ANNA MARIA ISLAND – Red tide hit the Island this year in mid-April. By mid-September, it appeared the worst had subsided. A stroll down Bridge Street in Bradenton Beach or Pine Avenue in Anna Maria was free of coughing shoppers, and the air smelled like fresh donuts and grilled seafood rather than dead fish.
Unfortunately, this relief was short-lived, and red tide returned in a concentration high enough to cause concern for locals and tourists alike.
“We can’t take it, my daughter and husband have been coughing constantly,” said Jacksonville resident Jillian Sovine, who is staying in Anna Maria with her family and two friends. “Tomorrow we’re going to drive down to Siesta Key and see if it’s any better there. There’s nothing we can do; we’ve already paid for the house so we’ll sleep here, but as long as it’s this bad, we can’t have any fun on the beach or even by the pool. We’ve talked to other people on our street who are doing the same thing.”
A drive by the Coquina Beach public parking lot last week was a sign of the wrath of red tide. Even with construction that has temporarily closed hundreds of parking spaces, there was ample parking available with some areas completely free of cars. Bridge Street, which makes use of The Old Town Tram parking shuttle service due to very little public parking, had plenty of empty spaces even during the busy lunch rush. This could be a bad sign, but not everybody is seriously concerned.
“On a scale of 1-10 as far as being concerned, I’d put it at about a five. I have two young kids under the age of two, so of course there is concern,” said Joe Lehman, of Columbus, Ohio. who is visiting Bradenton Beach for a week with his family. While red tide wasn’t the optimum scenario for Lehman and his family, they all agreed it was a great choice to visit the Island and it wasn’t going to spoil their vacation.
Red tide around AMI increased from low to medium concentrations last week, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
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