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Tag: Anna Maria Island beach
Parking at a premium for holiday weekend
ANNA MARIA ISLAND – As America makes its 247th successful trip around the sun, many people are expected to celebrate the nation’s birthday on the Island’s white sand beaches.
With July Fourth coming next Tuesday, be prepared for several days of festivities, as many will arrive early for the weekend and crowds are anticipated to be some of the largest AMI has ever seen.
While there has been a slight leveling off after the tourism boom that occurred in 2021 as Florida became one of the few states that opened for business after the COVID-19 lockdown, recent holiday weekends have been busy and there is no reason to expect anything less for this one.
Law enforcement officials have gone on the record saying Memorial Day weekend last month was the busiest weekend ever seen on the Island.
“In my opinion, the Sunday before Memorial Day was the busiest day I’ve ever seen on the Island,” Holmes Beach Police Chief Bill Tokajer said. “We issued more than 100 parking-related tickets, but I drove around our city’s public parking spots and there was never a time there weren’t spots open, people just need to keep a lookout for them.”
A map of available public parking spaces in Holmes Beach can be found on the city’s website.
In Bradenton Beach, the parking situation is amplified with the addition of more than 50 new no parking signs on Gulf Drive South, though some motorists don’t seem to care about the new signs.
“Over Memorial Day weekend, our officers wrote more than 400 tickets for illegal parking at Coquina Beach and Cortez Beach, and there were still plenty that probably got away with it,” Bradenton Beach Police Lt. Lenard Diaz said.
Both Tokajer and Diaz believe that some people feel like it’s worth the price of a ticket to just park and get on with their beach day, a sentiment echoed by many people The Sun has spoken to regarding beach parking.
“It costs about the same to park at Disney as it does to get a ticket for illegally parking here,” Britany Hillibold of Bradenton said. “I live less than 10 miles from the Island and it can take two or more hours just to get onto AMI. Then the process of finding a parking spot begins. I get why some people just park and head to the beach knowing they’ll have a ticket on their windshield when they get back to their car. For the price of a couple of grouper sandwiches, you’re good to go.”
While parking will be difficult, restaurant wait times will be excessive and travel to and from the Island will be slow, there will still be plenty of sand, sea and sun to make the Island a great place to wish America a happy birthday. Just keep a few things in mind to have a safe and enjoyable fourth. The following are not permitted on any Island beach:
- Motor vehicles,
- Fires,
- Grills (except where public grills are provided),
- Pets,
- Alcohol,
- Harassment of wildlife (shorebirds and sea turtles are nesting, admire from a distance), and
- Fireworks.
“I have three important reminders for the upcoming July Fourth holiday weekend,” Tokajer said. “First, you are vacationing in a residential area, so please keep noise to a minimum. Second, be respectful of your surroundings and leave it cleaner than you found it. Third, always park with all tires off the road. Parallel parking is parking with the flow of traffic. Saying you didn’t see the sign or were not aware will not get a ticket voided.”
Holmes Beach police, along with Bradenton Beach and Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, which patrols the city of Anna Maria, remind the public that local ordinances are strictly enforced, and all three departments plan to increase the number of officers on patrol for the busy holiday weekend.
“Remember to not put yourself in a position to be a victim of a crime of opportunity,” Diaz said. “Lock your car and don’t leave valuables in plain sight on car seats or places that entice criminals. Also, don’t bring valuables to the beach. Just bring what you need so you can relax and enjoy yourself.”
While violent crime is uncommon on AMI, a heavy influx of visitors may bring out a few people with bad intentions. Taking common sense precautions can help assure a fun and safe day at the beach.
Environmental groups warn against releasing balloons
MANATEE COUNTY – What goes up must come down, but in the release of celebratory helium-filled balloons, it’s the coming down that creates problems.
In addition to adding trash to the waters, deflated balloons can cause marine life to become entangled and die. The balloons also can be ingested by marine life.
In May, researchers from the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program (SDRP) spent five days offshore conducting dolphin research, but they found more than dolphins.
“We collected 76 balloons and other marine debris up to dozens of miles offshore, including two ghost crab trap lines with floats and a beach ball. Most of the balloons had Mother’s Day or birthday messages,” according to the SDRP website.
Mylar balloons are made of synthetic nylon with a metallic coating, are non-biodegradable and can travel long distances.
“They heavily contribute to oceanic waste and animals can become entangled in them or ill from ingesting whole balloons or pieces,” according to the SDRP. “Wayward balloons are also extra dangerous for sea turtles because they resemble jellyfish – one of turtles’ common prey items.”
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) also warns against the release of balloons as being hazardous to marine life.
“Marine and coastal wildlife can become entangled or trapped in many items such as fishing line, crab traps, balloons with attached string, beach furniture and other types of marine debris. In addition, some of these items may be ingested, leading to further harm,” according to the FWC website. “Monofilament fishing line and other plastics (bags, deflated balloons, etc.) can drift into seagrass beds or snag onto floating vegetation – a sure path to a slow death if a manatee ingests any of these items and is not able to pass it through its digestive system.”
Florida Statute 379.23 prohibits the release of more than 10 balloons within 24 hours. Violation of the law can result in a $250 fine.
Red tide numbers high south of Manatee County
ANNA MARIA ISLAND – While the waters off Manatee County show only background concentrations of Karenia brevis, the bacteria that causes red tide, some areas to the south are experiencing high levels of the toxic algae.
Two local water quality experts agree that while predicting whether the bloom will reach local waters is difficult, nutrients in local waters would likely exacerbate the red tide if it does arrive.
“The reality is in just a few days, red tide (in the south) went from low levels to high enough to kill fish,” said Dr. David Tomasko, executive director of the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program. Respiratory irritation suspected to be related to red tide was reported in Sarasota County on Oct. 19-20 at Nokomis, Venice North Jetty and Venice beaches.
“I never predict,” Tomasko said. “Hopefully, this doesn’t get bigger. The wind is out of the west pushing water toward shore – that’s not going to help us. Water temperature has dropped about 10 degrees Fahrenheit, so that might slow it down.”
Hurricane Ian in late September was an unusual event, he said, creating an environment conducive to red tide growth.
“We’ve never seen a storm as big and widespread. It’s hard to tell what’s going to happen,” he said. “We loaded a huge amount of nitrogen into the eastern Gulf. We can make it worse by adding nutrients.”
He said that high levels of bacteria are in the southern part of Sarasota Bay due in part to wastewater discharges following the storm.
“If you have nutrients in the water and red tide comes toward it, you get a bigger red tide,” he said.
Tomasko said that red tide originates offshore and sometimes will stay offshore.
“The lesson learned from Ian is that we have to get our water quality together and if we do, we’ll be experiencing a lesser red tide,” Tomasko said.
Dr. Robert Weisberg, USF professor of physical oceanography and co-director of the Coastal Ocean Modeling and Prediction System, said depending on currents and winds, red tide may or may not impact Manatee County.
“Right now, the cells observed are showing up in the southern part of Sarasota Bay through Venice,” he said. “The circulation is taking it southward.”
Weisberg said the origin of this red tide is offshore about 100 miles on the continental shelf and the next few months will determine how much the bloom will take off.
“The bad news right now is we have a lot of runoff from land,” Weisberg said. “Once there is a red tide, it makes use of nutrients. If red tide is large enough, it kills fish and the decaying fish feed red tide.”
Weisberg said that with Ian driving offshore red tide inshore in southwest Florida, northern counties could be spared.
“The next period of months will determine how much offshore it is and how the bloom takes off,” Weisberg said.
The USF College of Marine Science and Mote Marine Laboratory have each deployed gliders equipped with sensors to better understand conditions offshore, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Center for Red Tide Research. The information collected will help direct future forecasting efforts.
Summer’s unofficial end comes quietly
ANNA MARIA ISLAND – The official number of visitors to the Island won’t be available for a few days, but this Labor Day weekend appeared to be a more subdued event than last year, when the post-COVID travel boom brought a record number of visitors to the Island.
“We came to Panama City first to visit a friend there, then we headed here,” said Tom Biscontine, who traveled here with his wife, Stacy, from Illinois. “We have a wedding to go to in Bradenton, so coming to the Island was a no-brainer.”
Biscontine says his father was a regular at the Coquina Beach Cafe for years, even having his own reserved chair with his name on it. The couple likes to come to the Island, but says they usually avoid the busy holiday weekends.
“We are surprised, it’s not crazy at all here right now, it’s really nice,” Biscontine said. “We love the beaches here, the people, the food, and, of course, the live music. We love to go see a great band and there are plenty here.”
Both Lt. Lenard Diaz of the Bradenton Beach Police Department and Chief Bill Tokajer of the Holmes Beach Police Department say Labor Day weekends are not typically as busy as the Fourth of July or Memorial Day weekends because children are back in school and it’s a tight window for air travel in that short time frame. Regardless, all the police departments on the Island increased the number of officers on patrol last weekend and got assistance from the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, which not only patrols the city of Anna Maria, but brings in additional officers to Bradenton Beach and Holmes Beach on holidays.
Normally, holiday weekends on Anna Maria Island cause serious traffic issues, but this year, some beachgoers found roads less crowded.
“It took us over an hour to cross the Palma Sola Causeway last year,” Brandon resident Tommy Stamper said. “This year on the same day it took less than 20 minutes.”
According to statistics from Manatee County regarding the tax dollars brought in from the 5% tax on tourist rentals on the Island, the summer months have seen a sharp decline from 2021, showing that the freedom to travel burst after the COVID-19 lockdown has started to level off.
“I know we need our tourists to keep our economy strong, and I love them,” said Maria Nunez, of Holmes Beach. “On the other hand, it’s nice to get to work in just a few minutes rather than planning for chaos.”