Only a few vessels were in Lake Boca on April 26, the final day of an emergency ban on anchoring there. Normally the lake is jammed with boats on the weekend, especially for Boca Bash on the last Sunday in April. Photo provided by lakebocacam.com
By Steve Plunkett
Recreational boaters are banned from dropping anchor in Lake Boca this weekend in yet another effort to fight COVID-19.
City Manager Leif Ahnell signed an emergency No Anchor Order at 6:30 p.m. Friday, April 24, effective from 12:01 a.m. Saturday to 12:01 a.m. Monday.
The order specifically targets Boca Bash, an unofficial, alcohol-fueled party on the last Sunday in April in which "vessels come from all over to congregate, raft and anchor within Lake Boca," the state's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said. The FWC, which enforces boating rules in Florida, gave the city a temporary exemption to prohibit anchoring in the lake and 500 feet north and south of it.
Boca Raton's police are authorized to give violators verbal warnings and arrest them if needed. "Our goal is to obtain voluntary compliance with this order," the police department said.
The FWC already had social distancing rules in place requiring boaters to keep 50 feet from one another and have no more than 10 people aboard a vessel.
Comments
Boaters are ordered to stay out of the lake. I thought the government was in place to serve the people. I was wrong. The government issues commands, orders, for taxpayers to follow or else. We pay the salaries of these people, and they order us to do things, or not do things. Isn’t that strange? I guess Charles Dickens was right when he wrote, “we forge the chains that bind us”. What in the world happened to our city, our state, our country?