Florida residents: Question about Red Tide

[Broken Hand]

My wife and I have a week booked in Gulfport, FL in Tampa Bay area from Sept 28-Oct 5. One of the main reasons is for the beaches on Anna Maria Island. Reading the news, that whole area south to Sanibel has algae blooms. Should we keep our booking or plan on going to a different part of FL? Beach/water time is very important to us. Any insights/suggestions are greatly appreciated.

[2wheelsforme]

No red tide in the panhandle, the beaches are the best and cost of motels and restaurants are lower than the rest of Florida.

[Broken Hand]

No red tide in the panhandle, the beaches are the best and cost of motels and restaurants are lower than the rest of Florida.

I’ve always wanted to visit the panhandle, but we fly into Fort Lauderdale. That would be a lot of driving to get there.

[olegoat345]

Shore is lined with dead sea life, water is covered with green slug. === Mr. Scott (who stole 10's of millions from Medicare before becoming governor) , took huge donations from "Big Sugar" in return he allowed then to dump their toxic run off in out waters for the past 7 years. They're trying to tell us it's people septic systems. Septic systems may be a small % of it but Big Sugar is the real problem.

[Broken Hand]

Thanks for that soapbox, olegoat, but you didn’t even come close to answering my question. Lol

[Felloverboard]

The red tide on the guld starts from the Caloosahatchee river coming from the Everglades in the Ft Myers area. Agriculture fertilizer runoff overflows bad into the river from Lake Oceechobee during excessive rainy seasons like we have had the last 4 months. The red tide then flows out into the Gulf and follows currents and winds usually more west and south but often northerly also as this year has. I would expect most to be gone in the Tampa area by late sept unless a hurricane with drenching rains brings more overflow from Oceechobee. The southwest Fl counties will probably have issues thru dec. I own a waterfront concrete seawalled canal lot in Englewood which is only a 30 minute boat ride just north of Ft Myers & Sanibel.

[2015F6B]

Shore is lined with dead sea life, water is covered with green slug. === Mr. Scott (who stole 10's of millions from Medicare before becoming governor) , took huge donations from "Big Sugar" in return he allowed then to dump their toxic run off in out waters for the past 7 years. They're trying to tell us it's people septic systems. Septic systems may be a small % of it but Big Sugar is the real problem.

Why don't you take your liberal political crap and stick it somewhere else, this isn't the place.

[olegoat345]

I think all the beaches you mentioned have the green slug & dead sea life on the beaches...……………….. 2015f6b doesn't agree and likes the green slug & dead sea life.

[Broken Hand]

The red tide on the guld starts from the Caloosahatchee river coming from the Everglades in the Ft Myers area. Agriculture fertilizer runoff overflows bad into the river from Lake Oceechobee during excessive rainy seasons like we have had the last 4 months. The red tide then flows out into the Gulf and follows currents and winds usually more west and south but often northerly also as this year has. I would expect most to be gone in the Tampa area by late sept unless a hurricane with drenching rains brings more overflow from Oceechobee. The southwest Fl counties will probably have issues thru dec. I own a waterfront concrete seawalled canal lot in Englewood which is only a 30 minute boat ride just north of Ft Myers & Sanibel.

Thank you! That’s the info Im looking for. We were planning a day trip down to Sanibel to look for seashells, but it sounds like Red Tide might be there. My favorite beach in Tampa is Coquina. I saw that 150 people held hands there for 15 minutes to combat Red Tide. Lol.

[FlaMike]

To answer your question. I live in Sarasota and often work on Longboat Key which is directly south of Anna Maria Isl. There is no green slim on beaches but there has been red tide (along with dead fish). It's not an everyday thing and varies from day to day. Generally it doesn't last as long or as widespread, as it has been this year. And as has been stated, pretty confident that it wont affect your plans in late Sept. But keep an eye on it, by early Sept would be a good indicator.

http://myfwc.com/redtidestatus

[Broken Hand]

To answer your question. I live in Sarasota and often work on Longboat Key which is directly south of Anna Maria Isl. There is no green slim on beaches but there has been red tide (along with dead fish). It's not an everyday thing and varies from day to day. Generally it doesn't last as long or as widespread, as it has been this year. And as has been stated, pretty confident that it wont affect your plans in late Sept. But keep an eye on it, by early Sept would be a good indicator.

http://myfwc.com/redtidestatus

Thanks Mike!

[unsub]

Why don't you take your liberal political crap and stick it somewhere else, this isn't the place.

Awe c'mon play nice. I don't normally step in to manage threads but this IS the off topic area....

No I'm not a mod, but I did sleep at a Holiday Inn last night.

[tenxxx]

Befor I blame it on any one, I would like to know how long has it been going on. Anybody?

[olegoat345]

It's gotten worst every year for the last 6-7 years. It last longer, covers more beach & kills more sea life. The local news said it's moving further north, Gulf side. It's on the east coast too but not as bad. It's hurt tourist through out the state, I heard a number in the billions of dollars.. Only seen it on TV, it's sad to see that thick green ooze & thousands upon thousands on dead sea critters, tiny fish, big fish, sea turtles, mantes, whales. They're doing the best they can cleaning up the dead animals.

[Steve 0080]

WOW!!!! Red Tide is a NATURALLY OCCURRING EVENT, No the Gov. did not cause it. Sugar did not cause it, GOD did. Please educate yourselves so you don't appear to be ignorant. The beachs are beautiful and your trip should be very nice.




http://myfwc.com/redtidestatus

[Broken Hand]

Just got back from Florida! Here’s my report:

Fort Lauderdale water had a LOT of rough, scratchy seaweed, which made for an unpleasant swim. I don’t remember this much seaweed 5 years ago.
Headed to Tampa. Sanibel had a slight smell, water seemed ok. Siesta key had a slight smell, red specks in the water, like paprika. Didn’t spend much time there.
Spent multiple days at Coquina beach, located south of Anna Maria and just across a bridge from Longboat key. It was reported as having respiratory irritation. Nope. All wrong. Water was clear, clean, brimming with sea life and dolphins, low crowds made it fantastic.
Clearwater was clean too, but crowded.
Longboat key had a 1 or 2 mile stretch of raw sewage smell. Just horrible.

We had a great time. I already miss FL and her great beaches. I’m already thinking about our 6th trip there. Maybe we’ll try the panhandle. Thanks for all the input!

[olegoat345]

There's another hurricane headed for the panhandle, mid/end of this week, w/ TS winds down as far as Tampa. The winds, rain might break up the mess.
50-60 years ago red tide was very rare, almost unheard of. Fl. has had the fastest population growth in the country, people from all over moving here. The sewage treatment plants, septic systems, horse, cattle, sugar & other ag. farming, parking lot run off, draining & filling our wetlands, all sorts of development, all ad to the filth in our rivers & streams, it all ends up in the ocean or Gulf, where it destroys the oxygen & kills anything & everything swimming through it. A large percentage of it, is caused by us humans, myself included.

[Broken Hand]

Washington state gets red tide on the coast, ever since I’ve been here, and the coast is sparsely populated. If our country stopped all immigration, both legal and illegal, the U.S. population would shrink, and yet I’m called racist for wanting to preserve resources and improve our U.S. ecology. Go figure.