i am a fishing guide in the middle keys, and in the pursuit of fish, frequently run into the backcountry in the early morning darkness to pick up anglers at various marinas, to get to spots before they are pressured by other boats. the first time i saw the hovering light near crab key, on the bay side of islamorada, it was about 5 a.m., dark, moonless, and cloudless. the light was so low to the water that i thought it might be a sailboat mast anchor light. it appeared to be about 2 miles away. it remained lit for about one minute, then shut off. the estimated position of the light was directly in my travel route, but when i arrived at the approximate spot, the light had changed position to the west, and was at a slightly higher altitude. it remained "on" for about 30 seconds, and shut off. it had moved that distance in only a couple of minutes, and both times was hovering with no movement. i thought about what i had seen, and reviewed the possibilities. it was not a sailboat light, the surrounding area is far too shallow to allow a keeled sailing vessel to navigate, and the second sighting was far too high for a mast. not like any airplane or helicopter i have ever seen, no flashing lights, nothing recognizable. about 3 months later, i had a very similar experience in about the same square 5 mile area. once again, i could not say what this object was. then about 8 months later, again i was alone, i had my best and closest encounter. i answered the size question on the description of the encounter with a couple of observations, because i have seen the object at different distances. this particular morning was again cloudless, moonless and windless. i run with a powerful spotlight in hand to light up any flotsam or other potential hazards to navigation. the familiar light appeared about one mile ahead, and then went out. i decided to shut off all of my nav lights, and go to the spot, shut off the motor, and sit. the object appeared suddenly what looked like only several hundred feet away, to the north, and slightly elevated. i was only a few degress away from being under it!! it was completely silent, and was round, disc shaped, and had a few degrees of height, being more in surfaced area on the bottom, and slightly narrower at the top. it was the size of a medium airplane, meaning maybe 80-100 feet long and wide, and maybe 15 feet high. it was internally lit, and that light seemed to radiate outward from the object. i decided to light it up with my q-beam. i hit the switch, and nothing visibly changed in the scene. within 5 seconds, the object was gone, and all lighing was also gone. i searched the air with my spotlight and found nothing. less than 10 seconds later, the object appeared again, at the same altitude (as nearly as i could tell) about 2 miles away. there was no noise from any motor or engine. the next three times i saw the object was at a distance of 2-4 miles, and was with anglers on the boat. one was a pilot who looked at it and observed that it did not look like a plane, helicopter, baloon, satellite, ect. i have told a very few people about this, but i did check with a friend who is an officer with the fwc, our local on water law enforcement. i ran into her a couple of times within a few days of some of these sightings, and asked her if they, or dea, or customs had anything going on back there. she said for sure, no. i thought later about being out there in the dark with this object and questioned my judgement, particularly the times when i moved closer to it. funny thing, when it is there, there is no fear at the time. i do not know what it is, but look forward to seeing it again. i would like to remain anonomyous for now, but would welcome any inquiries directly if it could help explain what i saw to me or others. i will gladly supply a sketch upon request. thank you