Cancelling Sanibel - where can we go for 2 nights?

[Northtim]

Never mind months away - we arrive in Cape Coral 3 weeks today to stay for a week in a Villa with a boat

I have emailed the villa owner for an update, don't think we can cancel and as the official advice is not saying to avoid the area I don't think travel insurance will cover it.

I take some heart from Sandra & Co's thread as she seemed to have a great time regardlessLook at our view...

We have a villa with pool on 8 lakes area of Cape Coral which I think is not affected by Green Algae like the canals closer to the river.

My daughter has mild asthma, usually easily managed by inhaler and tablets but I doubt we will be able to risk using the boat or beach if these conditions continue - which takes away the main reasons for us being in Cape Coral. Keeping an eye on visit-beaches-org and some beaches in the area seem to be getting green flags and OK on some days, but what would be have to boat through to get there?

Trying not to feel v fed up. Those living there must be distraught.

[princess allie]

We are going further north, to St Pete beach, but I am now worried. Was looking forward to swimming in beautiful clean water, but I’m quite anxious and even if the water looks ok, I’ll be worried. I would probably cancel, but we’ve paid upfront so would lose the money.

[tocpe321]

Originally Posted by Northtim

Never mind months away - we arrive in Cape Coral 3 weeks today to stay for a week in a Villa with a boat

I have emailed the villa owner for an update, don't think we can cancel and as the official advice is not saying to avoid the area I don't think travel insurance will cover it.

I take some heart from Sandra & Co's thread as she seemed to have a great time regardlessLook at our view...

We have a villa with pool on 8 lakes area of Cape Coral which I think is not affected by Green Algae like the canals closer to the river.

My daughter has mild asthma, usually easily managed by inhaler and tablets but I doubt we will be able to risk using the boat or beach if these conditions continue - which takes away the main reasons for us being in Cape Coral. Keeping an eye on visit-beaches-org and some beaches in the area seem to be getting green flags and OK on some days, but what would be have to boat through to get there?

Trying not to feel v fed up. Those living there must be distraught.

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Originally Posted by princess allie

We are going further north, to St Pete beach, but I am now worried. Was looking forward to swimming in beautiful clean water, but I’m quite anxious and even if the water looks ok, I’ll be worried. I would probably cancel, but we’ve paid upfront so would lose the money.

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Understand how you both are feeling. Hope you find some fantastic unaffected beaches and have great holidays.

[DebsMK]

We came back on Saturday after 3 weeks on the Gulf Coast staying in Rotonda. We simply didn't visit the coast except for one day when we went to Fort de Soto which was clear and beautiful. We just had pool days rather than beach and visited attractions and shops. This is our 9th stay in this particular area and the Red Tide/Algae wouldn't put me off going back, but then the beach isn't that important to sit on for us and we don't have respiratory health issues. This whole story has put me off swimming in any of the sea areas though, even those without the problems. On tv whilst we were there we saw stories of people having picked up various rashes and infections through swimming with scrapes and cuts. Just yesterday I read about a little girl who swam in the sea off Key Biscayne near Miami contracting bacterial infections because her mother wasn't alerted to the fact that the sea contained high levels of fecal matter on that day and bathing was prohibited. We have been visiting Florida for 30 years and this makes me so sad and angry. It seems successive governments have done nothing to address the Lake O problems and obviously water quality, but are happy to take the tourist buck.

[elmspenguin]

Originally Posted by princess allie

We are going further north, to St Pete beach, but I am now worried. Was looking forward to swimming in beautiful clean water, but I’m quite anxious and even if the water looks ok, I’ll be worried. I would probably cancel, but we’ve paid upfront so would lose the money.

See more...

We are also at St Pete Beach in just over 2 weeks and I never knew anything about this until seeing this thread, looking at all the reports it hasn't gone further up than Sarasota so we are still going but will be keeping an eye on how things develop. Luckily we have only paid a 1 night deposit at Grand Plaza so wouldn't lose to much if needed to cancel.

[ChrisS]

The Army Corp have 'managed' Lake O for decades and, in general, issues were very minor during South releases into the Glades. Problems arose when releases were sent West into the Caloosahatchee and East into St. Lucie estuaries, and whilst toxins are, eventually, naturally broken down this year is a massive anomally on a scale, according to older, long term residents, never before witnessed. As our winter home is SW Fl, I confess to not resesarching the East coast, but THIS article from My Palm Beach Post, titled 'No alternative: Lake O water to be released despite harmful algae' may give some insight into effects on that coastline. You'll see the disgusting green algae lapping on Lake O's shore that spews out of Lake O gates; it takes 6 times longer to drain Lake O than fill.

Unfortunately it isn't a natural occurrence, it's a direct result of North Fl run off of all kinds of chemicals, pestcides, sewerage/general muck from residential, farming and industry that winds it way to where it sits in Lake O growing to life threatening levels. US Sugar's run off is of huge concern, it's rumoured their deep pockets keep politicians on side and perhaps there's a lot of finger crossing that it'll naturally clear and South Fl populace will move on and forget, until it begins all over again next summer.

During our last winter visit we had no effects from red tide until boating to Upper Captiva for the sunset. Once we moved away from UC I was fine, hubs is the one who was left with an annoying cough, but that did eventually clear and the X-ray he's having tomorrow is to check if he could be asthmatic. We regularly watch the sunsets from Pineland Marina and Bokeelia Pier, even when red tide was evident by sealife death washing up on Bokeelia Pier sands, we were ok and the water looked clear.

I'm sincerely sorry for any aggro it's causing those due to visit very soon, I want others to enjoy the area as much as we do. Advice from islanders/surrounding area residents; stay away from the water/beaches until significant improvements are evident. Our Cze friends, who own a Cape home and boat have ventured out once since arriving on the 23rd June, that one trip out made them ill, two severely so, and they won't venture onto the water again. Sadly they're very disillusioned and decided to sell their home/boat soonest and look for alternatives for their holidays. Financially the area is sufferring.

THIS is the live cam for an area of Ft Myers Beach, at 10am originally there wasn't a soul to be seen on the beach other than the tractor lad gathering the washed up dead fish, I now see two people plodging in the brown water, hope that doesn't bite them hard if either have open scratches/cuts! That beach would normally be heaving with summer vacationers by now.

[ChrisS]

​BTW, the clean up of tons and tons of dead sealife of all shapes and sizes has to be pushed back into the water, of which likely a large amount will repeatedly wash up again. According to Fort Myers Beach Chamber of Commerce; as per Florida Department of Environmental Protection; the dead sealife is too toxic to be disposed of by other means.

[Sandra & co]

We went in the sea, Cresent beach and Bowmans beach, there were green flags, people were swimming and so were my lot. We coughed a bit at Bowmans the second time but it went away when we left. We are all well and alive still! I hope it gets sorted I want to return in the future x

[tocpe321]

Originally Posted by ChrisS

The Army Corp have 'managed' Lake O for decades and, in general, issues were very minor during South releases into the Glades. Problems arose when releases were sent West into the Caloosahatchee and East into St. Lucie estuaries, and whilst toxins are, eventually, naturally broken down this year is a massive anomally on a scale, according to older, long term residents, never before witnessed. As our winter home is SW Fl, I confess to not resesarching the East coast, but THIS article from My Palm Beach Post, titled 'No alternative: Lake O water to be released despite harmful algae' may give some insight into effects on that coastline. You'll see the disgusting green algae lapping on Lake O's shore that spews out of Lake O gates; it takes 6 times longer to drain Lake O than fill.

Unfortunately it isn't a natural occurrence, it's a direct result of North Fl run off of all kinds of chemicals, pestcides, sewerage/general muck from residential, farming and industry that winds it way to where it sits in Lake O growing to life threatening levels. US Sugar's run off is of huge concern, it's rumoured their deep pockets keep politicians on side and perhaps there's a lot of finger crossing that it'll naturally clear and South Fl populace will move on and forget, until it begins all over again next summer.

During our last winter visit we had no effects from red tide until boating to Upper Captiva for the sunset. Once we moved away from UC I was fine, hubs is the one who was left with an annoying cough, but that did eventually clear and the X-ray he's having tomorrow is to check if he could be asthmatic. We regularly watch the sunsets from Pineland Marina and Bokeelia Pier, even when red tide was evident by sealife death washing up on Bokeelia Pier sands, we were ok and the water looked clear.

I'm sincerely sorry for any aggro it's causing those due to visit very soon, I want others to enjoy the area as much as we do. Advice from islanders/surrounding area residents; stay away from the water/beaches until significant improvements are evident. Our Cze friends, who own a Cape home and boat have ventured out once since arriving on the 23rd June, that one trip out made them ill, two severely so, and they won't venture onto the water again. Sadly they're very disillusioned and decided to sell their home/boat soonest and look for alternatives for their holidays. Financially the area is sufferring.

THIS is the live cam for an area of Ft Myers Beach, at 10am originally there wasn't a soul to be seen on the beach other than the tractor lad gathering the washed up dead fish, I now see two people plodging in the brown water, hope that doesn't bite them hard if either have open scratches/cuts! That beach would normally be heaving with summer vacationers by now.

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Thanks for providing this detail Chris.

Originally Posted by ChrisS

​BTW, the clean up of tons and tons of dead sealife of all shapes and sizes has to be pushed back into the water, of which likely a large amount will repeatedly wash up again. According to Fort Myers Beach Chamber of Commerce; as per Florida Department of Environmental Protection; the dead sealife is too toxic to be disposed of by other means.

See more...

Originally Posted by Sandra & co

We went in the sea, Cresent beach and Bowmans beach, there were green flags, people were swimming and so were my lot. We coughed a bit at Bowmans the second time but it went away when we left. We are all well and alive still! I hope it gets sorted I want to return in the future x

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Glad to hear you want to return Sandra. Hope it's sorted out too.

[ChrisS]

Originally Posted by Sandra & co

We went in the sea, Cresent beach and Bowmans beach, there were green flags, people were swimming and so were my lot. We coughed a bit at Bowmans the second time but it went away when we left. We are all well and alive still! I hope it gets sorted I want to return in the future x

See more...

Hi Sandra - I didn't become aware of the level of severity until after we spoke about Capt Bruce. I spoke with island/Cape friends and checked out the Pine Island Prospect and the South Florida Clean Water page's and was flabbergasted. I'm now monitoring on a daily basis but the lack of official Governmental action/comment plus posted video's and photo's are shocking.

Be interested to see what the Army Corps of Engineers had to say at the Cape Coral meeting today. I bet they'll be glad it doesn't involve being fed as they'd likely be served toxic ridden raw fish!