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