Updated: October 19, 2026
Filming on the water in Miami: boats, marinas and planning a shoot on Biscayne Bay
Half of what makes Miami look like Miami is water: the bay, the causeways, the Intracoastal, the canals behind the houses, the ocean beyond the sandbar. Sooner or later a client wants the camera on a boat, or wants a boat in the shot, or wants talent stepping off a dock into a scene. Water shoots are among the most rewarding days in local production and among the easiest to get wrong, because the rules, the physics and the schedule are all different from a shoot on land. This guide covers how a producer plans a day on the water in Miami-Dade: what kind of vessel, where it can go, who has to approve it, what the crew needs, and how the tide, the wake and the sun set the schedule for you.
What kind of boat, and who drives it
The first decision is whether the boat is a camera platform, a picture vessel, or both. A camera boat needs a stable deck, room for a tripod or gimbal operator and a sound person, a low freeboard for water-level shots, and a captain who understands that "hold it here" means holding position against current. A picture boat needs to look right on camera and is often chartered with its own crew. Trying to make one boat do both jobs is the most common water-shoot mistake: the picture boat is full of art department and talent, and the camera has nowhere to go.
- Center-console or pontoon for a camera platform in the bay and canals: stable, shallow draft, easy to board from a dock.
- Chartered yacht or sportfisher as picture vessel: booked through a charter company with its licensed captain, insured for commercial use.
- Jet ski or small RIB for a second camera on the water with a waterproof housing; fast, wet, and only for operators who have done it before.
- Chase boat on any shoot with talent in the water or on a moving vessel: safety, transport and a place for the client to sit.
A vessel carrying passengers for hire, which a crew and a client are, must be operated by a captain with a Coast Guard licence, and most charter agreements say so explicitly. Do not put a crew on a friend's boat with a friend at the wheel; the insurance does not cover it and the production carries the liability. Book through a charter operator, ask for the captain's licence and the vessel's commercial insurance certificate, and add the production's own liability coverage naming the vessel.
Permits and who has to know
Filming from a private vessel on open water does not usually need a film permit by itself, but almost everything around it does. Loading at a public marina, staging at a boat ramp, using a city park's dock, filming at a beach from the water side, or landing talent on a shoreline all fall under the same city and county permitting as a land shoot; our note on film permits in Miami covers the offices. The county film office is the right first call because they know which waters and which docks belong to whom. Specific points:
| Situation | Who to involve | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Marina or boat ramp as load-in | Marina management, city or county parks if public | Reserve slips and parking; crew vans do not fit trailer spaces |
| Filming near PortMiami or the shipping channel | Coast Guard sector, port authority | Security zones around cruise and cargo ships; keep distance and expect to be moved |
| Drone over water | FAA rules, plus any city or county permit for take-off point | See the drone permits guide; launching from a boat is legal but demanding |
| Manatee zones, no-wake zones, Biscayne National Park waters | FWC, National Park Service | Speed limits are enforced; a park permit is needed for commercial filming inside the park |
| Talent in the water | Production safety, lifeguard or water safety officer | Hire a dedicated water safety person; the captain cannot do it |
| Larger picture vessels or multiple boats | Coast Guard notice, film office | A marine coordinator becomes worth the day rate |
Tide, wake, sun and schedule
On land the producer builds the schedule around the sun. On the water there are three more clocks. The tide sets the water level at docks and the current in the channels; a low tide can make a dock unusable for boarding and expose mud where the frame wanted water. Boat traffic sets the wake: weekend afternoons on the bay are a washing machine of wakes from every direction, and a gimbal shot that was smooth at 8 am is unusable at 2 pm. The wind sets the chop and the sound; an afternoon sea breeze arrives most days in summer and turns a glassy morning into whitecaps. Check the tide tables and the marine forecast for the day, and schedule water-level and slow-boat shots for early morning on a weekday. The reasoning is the same as in our guide to planning around golden hour and tides, with the added point that on a boat you cannot simply move to a shaded spot when the light goes.
Build the day with more margin than a land shoot. Boats board slowly, crew get seasick, batteries and cards need a dry place to change, and everything takes longer with one hand holding on. A realistic water day is five to six hours of shooting, not ten.
Crew, gear and safety
- Every person aboard has a life jacket assigned, and anyone on a small boat or near the rail wears it. Talent wardrobe should plan for it in the shot or between takes.
- Cameras go in a dry bag or a Pelican between set-ups. Salt spray on a lens takes minutes to ruin a coating, and a fresh-water rinse kit for gear at the end of the day is not optional.
- Sound on a moving boat is engine and wind; plan for ADR or voiceover, and record clean wild tracks at anchor with engines off.
- Sun protection and water for the crew are a producer responsibility; there is no shade on a center console at noon.
- A second small boat carries spare batteries, the client and a route back to the dock if anyone needs to leave.
- Radios on a marine channel plus phones; cell coverage in the bay is good but not universal near the islands.
Water shoots are where a written contingency plan earns its place: a rain cell over the bay ends the shoot rather than delaying it, and the fallback interior needs to be ready. Our guide to building a contingency plan covers the structure.
Budget lines that only exist on the water
Charter fees with captain and fuel, a marine coordinator or water safety officer, a chase boat, marina slip and parking fees, waterproof housings and dry bags, extra insurance riders naming the vessels, and a fresh-water rinse and drying day for the gear. Add a weather-hold day at the charter's cancellation terms. None of these is large on its own; together they are the difference between a water day priced at a land day and one that closes without an overage. The line-by-line approach in our budget breakdown guide applies, with these added to the location section.
Planning a water shoot with us
We produce on Biscayne Bay, the Intracoastal and the canals regularly, and we bring the same producer-led planning to the water that we bring to a rooftop or a studio day: vessel selection with licensed charter operators, the permits and notifications for the docks and waters involved, a marine coordinator on days that need one, a water safety officer whenever talent is near the water, and a schedule built on the tide table and the marine forecast rather than on hope. Insurance riders, dry-gear protocols and a chase boat are part of the plan, not extras. If your project has a scene on the water, tell us early; the charter, the film office and the tide need more lead time than a land location. Start with the contact page and we will send a first water-day plan with the vessels, the permits and the budget lines, and the rest of our pre-production work is described on the about page.