Marco Island Red Tide/algae

[*kate*]

Does anyone have any info about red tide/algae at Marco Island please? Have accommodation booked but if it means not going in the sea or on the beach (as two of our party suffer from respiratory probs anyway) then we might as well look elsewhere or stay in Orlando for an extra week.

Thanks

[DebsMK]

We got back yesterday from staying on the Gulf Coast. On Friday they were reporting on the news that the problem was from around Venice down to Naples. I know it can change quickly, but we stayed in Rotonda and most of the beaches around there had problems for the whole 3 weeks on and off. They were also talkung about shutting off the overflow from Lake O for a few days.
There are websites that give information, may be worth a Google?

[Hank]

Here is a link to a good site

visitbeaches this is run by the Mote People and when you click beaches, beaches in our area come up, this site is updated 10 am and 3 pm every day.

Hank

[*kate*]

Thank you, I’ll check that link. I’d like to visit but not if we need to stay out of the sea/beach.

Trying to think of other beachy options 🤔

[MinniMouse]

We’re in Naples just now. Waitress said best to avoid the beaches just now as they can affect your breathing. We’ve been here 4 nights and not seen the beach yet. We decided today to head to Everglades city. We stopped at big Cyprus bend boardwalk, didn’t see anything major just various birds, ghekos and crickets. Then headed to Everglades city and had lunch overlooking the water. Booked an airboat tour - Speedys a few doors along from where we had lunch. We had an hour to kill before the trip so we headed to Smallwood store. Basically a really old store run by the same family for years. Did the airboat trip, only saw one alligator but great fun. The guy that did the tour said if we wanted to see lots of wildlife including gators to hear back to traffic lights - turn right and keep going for 5 miles and there’s a dirt track on the left that runs for approx 16 miles, which we did and ended up seeing lots of alligators, turtles, birds etc. Didn’t see any bears or panthers. Well worth a drive. They gave us a map which is in the car. I’ll try and take a picture and post back if you’d like.

[ChrisS]

Originally Posted by *kate*

Does anyone have any info about red tide/algae at Marco Island please? Have accommodation booked but if it means not going in the sea or on the beach (as two of our party suffer from respiratory probs anyway) then we might as well look elsewhere or stay in Orlando for an extra week.

Thanks

See more...

Hi Kate - hubs and I winter in SW Fl and year on year we see the damage the red tide and the Lake O discharges cause, but this year is horrific, never have we seen so much sealife death and illness to residents. I'm not scaremongering, stay away from the beaches and do not go in the water - it really is very bad and will remain this way until the Army Corp of Engineers top opening Lake O gates.

I did a post on another SW Fl thread, with links and a photo of Venice Pier HERE.

[Northtim]

Originally Posted by MinniMouse

The guy that did the tour said if we wanted to see lots of wildlife including gators to hear back to traffic lights - turn right and keep going for 5 miles and there’s a dirt track on the left that runs for approx 16 miles, which we did and ended up seeing lots of alligators, turtles, birds etc. Didn’t see any bears or panthers. Well worth a drive. They gave us a map which is in the car. I’ll try and take a picture and post back if you’d like.

See more...

Please could you share that map or the location of that track. We will be in that area in a couple of weeks and would like to do that drive - thanks

[*kate*]

Thank you for all the replies.

Are we likely to experience red tide in St Pete's or Clearwater?

[bonnies mum]

We are due to go to Naples for 3 nights in early October.
May need to rethink it if Red Tide continues to be a problem.

[Redsox77]

very sad report. May be the red tide
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