'Secret' island open to tourists has gorgeous beaches, turtles and amazing food
There are 32 steps from our apartment on the Gulf of Mexico to nature’s most luxurious thick pile carpet. Kick off the flip-flops and let your feet sink into silky soft sand that makes anyone want to walk for miles and miles as far as the eye can see.
This shimmering shoreline on Anna Maria Island in Florida stretches from the north at Bean Point, evoking thoughts of Robinson Crusoe castaway paradise, to the magnificent nature reserve of Coquina Beach in the south.
We are staying at the Mainsail Beach Inn on Holmes Beach where children play in shallow warm water and stand on the nearest sandbar to see stingrays, sea trout and redfish swim past in deeper channels.
Foil surfers fly a couple of feet above the waves. Never heard of it? We’re in the same club. The latest ocean excitement gets its name from the hydrofoil attached below the board.
Waterline Villas and Marina - Anna Maria Island (DAILY MIRROR)Squadrons of pelicans glide above the azure waters looking for fish. Suddenly one peels off, soars a little higher and dives for dinner. At the water’s edge, sandpipers chip away for food with long probing beaks, dancing elegantly backwards and forwards with the rolling waves.
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Most captivating of all are the turtles shuffling from one dune to another to rest out of sight. It’s turtle season so dozens of them are laying thousands of eggs.
Ed Chiles is a leading force in preserving these extraordinarily natural surroundings. He’s all about sustainability and his staff are eco-conscious at his restaurants The Sandbar and the Beach House on Anna Maria and Mar Vista across the bridge on Longboat Key. We are sitting at the water’s edge under centuries-old buttonwood trees at Mar Vista while discussing how vital it is to respect and look after the environment.
Ed sends bins full of leftover food to his nearby Gamble Creek farm where Zach and his wife Natasha – as passionate as Ed about entirely natural products – turn the waste into fertiliser for crops of vegetables, edible flowers, papaya, bananas and much more organic produce.
Beautiful Anna Maria Island, Florida (Shutterstock / Noah Densmore)For years the restaurants threw away grouper collars (the neck of the fish) but Ed stopped that and has these fishy bits deep fried. They are mouthwateringly good. Clams are served up in a delicious sauce of wild boar, fennel and cream. But, Ed explains, clams are not just being farmed locally for the dinner plate. Clams and oysters form filtration systems to clean water to support seagrasses for fish and manatees.
Our two-bedroom apartment in Mainsail is very comfortable in one of its elegant, pale yellow clapboard buildings
where Matt, Rhoda and John make every guest feel at home. Many people tell me they’ve been coming to the island annually for 10, 20 and even 30 years.
Seafood delights at Sandbar restaurant, Anna Maria Island (DAILY MIRROR)A young man told me how his mother, a nurse, fell in love so much with Manatee County she travelled here when she was seven months pregnant to give birth to him. It worked out so well she had a second son in nearby Bradenton a few years later. The boys were American citizens and the whole family moved over to start their successful businesses.
The county takes its name from the Manatees who are languid, friendly creatures growing up to nine feet and weighing around 1,000lb from grazing on seagrass and other aquatic plants. Bradenton is the “friendly city” with parks, fine dining and walks along, you’ve guessed it, the Manatee River.
Its residents, blessed with mostly daily clear blue skies, are of sunny dispositions. Even the foreboding-sounding Mexican festival Día de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead, is turned into a party. We joined a cheery bunch in the art district.
Manatee, Crystal River (Shutterstock / Thierry Eidenweil)Copying Mexico, there’s street food, beer and wine and lots of music to welcome back souls of deceased relatives for joyous reunions. It takes place in Bradenton streets lined with 1920s and 1930s cottages where folk artists throw open their doors to studios, galleries and even homes to sell paintings and crafts. Mexican mariachi and brass bands lift the spirits, so to speak, and outside one gallery a Latina with a beautiful voice gets young and old salsa dancing up and down the sidewalk to welcome their ancestors.
For the second half of our stay we move to one of 30 luxurious two-bedroom villas at Waterline Marina Resort, which is on the island’s bay side. To get around the island we hire a golf cart from Robinhood Rentals. Strange name for a Floridian business. It turns out the owner is Mark Toomey, who lived near Nottingham before following his American dream 16 years ago. Driving around in a cart gives an extra sense of freedom and closeness to the surroundings. We loved it.
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We pull up at a beach on Anna Maria where Beach Suites set up two lounge chairs, a large parasol, a cooler with ice along with towels, a giant game of Jenga, a paddleball set, a frisbee and plenty of SPF50 sunscreen. It was like having a butler on the beach.
The following day we park our cart by the City Pier to board Paradise Boat Tours. Within 20 minutes we’re watching dolphins chipping crustaceans loose from the dockside of some multimillion dollar homes. They curiously follow our boat and swim at high speed to fly out of the water to perform aquabatics.
Rod and Reel Fishing Peel, Anna Maria Island (Getty Images)Captain Jim and his first mate Kirk sail under the Cortez Draw Bridge where we spot a magnificent roseate spoonbill – it had flamingo-pink shoulders and a yellowish green head. A sea osprey with close to a 6ft wing span flew overhead gripping a large fish to feed on for days in its nest.
At the end of our 90-minute voyage we step on to the pier and directly into the Anna Maria Oyster Bar where brothers Lynn and John Horne provide super-fresh sea food meals. Lynn gets his oysters from beds along the Gulf Coast of Florida, Alabama, Texas and Louisiana. Raw or cooked, there’s a delicious taste of the sea.
Seven hundred are sold every day in the bar – and don’t miss out on the clam chowder. The Chateau Restaurant at the Waterline is a mix of the best of American and European dishes from the owners Buddy Foy Jr and his wife Jennifer who’ve recently moved to Anna Maria from New York State, where they still have the award-winning Chateau On The Lake in Bolton Landing.
The couple are very hands-on with their chefs cooking succulent prime cuts on an open grill and fresh seafood with pasta. America’s jetBlue airline has made it very easy to fly to New York from Bradenton for those who would like to flop on beautiful beaches and shop in the Big Apple on the way home. It takes just two-and-a-half hours to land at JFK to take in one of the world’s greatest cities. We did just that too.
Book the holiday
- British Airways and Virgin Atlantic fly from London to Tampa, Florida, starting at £423 return. britishairways.com virginatlantic.com
- Rooms at the Waterline Villas & Marina, Autograph Collection in Anna Maria Island start at around from £395 a night room-only. marriott.com
- Two bedroom apartments at the Mainsail Beach Inn in Anna Maria Island start at around £648 a night room-only. mainsailbeachinn.com
- Robinhood golf cart rental from around £412 for one week. robinhoodanamaria.com
- Thrifty car rental from £268 for one week. rentalcars.com
- More info bradentongulfislands.com
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