Red tide is clearing — but for how long?

After a year of devastation and dead wildlife, red tide may be finally dissipating along Lee and Collier counties' shorelines.

"Our beaches are clear for the present — and maybe this weekend — but we don't want to say the coast is clear just yet," says research scientist Rick Bartleson of the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation's Marine Lab.

Bartleson's lab regularly tests area waters for Karenia brevis, the microorganism that causes red tide, and all of this week's samples near-shore and inshore have shown none of the microorganisms.

"I'll take more samples this weekend offshore and see if we're jumping the gun," he said.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission also samples the state's water for red tide, and issues twice-weekly updates.

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In Friday's, the agency's good news/bad news report for Lee County said in one sentence: "Observations of >1,000,000 K. brevis cells per liter (“high” concentrations) occurred ... in or offshore of Pinellas, Manatee, Sarasota, Lee, and Palm Beach counties," and in the next "K. brevis concentrations decreased in parts of Manatee, Charlotte and Lee counties."

The sampling map, which includes 8 days of data, showed mostly zero or "background" levels of the red tide organism, with a "low" reading west of Cayo Costa Sept. 28 and two "medium" readings at San Carlos Island and Fort Myers Beach from Oct. 1.

The red tide coincided with the worst toxic blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) bloom in Lee County memory, ravaging wildlife, tourism and fishing — both recreational and commercial.

In its wake, Lee County mounted the biggest beach cleanup in its history, hauling off more than 2,000 tons of dead sea life from its shorelines.

For Jimmy Jensen, whose family owns both an old-Florida-style resort and marina on Captiva, the news was welcome. He says things have been looking good on the island recently and business is finally picking back up.

"It really feels great out here this weekend. There's a wedding and a fishing tournament and I've rented a couple (of cottages) to people who've just walked in," Jensen said. "The water is still a little dark , but it's really clear off the dock, and you can see all the sheepshead and crabs."

Tony Lapi, president of the island's 'Tween Waters Inn, is delighted as well. This weekend, a group that's been coming to the resort for decades is there, and though they'd worried about red tide, "They're very, very happy to see the positive news," Lapi said. "We're all real happy."

But Jensen points out that the reprieve shouldn't take focus off working to solve the region's water crisis. "We still have problems we need to fix," he said.

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