Thanks to all who have posted photos of the beaches over the last days. It has been a nice distraction from all the bad news and expressions of anger (including my own). I look forward to the time when the questions are directed where they belong and we can return to beach dreams here. Say, the beaches look higher and fluffier in the recent photos, or is it just my imagination? Did the high surf from Katrina's passing redeposit sand bars onto shore, or maybe this is the result of all those imported white sands being distributed by the high surf? Have there been any reports of red tide or scores of jellyfish onshore? Anyway, the photos are lovely and we were once again so very fortunate.
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How's the beach?
- Thread starter DBOldford
- Start date
I will let SJ, Kurt, and other locals give the official report but from our observations it looks like the beach at Eastern Lake is net positive. I'm sure it depends on the topology (elevation etc) of the exact beach. In some areas even on the little stretch in front of Ramsgate, there is evidence of both net positive and net negative but it does not look worse in any place since Dennis pictures IMO. The net positive look that I saw may be because the scraped piles were flattened back out and spread over the beach area in front of them.
The condos and houses on the gulf front that were damaged as a result of Dennis do not appear to be any worse off from Katrina. Again, this is just based on the post Dennis pix that we saw on this board and now our in person visual inspection.
The good news for our little area is that SoWal County has reconfigured the Eastern Lake channel where Eastern Lake flows into the gulf and the gulf access at the end of Eastern Lake Drive/Gulf Drive (west side of the lake) has new steps and can be used for great access to the lake or the gulf!!! The Ramsgate access has not been repaired yet and I do not expect it to get repaired until the gulf front condos and houses are repaired and after the H "season".
The water is clear in most cases, not much scrap on the beach, no jellyfish (yet), but I heard someone say something about the "red tide" but we have not seen evidence of it (not sure I know what red tide is?). Water is calm and warm.
The condos and houses on the gulf front that were damaged as a result of Dennis do not appear to be any worse off from Katrina. Again, this is just based on the post Dennis pix that we saw on this board and now our in person visual inspection.
The good news for our little area is that SoWal County has reconfigured the Eastern Lake channel where Eastern Lake flows into the gulf and the gulf access at the end of Eastern Lake Drive/Gulf Drive (west side of the lake) has new steps and can be used for great access to the lake or the gulf!!! The Ramsgate access has not been repaired yet and I do not expect it to get repaired until the gulf front condos and houses are repaired and after the H "season".
The water is clear in most cases, not much scrap on the beach, no jellyfish (yet), but I heard someone say something about the "red tide" but we have not seen evidence of it (not sure I know what red tide is?). Water is calm and warm.
wintersbk
Beach Fanatic
Red Tide Report:
RED TIDE CURRENT STATUS REPORT (September 2)
Present Status: A Florida red tide has been detected this week in St. Vincent Sound and western Apalachicola Bay. Water samples collected from Franklin County contained low to medium concentrations of Karenia brevis, the Florida red tide organism. Fish kills were reported in Gulf, Franklin, and Wakulla counties, and respiratory irritation was reported in Gulf and Franklin counties. Low to high concentrations of K. brevis were detected last week at several sites off the coast of Taylor and Dixie counties, and a sample collected this week from the Florida Middlegrounds contained low concentrations of K. brevis. It is unknown if this bloom is continuous with the current southwest Florida bloom. Monitoring will continue.
http://research.myfwc.com/features/view_article.asp?id=12628
RED TIDE CURRENT STATUS REPORT (September 2)
Present Status: A Florida red tide has been detected this week in St. Vincent Sound and western Apalachicola Bay. Water samples collected from Franklin County contained low to medium concentrations of Karenia brevis, the Florida red tide organism. Fish kills were reported in Gulf, Franklin, and Wakulla counties, and respiratory irritation was reported in Gulf and Franklin counties. Low to high concentrations of K. brevis were detected last week at several sites off the coast of Taylor and Dixie counties, and a sample collected this week from the Florida Middlegrounds contained low concentrations of K. brevis. It is unknown if this bloom is continuous with the current southwest Florida bloom. Monitoring will continue.
http://research.myfwc.com/features/view_article.asp?id=12628
TooFarTampa
SoWal Insider
Oh, dear. We do not want this in SoWal.
It's been down here for months and months. Appears fairly regularly, yearly or maybe every other year, but this episode has been bad. It's a microorganism of some sort (Aquaticbiology can you help?) but isn't really known to hurt people. It is "blooming" due to the very warm waters in the Gulf. I seem to remember that we had a warm winter and the waters didn't cool down that much, so this year we've had a longer and more intense episode in the Tampa Bay area and points south.
While it doesn't hurt people generally, it kills lots of fish, and dead fish stink, driving away tourists. Also many people complain of stinging eyes and throat when they walk the beaches. But nobody walks the beaches because they stink.
It isn't this way every day, and it varies in intensity for sure, but it has been a big tourism problem for our area down here. A) it cuts down on the enjoyment of the beach. On bad days nobody wants to be there. And B) You start to run into the question of whether to warn renters about it ahead of time. You don't really know when it will be bad or when it will go away, but lots of people have flown here and been really angry that the beaches are in this condition during their vacation and nobody told them ahead of time. The hotels are being hush-hush. I would like to think that rental companies in SoWal would handle it better.
Bottom line, let's just all wish for October so things can cool down a bit and hopefully we won't have to see it this year ... or ever.
It's been down here for months and months. Appears fairly regularly, yearly or maybe every other year, but this episode has been bad. It's a microorganism of some sort (Aquaticbiology can you help?) but isn't really known to hurt people. It is "blooming" due to the very warm waters in the Gulf. I seem to remember that we had a warm winter and the waters didn't cool down that much, so this year we've had a longer and more intense episode in the Tampa Bay area and points south.
While it doesn't hurt people generally, it kills lots of fish, and dead fish stink, driving away tourists. Also many people complain of stinging eyes and throat when they walk the beaches. But nobody walks the beaches because they stink.
It isn't this way every day, and it varies in intensity for sure, but it has been a big tourism problem for our area down here. A) it cuts down on the enjoyment of the beach. On bad days nobody wants to be there. And B) You start to run into the question of whether to warn renters about it ahead of time. You don't really know when it will be bad or when it will go away, but lots of people have flown here and been really angry that the beaches are in this condition during their vacation and nobody told them ahead of time. The hotels are being hush-hush. I would like to think that rental companies in SoWal would handle it better.
Bottom line, let's just all wish for October so things can cool down a bit and hopefully we won't have to see it this year ... or ever.
Smiling JOe
SoWal Expert
wintersbk said:
Yes, it causes respiratory problems in animals which live in the water. Red tide pretty much cuts off the supply of available O2.
Smiling JOe
SoWal Expert
Red Tide
Karenia brevis(a.k.a. - Red Tide) produces brevetoxins that are capable of killing fish, birds, and other marine animals. Bottom-dwellers such as groupers and grunts are usually the first fish to die in a Florida red tide, although most fish are probably susceptible. Mortality, in terms of numbers killed and species affected, can be severe and is dependent upon factors such as bloom density and the length of time animals are exposed to the toxins.
Brevetoxins may also cause health problems in humans. The toxins accumulate in shellfish that are filter-feeders, such as oysters, clams, and coquinas, and may reach levels capable of causing neurotoxic shellfish poisoning (NSP) when ingested. NSP is a temporary illness characterized by gastrointestinal and neurological distress. Symptoms include nausea and diarrhea; dizziness; muscular aches; and tingling and numbness in the tongue, lips, throat, and extremities. Symptoms of NSP usually appear within a few hours of eating contaminated shellfish and disappear within a few days. Brevetoxins can also irritate eyes and respiratory systems when the toxins become airborne in sea spray; the irritation disappears once a person is no longer exposed. Other public health effects caused by red tides include puncture wounds from spines when beaches are littered with dead fish and, rarely, contact dermatitis from exposure to brevetoxins in seawater.
Karenia brevis(a.k.a. - Red Tide) produces brevetoxins that are capable of killing fish, birds, and other marine animals. Bottom-dwellers such as groupers and grunts are usually the first fish to die in a Florida red tide, although most fish are probably susceptible. Mortality, in terms of numbers killed and species affected, can be severe and is dependent upon factors such as bloom density and the length of time animals are exposed to the toxins.
--we ate in Apalachicola and both suffered most of these symptoms shortly thereafter...lasted about 24 hours and then gone...thank god!Thanks for this info, Smilin' Joe. I had these exact symptoms for about 24 hours while at the beach last year, had just enjoyed a dinner of various shellfish and this was almost three weeks after Hurricane Ivan. It was really scary, because in addition to very bad nausea and the other grim stuff, I had these neurological symptoms combined with a very high fever. My husband was ready to take me to the ER at Sacred Heart. Well, the good news is that I'm not allergic to shellfish. Now that would be REALLY scary!
I have been told that we shouldn't let our dogs swim in the lake or at the surf's edge when there is a red tide condition. And of course one shouldn't let their cat swim in the lake when it exists, no matter hard hard they beg. (Holiday weekend...really silly.... :laughing1
I have been told that we shouldn't let our dogs swim in the lake or at the surf's edge when there is a red tide condition. And of course one shouldn't let their cat swim in the lake when it exists, no matter hard hard they beg. (Holiday weekend...really silly.... :laughing1