okay so im planning a trip to the florida keys in a few weeks and i really want to bring my mini 3 and get some shots over the water. ive been trying to read up on the rules but honestly its a mess. like i know there's the FAA stuff with part 107 and recreational rules but then every state and county seems to have their own thing on top of that and i cant figure out what actually applies to me.

like some beaches seem to be state parks and some are county beaches and some are national parks or something and they all seem to have different rules? i'm registered with the FAA and i fly recreationally. just want to know if i can legally fly over the water and sand or if im going to get in trouble. anyone been to the keys specifically or florida beaches in general and knows the deal?

florida is genuinely a patchwork of rules and it drives me nuts too. the short answer is it depends entirely on which beach. national parks like everglades are a hard no without a permit. state parks in florida generally dont allow drones without prior written authorization from the park service. county beaches are kind of a gray area ? some counties have explicit bans, others dont say anything either way which people interpret as okay but thats a risky assumption to make.

for the keys specifically a lot of it falls under monroe county and there are some areas that overlap with national key deer refuge and that kind of thing so you really need to check the specific location. i'd use the B4UFLY app and also just google the specific beach name plus drone rules. also calling the local county office or park ranger station is kind of annoying but it's the only way to be 100% sure. over the open ocean outside of restricted airspace is generally fine as long as you're not launching from restricted land if that makes sense.

went to key west last year with my drone and honestly just used aloft to check airspace and it showed some class g over parts of the area which was fine. stayed away from the actual state park areas. nobody said anything to me but i was also being pretty low key about it, flew early morning when the beach wasnt busy. not saying thats the right approach legally just sharing what happened lol