David,
I am in Port Saint Lucie too. I just passed the 107 knowledge test the other day after about two hours of studying. I have been flying drones for about six years, since my father and I started building Arduino quadcopters.
Here's my two cents on Florida laws:
Know where you are flying and what the law says.
934.50 - Freedom from Unwarranted Surveillance Act - Effective July 1, 2015
Basically you cannot use a drone to photograph or record individuals with a reasonable expectation of privacy, or of private property without consent. It also places limits on law enforcement use of drones
"A person, a state agency, or a political subdivision as defined in s.
11.45 may not use a drone equipped with an imaging device to record an image of privately owned real property or of the owner, tenant, occupant, invitee, or licensee of such property with the intent to conduct surveillance on the individual or property captured in the image in violation of such person’s reasonable expectation of privacy without his or her written consent.”
For someone to prove ”intent to conduct surveillance," you would probably need to be doing something to substancially show you you wanted to watch someone in a private location and violate someone's privacy. The current laws have not been challenged in court, so abiding by them is probably wise.
Note on Federal vs State Laws:
Federal airspace laws take precedence over state drone laws. If a state or local law directly conflicts with
FAA regulations, the state or local law is likely to be invalidated.
So, you can't be completely oblivious to your location or what you are filming. But, as long as you're not up to something completely fishy, you should be just fine.
Many interesting sites exist to explore the legalities of drone use in FL.:
Know Your Florida Drone Laws [Avoid Trouble and Fly Safe]
Florida - Drone Laws, Rules and Regulations
I'm not sure this was helpful or not, but happy flying.