The town of Indian Harbour Beach is located off the Banana River on Florida’s East Coast south of Cape Canaveral and north of the city of Melbourne. A nice stop on the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW), Indian Harbor Beach is actually located on the Banana River, which reaches down from Cape Canaveral and empties into the the Indian River north of the Eau Gallie Bridge (65-foot fixed vertical clearance).

There are two primary marinas in the Indian Harbour area that accept transient guests and there is also plenty of anchoring room in the Banana River out of the channel.

Use NOAA Chart 11472.

Indian Harbour Beach is reached via an approach from the Intracoastal Waterway (Indian River) south of Dragon Point. The biggest hazard to navigation in Indian Harbour Beach is a notorious shoal that reaches south from Dragon Point. This shoal is marked by green daybeacon “1” and deserves your utmost respect. Many boats cut this mark too close to the north or just ride the daybeacon to close altogether and end up on the hard rock bottom.

Once you have cleared daybeacon “1,” you can round Dragon Point and head to the north into the Banana River. The first marina in Indian Harbour is located just south of Dragon Point on the entry, and the rest of the town’s marinas follow on up the Banana River on its east side.

A swing bridge (closed vertical clearance is not currently charted; visible in the image above) crosses the Banana River about a mile north of Dragon Point and will require opening. Radio the bridge tender ahead of time on VHF Channel 09 for opening details if you need to transit the bridge north and further into the Banana River.

Local Notices to Mariners are now exclusively available online from the U.S. Coast Guard.