Not far from the super yachts docked outside the island palaces of Miami’s new billionaire class, smaller boats abandoned by people who couldn’t afford them languish in Biscayne Bay.
Since October, Miami Beach police have identified and removed about 140 vessels that were left to rot in the tropical heat. More sit half-submerged or anchored across the Bay, near some of the most expensive real estate in America.
“A lot of people buy a boat but don’t realize how much it costs for fuel, maintenance and marina fees,” said Sergeant Javier Fernandez, commander of the Miami Beach police marine unit, as he surveyed the abandoned vessels about 100 yards off Star Island aboard the department’s 32-foot Contender center console patrol boat.
Suddenly, a sunken cabin cruiser, more than 30 feet long, came into view in the clear, shallow waters ahead, the top of its rotting wheelhouse jutting out at an odd angle. Fernandez’s boat turned to port to avoid a dangerous collision.
“This is where they end up,” he said.
The marine graveyard is one downside of an unprecedented surge in boating since the pandemic, spurred in part by an influx of well-to-do newcomers. With wealth flooding into Miami, boats have gotten bigger, driving up costs for things like marina space and maintenance for everyone. There were roughly 1.2 million registered boats in Florida in 2024, more than any other state, and up about 20% since 2023, according to the National Marine Manufacturers Association.
The abandoned vessels ranged from sailboats, cabin cruisers and pontoon craft to center-console fishing boats, bow riders and even a 60-foot custom-rigged catamaran, according to police records reviewed by Bloomberg.
Derelict vessels are a danger to other mariners and a nuisance to property owners. Occasionally, abandoned craft break free of rotting lines and crash into the bulkheads near the seaside mansions dotting the affluent islands around Biscayne Bay. Leaking fuel can pose a threat to the environment.
The abandoned boats are a sign that the gentrification that’s taking place on land has spread to South Florida’s waterways. As billionaires bought properties in Miami’s most exclusive enclaves, the cost of living soared more than 36% in six years, outpacing the national inflation rate over that span of about 29%, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. That has squeezed out some of the less well-off: More people are moving away from Miami than any other major US city, according to a study by the Bank of America Institute.
Those same forces have also put pressure on boaters — and some just give up.
The new wealth on display on the area’s crowded seas exists alongside a teeming mass of middle-class mariners. In Miami-Dade County there are 73,000 boats, including almost 5,000 that are more than 40 feet long. That doesn’t include super yachts flagged elsewhere that have been spotted cruising the channels and bays.
Soaring demand for marina space has left less-affluent pleasure boaters looking for moorings and crowded out businesses that serve them. The growing fleet has also made the waters more dangerous. There were 6.4 deaths per 100,000 registered boats in Florida in 2024, roughly 50% higher than the national rate, according to the most recent US Coast Guard data.
Earlier this year, a man was killed when a bigger boat ran over his dinghy while he was puttering around Key Biscayne with his 14-year-old son. Eleven people were seriously injured in Miami when their boat exploded during a birthday celebration. In early June, the body of a woman washed ashore on Hollywood Beach after being struck by a boat while snorkeling, police said.
