Red Tide Florida

[Rwnorton]

Is anyone cruising the ICW on the west coast of Florida, between Clearwater and Naples? What has been your experience with the Red Tide? Is it making you wish you were elsewhere ?

 

[Dale777]

Rwnorton,

I am currently at my condo on a canal next to Fort Myers Beach. There is no sign of red tide at all in this area. The beaches and canals are absolutely clear of any dead fish. Water in my canal and along the beaches is the clearest that I have seen in years. I assume that is because the releases from Okeechobee are minimal for some time now. In the summer both red tide and blue-green algae were haunting SW Florida. It appears that the blue-green algae is gone and the red tide is very isolated in some areas north of where I am.

The official report in my area is moderate to no red tide from this link:

https://www.fortmyers-sanibel.com/curre ... conditions

This link gives beach and water conditions all along SW Florida, with some areas quite a bit north of me still reporting significant red tide:

https://visitbeaches.org/

This link gives red tide current status all along SW Florida:

http://myfwc.maps.arcgis.com/apps/View/ ... 1d16462a72

 

[GA-Midnight Cruise]

We were in Clearwater, Saturday, Sept 15 and offshore was putrid. The amount of dead sea life was alarming. Tens of thousands of dead eels, Hogfish looked like ice cubes reflecting in the sun as far as the eye could see on the horizon. The stench was horrific and the sea spray was revolting. We ran north and came inland and returned.