River around it is slow speed year-round.
Pasco County
NO STATE MANATEE ZONES
Pasco has no state manatee zones at all — the Anclote River’s slow zone is Pinellas’s rule, on the Tarpon Springs side. Posted local and marina rules still apply everywhere, so keep reading signs.
Hernando’s nearshore Gulf
25 MPH MAX · YEAR-ROUND
The nearshore band — from about 1,000 feet off the outer islands into shore, running from the Withlacoochee channel down to Bayport — caps at 25 mph year-round.
Weeki Wachee River
NO STATE MANATEE ZONE
The Weeki Wachee carries no state manatee speed zone. The slow-downs there are state-park and local rules — obey the posted signs and the park’s own limits.
King’s Bay — Crystal River
IDLE/SLOW SEP 1 – APR 30 · SANCTUARIES CLOSED NOV 15 – MAR 31
The bay’s own calendar, and it’s the easiest one in Florida to get wrong: the center of King’s Bay is idle and the south end slow from Sept 1 to Apr 30 (in summer it’s 35 mph by day, 25 at night). The canals and northeast shore are idle year-round. On top of that, the federal spring sanctuaries — Three Sisters and friends — are no entry, Nov 15 – Mar 31, when hundreds of manatees crowd in. The river out to the Gulf: 25 mph max in the marked corridor, slow outside it.
Homosassa River
IDLE UP TOP · SLOW OCT 1 – APR 30
Idle year-round in the headwaters, the Monkey Island area and the canals. The middle river is slow Oct 1 – Apr 30 and 25 mph the rest of the year; the main channel is 25 year-round. Blue Waters, by the springs, is no entry Nov 15 – Mar 31 and idle the rest of the year.
The backwards seasons
SUMMER ZONES · UP NORTH
Two Citrus rivers slow down in summer, not winter: the Withlacoochee (slow Mar 1 – Aug 31) and the Chassahowitzka (slow Apr 1 – Aug 31), 25 mph the rest of the year. And the Crystal River power-plant canal area is slow Nov 15 – Apr 30.
What the speeds actually mean
IDLE
Idle Speed No Wake — the slowest speed that still lets you steer. You never have to go so slowly you lose control of the boat.
SLOW
Slow Speed Minimum Wake — fully off plane and settled flat in the water, going just fast enough to keep a minimal wake. There is no mph number for slow speed — the rule says so outright. Still plowing with the bow up? That counts as a violation.
25/35
Numbered zones — the cap is your speed over the ground (GPS speed), and even at the legal number you can still be cited for careless operation if your wake or your bow puts people at risk.
NO ENTRY
No Entry means nobody — no boats, no swimming, no wading. And it’s a different legal animal — see The Ticket tab.
The ticket
Speeding in a manatee zone is a $100 civil fine under Florida law (§327.73), plus up to $45 in court costs. Pay it within 30 days and it’s over; fight it in court and lose, and the fine can reach $500. Refusing to sign the citation — or blowing off the court date — turns it into a misdemeanor. Entering a No Entry zone is a misdemeanor from the start. FWC, sheriff marine units and the Coast Guard all enforce these.
Three things people get wrong
The sign wins. A posted sign on the water beats this page, any app, and anybody’s memory — including ours. Some zones only take effect once their markers are posted, and signs change after storms.
No manatee in sight doesn’t matter. The speed is the law whether or not you see one — the zones protect the habitat, not just the animal in front of you.
The big ship channels have no manatee limits. Egmont Channel, the port channels, Port Manatee — none of it is zoned. This page is about the waters around them.
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Checked October 30, 2026 against Florida Rule 68C-22 (the manatee-zone rulebook itself), FWC’s official county zone maps, the federal sanctuary rules (50 CFR 17.108) and Florida Statutes §§327.73 / 379.2431. This is a plain-English summary, not the legal text — posted signs and the rule govern on the water. Only manatee zones are listed; city, county and marina no-wake rules exist on top of these. Spotted something out of date? Email david@tampabayboating.com and we’ll check it. Photo: TECO Manatee Viewing Center by MatthewHoobin, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
