Planning a trip to Sanibel/Captiva and I am concerned about the red drift algae because we have a daughter with asthma.

I know the algae has not been an issue the last couple of months but I know the last 2 years it was a real problem on Sanibel. I just want to know what we are in for if another algae outbreak occurs.

I would love to hear from someone that "lived" through the algae and know exactly how bad was it. Did you have throat/respiratory irritation? Even if it was on the beach could you smell it up by the pool areas?

Thanks for your help.

ksanders, there's a ton of comments regarding this very subject on the Sanibel Forum of tripadvisor dot com. We were at Sanibel last September, no problem with red tide or red algae ... and I think next-to-no problem since then, just a bit. Good luck ... it's a wonderful destination.

If there is an outbreak, it could get bad for your daughter but if there is not one, there will not be a problem.

ksanders, we had a problem with red tide on Florida's east coast this year - it caused a great deal of coughing and we all lived on throat spray and lozenges for a while.

Unfortunately, there's no way of telling when red tide will appear or how long it will stay. The state of Florida does post info about current red tide status here:
http://research.myfwc.com/features/v...le.asp?id=9670 , so you can check beforehand.

I was in Naples once when they were having what the called "red tide." It was bad. I couldn't be near the water.

We have been at Sanibel during red algae outbreak and also during red tide.

Red drift algae is messy and somewhat smelly but did not cause any respiratory problems for us. It seems to be more of a nuisance than a health hazard.

Red tide was different. We were at Sanibel a couple of years ago during a moderate red tide. There was no odor from the red tide itself (but there were numerous dead fish that had washed up on shore killed by the tide that we occasionally caught a whiff of). While on the beach we coughed a lot (as did the majority of other people on the beach), our eyes itched and watered and our throats were irritated. If the pool is on or very near the beach your daughter could still have problems. On the days when it was bad, we spent our time indoors reading and enjoying the view, visited Ding Darling or shopping along Periwinkle. Although it is not a frequent problem you might want to check on red tide status a week or so before you go. The NOAA, Mote Laboratories and Florida Fish and Wildlife Research sites usually have up-to-date information available.

Despite occasional red algae and red tide, we love Sanibel and wouldn't hesitate to go back.