Giuseppa

We have just returned from a week's vacation in Longboat Key, Florida near Sarasota (8/6-8/16). Upon booking our accommodations, no one warned us about the "red tide". Immediately upon our arrival at the beach, we began coughing and sneezing and the odor was unbearable and we noticed that no one was swimming in the Gulf. We decided to leave the beach and walk to the pool. While walking, we noticed many dead fish (large and small) along the coastline of the water. Upon inquiring to the "locals" we were informed that it was the "red tide" that was causing us to feel as if we were having some sort of sinus attack. It seems that there is some sort of "toxic algae" in the Gulf Waters that is causing the sealife to die and thereupon "toxic spores" permeate the air and that is what is causing the problems to humans. The hotels and the tourism industry seem to be keeping very "low key" regarding this problem. But people should be made aware because it is a very serious health hazard especially to those who already suffer from respiratory problems and also to young children. It is very sad for the environment. Other than this problem, Sarasota is beautful and the people very friendly.

GoTravel

Mother Nature can be harsh huh?

The Red Tide is nature's way of culling the weak and sick and thinning out the enviroment.

milemarker0

Sorry to hear that it was in bloom during your stay, but because it is unpredictible you never know when/where it will bloom again....if you do a search on red tide here, you'll see that this issue has been discussed numerous times in that area....including a link to a web site that tracks the bloom.

Tandoori_Girl

"Upon booking our accommodations, no one warned us about the "red tide"."

I'm so fed up with uninformed IDIOTS who are just now discovering red tide -- someone's supposed to tell you about it? Well why don't you 1) read the hundreds of newspaper articles or 2) read the eons of posts on fodors. You are posting here and are a semi-regular but if you had researched your trip you would have read any number of posts AD NAESUM on red tide. Jeez! Do an itty bitty search so you can get a grip.

Sorry but I have no pity for you. Especially because you post on fodors. You have been amply warned. Warned. Warned. On this board. Many, many posts.

leelane911

TandooriGirl, I think you are being harsh and rude to Giuseppa. It is easy to miss posts on here, and you do not know how often this person posts. To imply that someone is an idiot is out of line. They may not have been on Fodor's recently for one reason or another!

Patrick

Calm down, Tandoori Girl. Being a resident of Florida's gulf coast, like you, I am bombarded with information about red tide. However I am constantly, but only mildly surprised when I hear from someone who has never heard of red tide. If one doesn't know the problem, why would one be likely to look it up -- or for that matter, how would they know to do so? If browsing through Fodor's, why would they be any more likely to look at a post titled "red tide" than they would one that said "purple forest"?

I wonder if someone from Oregon or Wyoming or anywhere else would be equally appalled at you for not having heard about the latest wildlife problem in their state and if they would quickly call you an idiot if you mentioned it when you finally heard about it?

Tandoori_Girl

To travel without researching what and where you're going might be someone else's idea of planning, but it isn't mine. If I were going to Montana or Wyoming I would be prepared. And I wouldn't be blaming others that "no one warned us about" wildfires, black bears, the weather, or whatever. I don't think it's the responsibility of the reservations agent to tell me the status of the local environment when I make my reservations.

Spyro

Well slap my mouth and call me stupid because I read and post here regularly, including numerous posts about the gulf as I go to Destin, and Pensacola beach, and this is the first I have heard of the Red Tide.
I highly respect your knowledge Tandoori Girl, and even have directed a post to just to you, but this was very rude and uncalled for.
I wonder how much you know about my area, or the west coast? Or England?
I felt slapped when you addressed that poster too.

Tandoori_Girl

Spyro, you're telling me you're in Destin and this is the first you've heard of red tide? That is sad. I wonder what it was then that made you open this post -- a football fan maybe? Or just another one of those many Florida red tide fodors posts that you've been reading. And reading. And reading.

Spyro

I also must add that I go half blind researching areas before I go anywhere. I get booklets, write the area visitors information, get travel books, go to trip advisor and read every forum I can find.
I repeat...I have never heard of Red Tide.
Until today.

Tandoori_Girl

Here's an article from today's Tampa Tribune:

http://tampatrib.com/MGB41NS2ECE.html

Spyro

What made me open this post? THIS which I just read TODAY.
<Is the Gulf water similiar to the Caribbean?>
.
Sarcasm doesn't become you.

viamar

I guess I'll take this opportunity to warn anyone who might be planning a trip to the Monterey Bay. We've been having red tide on and off all summer. while it's not as toxic as the east coast red tide it does cause sinus and throat problems if you swim in it. It's also nasty looking.
Local marine biologists are trying to figure out why we've had so many this year. It's normal for them to occur every now and then, but this year has been horrible.
Our local waters have been warmer than usual which could be a cause. Trying to figure out why the water is warmer w/ out an El Nino is another problem. One thing is for sure though, red tide is not a good thing for the tourist industry.

Spyro

Viamar, we are supposed to go to the shrimp festival in Gulf Shores in Oct. How can they have all that seafood for sale if this is still a problem? How long does red tide usually last?
I'm concerned as we love the area, but certainly don't want to go at red tide.

viamar

I don't think the Gulf Shores shrimp festival is located in the Monterey Bay area, so you should be fine.
Around here red tides usually last a few days and don't return for a few months, this year hasn't been usual though.

OO

Spyro--first, currently red tide extends only as far north as Hernando and Pasco counties, just north of the Tampa Bay area. It does not affect the entire Gulf, and even in these areas, you may have it on one location and not another two miles away.

Secondly, it is perfectly safe to eat fish, shrimp, crabs, caught during a red tide outbreak (providing of course they are caught live which is always the case ) as the toxin is not absorbed by their edible flesh. Harvesting clams and oysters is banned in areas affected by red tide because they can accumulate enough toxin as to be harmful to humans.

There is scads of information on red tide. Google google google. I read something here yesterday about someone describing reddish water at Mexico Beach and seaweed washing up (NOT an indication of red tide). A self appointed marine biologist on that thread attributed it to red tide! Geez louise! Here on these boards, far more than with even the normal press, please please please don't believe everything you read! I also read on that thread that you planned on canceling your October Panhandle visit because of it. Even if it were there, and it isn't, it would be foolish to alter plans now. I wouldn't even think about it for the Tampa Bay area where it is currently a problem. It could be gone in a week...probably won't be, but could.

We've just moved away from there but were back the beginning of July, spending a week on our boat. The most we ever experienced even in the area of bloom was some very mild sneezing...like an allergy irritation. The water was not red, and I've only seen it sort of reddish once or twice during a bloom. The first time I ever encountered it, Lido Beach about 8 years ago, the water looked lovely and normal. I couldn't imagine why I suddenly developed a tickly cough on the beach.

Don't change your plans for October and again, pullleassse do not believe everything you read here!!

Spyro

00

Thanks for all the information, and I also have been googling. I won't be canceling my plans after finding out more.
I appreciate the time you took to help out the uninformed. I hope as time goes on and I vacation more down there,(I just love it) and read more I won't be quite as ignorant to these things.

joan

Yesterday I took a walk at Sand Key park in Clearwater. This is a county run park with lifeguards, snack stand, etc, all the amenities. They clean up this beach every day. The unaware would never have known that Red Tide was there. But it was. The water was a brownish/green color, there were zero fish jumping, and I could hear people coughing and sneezing. I wanted to see if RT was just in my own backyard (Treasure Island) or if it was still in the Clearwater area.

The bottom line: it seems to be all over the place. When the dead fish are raked up daily (as in front of hotels and public parks) you hardly notice it. But on my residential beach, you can't help but notice all the lovely creatures that lay dying or dead. It is breaking my heart! I have not had a "beach day" in over four months (other than one weekend where we just ignored it because we had company). My lifestyle has changed!

But you know what, TGirl, not everybody knows about it. Ignorance is bliss! I see little kids picking up the dead fish and filling their sand pails, happy as clams! I think that is why Guiseppa's hotel did not warn him. Many people don't realize it - especially if the dead fish are removed. And I still have not seen any FIRSTHAND accounts of "severe health" problems - hay fever type symptom only, which decrease immediately upon going indoors or leaving. "Young children" are no more susceptible than anybody else. OO is right, don't believe everything you read!

ilisa

Then call me one of the idiots because I've never heard of red tide until I opened this post. I've been travelling to Florida all my life since my family is down there, but never go to the Gulf. They've never mentioned it to me. I read the newspaper every day and have never noticed any of the hundreds of articles on it. I've been away from Fodors for a few years until recently, and this is the first post I noticed on it - the title intrigued me. Sorry for my exquisite idiocy.

Patrick

I'm still trying to figure out why a person from "up north" would be called an idiot for not knowing about red tide. I just looked through a list of the past 100 topics that come up when you hit Florida here. I'm sure that red tide may be mentioned in a couple of them, but oddly enough none that I found. People may research here for hours on Florida and get tons of information on transportation, flights, hotels, resorts, restaurants, activities -- and NEVER once come across a mention of red tide. Most people coming to Florida for a week don't just happen to go to the Tampa Tribune site to check on things, much less enter the word "red tide" when they've never heard of such a thing.

I haven't looked at a Florida guidebook in a while, but last I knew there is no mention anywhere in any of them about red tide.

My entire family comes from Ohio and they all visit down here often, but when I mentioned red tide at a family gathering this spring, NOT ONE had a clue what I was talking about. Why would they? Do you think the Dayton Daily News posts front page reports of it? When was the last time you saw CBS or NBC with a special evening report on Red Tide?

So let's be a little open minded here and give people the benefit of the doubt rather than call them idiots because they don't happen to have the superior knowledge that you have.