Beach check · straight from FWC
Is There Red Tide Today?
Before you haul the cooler, the chairs and the umbrella you swear you'll use this time: here's what Florida's red tide scientists found in the water at every sample site from Anna Maria to Manasota Key.
No red tide above background.
Background or none. Go. 20 FWC sample sites in Manatee and Sarasota counties, newest sample Oct 28.
Snapshot from FWC data, built Nov 1, 5:12 AM ET. Refreshing live…
Beach by beach, north to south
- Skyway Fishing Pier; South (Lower Tampa Bay) Manatee CountyClearnot present/background (0-1,000) · sampled Oct 26
- Fletcher Point (Lower Tampa Bay) Manatee CountyClearnot present/background (0-1,000) · sampled Oct 26
- Anna Maria Island Rod & Reel Pier (Lower Tampa Bay) Manatee CountyClearnot present/background (0-1,000) · sampled Oct 26
- Palma Sola Bay Bridge Manatee CountyClearnot present/background (0-1,000) · sampled Oct 26
- Longboat Pass Boat Ramp (Sarasota Bay) Manatee CountyClearnot present/background (0-1,000) · sampled Oct 26
- Longboat Key Beach Sarasota CountyClearnot present/background (0-1,000) · sampled Oct 26
- Ringling Causeway Sarasota CountyClearnot present/background (0-1,000) · sampled Oct 26
- North Lido Beach Sarasota CountyClearnot present/background (0-1,000) · sampled Oct 26
- Lido Beach Casino Sarasota CountyClearnot present/background (0-1,000) · sampled Oct 26
- South Lido Park Sarasota CountyClearnot present/background (0-1,000) · sampled Oct 26
- Siesta Beach Sarasota CountyClearnot present/background (0-1,000) · sampled Oct 26
- Turtle Beach Sarasota CountyClearnot present/background (0-1,000) · sampled Oct 26
- Nokomis Beach Sarasota CountyClearnot present/background (0-1,000) · sampled Oct 28
- North Jetty Sarasota CountyClearnot present/background (0-1,000) · sampled Oct 28
- Venice Beach Sarasota CountyClearnot present/background (0-1,000) · sampled Oct 26
- Service Club Park Sarasota CountyClearnot present/background (0-1,000) · sampled Oct 26
- Venice Fishing Pier; N of Sarasota CountyClearnot present/background (0-1,000) · sampled Oct 26
- Brohard Beach Sarasota CountyClearnot present/background (0-1,000) · sampled Oct 26
- Manasota Beach Sarasota CountyClearnot present/background (0-1,000) · sampled Oct 26
- Blind Pass Beach Sarasota CountyClearnot present/background (0-1,000) · sampled Oct 26
Levels are FWC's cell counts per liter: background is up to 1,000, very low up to 10,000, low up to 100,000, medium up to 1 million, high above that. FWC only shows samples from the last eight days, so a beach that wasn't sampled this week drops off the list. Source: FWC Fish and Wildlife Research Institute.
Three more checks before you go
- What it's like right now. FWC samples are lab results from earlier in the week. Mote's Beach Conditions Reporting System is updated by people standing on the sand: smell, coughing, dead fish, flags and seaweed.
- The next few days. NOAA's red tide respiratory forecast covers our beaches when a bloom is around.
- Eyes on the water. The surf cam links in the strip at the top of every page go straight to the Siesta, Lido, Venice, Anna Maria and Englewood live streams.
All clear? Grab breakfast on the way: the sweet treats map, local seafood markets, or this week's outdoors stories. New in town for the season? Snowbirds, start here.
We're a local blog, not a lifeguard. If your throat says leave, leave.