Attention boaters: Beginning Tuesday at 5 p.m. until Sunday afternoon, the Coast Guard is establishing "security zones" in the Intracoastal Waterway and in the Atlantic Ocean to protect President-elect Donald Trump, who will be in town at his Mar-a-Lago Club on Palm Beach for the Thanksgiving holiday.
According to a release, the Coast Guard says, "The security zone is necessary to protect the VIP and accompanying official party, the public, and the surrounding waterway from terrorist acts, sabotage or other subversive acts, accidents, or other causes of a similar nature. Entering, stopping, or anchoring in this security zone is prohibited unless authorized by the Captain of the Port Miami or a designated representative. The security zone will be broken into three zones."
There will be three zones, 1, 2 and 3, which have different rules:
Palm Beach security zone restrictions:
Zone (1): This zone is always in effect. No vessels or person will be permitted to enter this zone consisting of the waters of the Lake Worth Lagoon from the southern tip of the Everglades Island in the north to approximately 1,000 yards from the south of the Southern Boulevard Bridge on the south and eastern shore line west of Fisherman Island.
Zone (2): This zone is always in effect. All vessels transiting the second zone shall maintain a steady speed and shall not slow or stop from waters of the Lake Worth Lagoon including the Intracoastal Waterway from the southern tip of the Everglades Island in the north to approximately 1000 yards from the south of the bridge on the south and from the western shore line to the western edge of the Fisherman Island in the east.
Zone (3): This zone is always in effect. All vessels transiting the third zone shall maintain a steady speed and shall not slow or stop from waters of the Atlantic Ocean from the Banyan Road in the north to Ocean View Road in the south and from shore to approximately 1000 yards east of the shoreline.
#BreakingNews @USCG establishing security zones in the waterways near Palm Beach tomorrow. For more https://t.co/4lVpqAwx1P pic.twitter.com/vbB6UbaxJ7
— USCGSoutheast (@USCGSoutheast) November 21, 2016
Vessels seeking authorization to transit the security zones must contact the Coast Guard via marine-band radio via VHF-FM channel 16.
Violation of these security zones are punishable by monetary fine, imprisonment, or both, according to the Coast Guard.
In addition, the Federal Aviation Administration announced temporary flight restrictions beginning Tuesday at 10:30 p.m. and ending Friday at 4:30 a.m. The restrictions mean that no pilots may operate an aircraft in certain areas, except for commercial aircraft, military aircraft supporting the Secret Service, and law enforcement.
The restrictions are in effect in a radius of three nautical miles from the center of the map below, and from the surface up to 2,999 feet.
