Manatee, Sarasota tourists a little ‘irritated’ by red tide bloom

Greg and Barb Liberto, tourists from Pittsburgh, Pa., got an “irritating” surprise when they woke up Sunday in their rented luxury condo on Longboat Key, just south of Manatee County.

“We were bummed,” Barb Liberto said. “We could smell dead fish. It was awful.”

The shoreline in front of the Liberto’s condo was littered with small dead fish whose decomposition was causing a choking odor along with mild respiratory irritation.

The Libertos jumped in their car and escaped 20 minutes north, to the Manatee County Public Beach, where, at about 10 a.m. Sunday they were sunbathing and said they didn’t smell that same pungent smell.

“It’s beautiful here,” Greg Liberto said, explaining that they were not going to let decomposing fish dampen their vacation.

What, literally, irritated the Libertos and other tourists on Sunday was a very strong bloom of the red tide organism, Karenia brevis, which was observed in coastal areas of Manatee and Sarasota counties, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission website, myfwc.com.

The website regularly updates red tide status throughout the state.

The commission indicated Sunday that red tide was found in very high concentrations in Manatee and Sarasota, causing respiratory irritation and possible fish kills.

“I know there is a little (red tide) down in Sarasota,” Gary Morse, a FWC spokesman, said Sunday.

Although the Manatee County Public Beach seemed pleasant to the Libertos on Sunday, red tide was present there and on Coquina Beach, just to the south, according to the Twitter account of the Manatee County government’s Public Safety division on Sunday.

“Red tide is prevalent on both beaches on Anna Maria Island,” the tweet stated. “People with respiratory problems should avoid the area.”

Fish kills and slight respiratory irritation has been reported in Manatee and Sarasota since Sept. 19, according to myfwc.com.

At the same Longboat Key condo just over the Manatee border into Sarasota County where the Libertos were staying, Ella Ramsey of Clearwater was braving the smell along with her children — Bev Stiles, a registered nurse from Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Md., and Ed Ramsey from Clearwater.

They were on beach chairs just a few steps from the Gulf of Mexico.

“As soon as I walked down to the edge of the water,” Stiles said when asked when the smell hit her. “It was today and yesterday. We got here Saturday. It attacks your nose and sticks in the back of your throat.”

“Nasty” was how family friend Josh Breon, 8, described the odor.

But the smell didn’t keep Josh from playing at the shoreline with a long shovel.

“You get used to it,” Josh said of the smell.

“I would rather have dead fish than jellyfish,” Stiles added.

“Do you know how long it will be here?” Stiles asked about the bloom. “We’re staying a week.”

In answer to Stiles’ question, myfwc.com predicts a southern movement of water over the next few days, which could mean some relief for Manatee and Sarasota counties.

Native Floridian Bud Robinson and his wife, Joyce, didn’t seemed fazed by red tide. The Palmetto couple were at Manatee County Public Beach enjoying a brilliant blue sky on Sunday morning. Neither was experiencing any respiratory distress.

“The only dead fish we did see, there weren’t very many (about 10), and we walked a mile and a half south on the beach,” Bud Robinson said.

This story was originally published September 25, 2016 at 7:18 PM with the headline "Manatee, Sarasota tourists a little ‘irritated’ by red tide bloom."