Tequesta Waterfront Real Estate: Bridges, Canals, and Boat Size

A practical guide to living on the water in Tequesta: bridge clearances, canal geometry, ocean access, and the daily realities that make a dock truly useful.

Tequesta Waterfront in Plain English

Tequesta isn't one waterfront. It's several. Your day-to-day boating life is shaped less by the number of bedrooms and more by three simple variables:

Air draft (how tall your boat is), water draft (how deep it sits), and bridge behavior (what opens, what doesn't, and when). Get those three right and everything else (insurance, taxes, lift size, even resale) falls into place. Get them wrong and you'll spend weekends idling at a bridge or timing every outing around tide.

This guide translates the numbers on clearance boards and charts into practical choices, so the boat you own (or plan to own) actually works behind the property you buy.

How Bridges Quietly Set Price Bands

In Tequesta, fixed bridges on the North Fork of the Loxahatchee do more than mark a route. They sort the buyer pool. Rough guide:

Tequesta Drive (fixed ~14' at MHW): limits taller center consoles with towers/hardtops.

Island Way (fixed ~12' at MHW): tighter still. Many boats will need fold-downs to pass.

East toward the inlet you meet drawbridges (Cato's/CR-707 and Indiantown/SR-706), the new US-1 span with much higher closed clearance, and the FEC railroad bridge that is normally open and drops only when a train approaches.

Alternate A1A (fixed ~26' at MHW) stands between some interior routes and the Intracoastal.

Two similar homes can live very differently: the one east of fixed constraints often trades at a premium because transit to sea is simply easier.

Boat Profiles: What Fits Where

24 to 28' bay boat (low profile, ~2' draft, ~8 to 9' air draft): Works comfortably behind most North Fork addresses. You'll watch tide on a few tight canal corners, but fixed bridges are rarely an issue.

33 to 36' center console with folding hardware (~2.5 to 3' draft, ~10 to 12' air draft folded): Often clears Tequesta Drive. Island Way can be binding depending on tower/antenna height. East-side or "no fixed bridges" addresses are ideal for frequent offshore runs.

55 to 65' sportfish or tall express (4 to 5' draft, high air draft): Focus on Intracoastal or near-inlet properties east of the fixed bridges. You'll still plan around drawbridge timing and inlet conditions, but daily life is straightforward.

Always verify on site: gauge boards are referenced to tide, and even a few inches can be the difference between gliding through and turning around.

Your Route to Sea: The Gates and Their Numbers

Cato's / CR-707 (Jupiter Island): bascule, ~25' closed, opens on request (VHF 9).

US-1 (Jupiter Federal): new twin bascule, up to 42' closed and ~125' channel width. Designed to reduce opening frequency and ease queues.

Alternate A1A (SR-811): fixed, ~26' vertical and ~47' horizontal clearance.

Indiantown Road (SR-706): bascule, ~35' closed, opens on the hour and half-hour.

FEC railroad bridge (mile ~1.2): bascule, normally open, with closures for trains (regulated; expect signal/horn sequence).

Tip: build your shortlist by penciling your air draft next to each bridge's closed clearance at mean high water (MHW), then add a safety margin for antennas, outriggers, and tide.

Jupiter Inlet: Tides and Timing

Jupiter Inlet is powerful and honest. Typical current velocities are about 2.4 knots on the flood and 3.6 knots on the ebb, so new captains favor slack water when learning the line. The Jupiter Inlet District maintains the sand trap and posts frequent bathymetric surveys. Inside the central embayment, the South Shoreline Access Channel was dredged to -5 ft NGVD to concentrate boat traffic away from seagrass. In practice: if you draw more than ~3 to 4 feet, you'll plan around tide on a handful of inside tracks. If your air draft is 12 to 14 feet or higher, the fixed North Fork spans are your gating factor.

Canals, Geometry, and Daily Life

Older platted canals can be tight on turning radius. A 40' hull with 13' beam and high windage will feel every northerly breeze when backing into a slip. Dead-end canals also concentrate wind and current. Walk any candidate canal by boat at slack and again on a running tide. For open-fetch addresses along the Intracoastal (Rolling Hills / Indian Hills edge), lift engineering and fender strategy matter as much as the view.

Costs and Carry: Insurance, Taxes, and Ownership

Insurance: Underwriters care about roof age, wind-mitigation features, and elevation (flood zone). A wind-mit inspection (OIR-B1-1802) and a 4-Point are basic blocking and tackling. Impact-rated openings and documented roof attachments can materially improve quotes.

Taxes: If the home will be your primary residence, Florida's Homestead Exemption reduces taxable value and activates the Save Our Homes cap, limiting annual increases in assessed value to the lower of 3% or CPI. Over ten or twenty years, that cap is why long-owned, homesteaded waterfront can have a fraction of the taxes of a new build next door. If you buy that long-owned home today, your assessment resets to market for the next tax year, then your own cap begins. If you're moving within Florida, portability lets you transfer up to $500,000 of saved value to your new homestead (timelines apply).

First-year cash flow: Close late in the calendar year and you'll typically prorate the seller's still-active bill (reflecting their exemptions), which can soften first-year cash requirements. The reset arrives the following year. Model it now so it isn't a surprise.

Tax Comparisons: Tequesta in Context

These are illustrative ad valorem estimates (no exemptions, excluding non-ad valorem items like solid waste/CDDs). Assumed county/school/special-district stack approximately 12.22 mills; municipal layers added as shown.

Tequesta (approximately 12.22 county/school + 6.4595 municipal = 18.6793 mills)

$5M: approximately $93,397

$10M: approximately $186,793

Jupiter (approximately 12.22 county/school + 2.4748 municipal + 1.6488 Fire MSTU + 0.0722 Inlet District = 16.4156 mills)

$5M: approximately $82,078

$10M: approximately $164,156

(Fire/Inlet components apply to many, not all, parcels. Confirm for your PCN.)

Town of Palm Beach (approximately 12.22 county/school + 2.6110 municipal = 14.8308 mills)

$5M: approximately $74,154

$10M: approximately $148,308

West Palm Beach (approximately 12.22 county/school + 8.1308 operating + 0.0633 debt = 20.4139 mills)

$5M: approximately $102,070

$10M: approximately $204,139

How to read it: Formula is (Value / 1,000) x total mills = estimated ad valorem tax. Year you close: you typically prorate the seller's current bill at closing. Reset year: the next tax year reflects your assessment (generally market at purchase), plus any exemptions you file.

These figures exclude non-ad valorem line items (solid waste, stormwater, CDDs) and any parcel-specific districts beyond those noted above. Always underwrite the exact parcel (PCN) and check the latest TRIM before you offer.

A Simple Buy-Side Plan (90 Days)

Days 0 to 15: Write down your air draft (with/without folding hardware) and static draft at normal load. Pull tide data and sketch your route to sea from each short-listed dock.

Days 15 to 45: Sea-trial the route at mid-ebb or mid-flood. Read every bridge gauge you'll pass. Order wind-mit/4-point, confirm flood zone/elevation, and price lift capacity with a 20 to 25% safety margin.

Days 45 to 75: Model two numbers for carry: the prorated current-year bill at closing and the next-year reset (purchase-price proxy x your millage stack). If this will be primary residence, prep Homestead/Portability filings.

Days 75 to 90: Finalize insurance, verify seawall/batter piles and power, and close. Set alerts for TRIM in August and the November through March payment window.

Sources and Methodology

US-1 (Jupiter Federal) bridge project (42' closed clearance, ~125' channel): FDOT Project Page | Fact Sheet (PDF) | Town of Tequesta Summary

Bridge schedules and clearances: Cato's/CR-707 Bridge | Indiantown/SR-706 Bridge

Alternate A1A fixed bridge (SR-811) clearances: FDOT Project Page

FEC railroad bridge operations: 33 CFR 117.299

Jupiter Inlet currents (NOAA Coast Pilot): Coast Pilot Chapter 10 (PDF)

Jupiter Inlet District bathymetry and South Shoreline Access Channel: Regional Bathymetric Surveys | South Shoreline Access Channel

Municipal millage context: 2024 Final Millage Rates (PDF) | Town of Jupiter Millage | West Palm Beach Budget | Jupiter Fire-Rescue MSTU Reference (PDF)

Homestead, Save Our Homes cap, and portability: Florida Department of Revenue

Information is general and not legal, tax, or insurance advice. Equal Housing Opportunity.

If you're evaluating Tequesta waterfront and want to map your route to sea against specific properties, we welcome a private conversation.