Is the water in SW Florida always murky?

[esk444]

Hi, I just came back from a week in Bonita Springs at the Hyatt Coconut Plantation. It was the first time I've ever been in the Florida Gulf Coast. I visited about 5 beaches (Naples City Beach at 5th Ave and at the Pier, Ft. Myers Beach, Bonita Beach, Big Hickory Island, Sanibel Island-Tarpon Bay Road) and each one of them had brown, murky water, except for the beach in front of the South Seas Plantation resort on Captiva. The water there was more like green tea and quite pleasant.

The water was the most brown, almost like chocolate milk in the two public beaches we went to on Sanibel Island. Is it always like that, or just in the summer? Or did I just hit a bad time to go?

 

[Judy]

The water isn't very clear on Ft. Myers Beach because it's too near the river and shore-side of Sanibel and Captiva Islands. But the water in most of the other places you mentioned is usually nice. Maybe you were seeing effects from the recent tropical disturbances in the Gulf or heavy summer rains. In summer, the Gulf water can be very warm in Southwest Florida.

 

[b2bailey]

Murky Water on Gulf Side -- definitely not the norm.

I fell in love with the clear, almost-warm water on Anna Maria Island on New Years Day. Around Naples, we only had clear water most of the time. So, for whatever reason, I'd say the murky water was an anomaly.

 

[fillde]

Coincidentally my husband was at Siesta Key yesterday and said the water was murky. I will be there tomorrow and give a report. Update- Siesta key is a beautiful beach. Always in the top 10. But the water is murky. I beleive it is seaweed concentration. The water is very warm. 89 degrees. The gulf will enable a hurricane to really flourish.