Manasota Key Beaches on BeachHunter.net |
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Manasota Key - Sarasota / Venice / Englewood, FloridaManasota Key is a quiet island south of Venice, Florida. The northern and central part of the island, located in Sarasota County, is completely residential. A narrow road snakes its way along the Key past island homes, many of which have their back yard on the bay and their front yard on the Gulf. The southern part of the island is in Charlotte County and has more development, with a few condos, restaurants, and shops. The southern tip of Manasota Key is occupied by Stump Pass Beach State Park. Includes Manasota Beach, Blind Pass Park, Englewood Beach, and Stump Pass Beach State Park.
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At left is Manasota Beach, looking north. Further to the north is Caspersen Beach, with its very natural and secluded shoreline. Manasota Beach has lifeguards and facilities and fairly well maintained picnic areas. This is a favorite beach for egg-laying sea turtles. This is a popular beach, but most visitors don't venture far from the lifeguard tower. There is a lot of beach to walk and no condominiums, businesses, or restaurants. |
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This photo is looking south at Manasota Beach about a 10 minute walk from the lifeguard tower. There are a few homes set back behind the vegetation with wooden stairs leading to the beach. A very quiet beach indeed. |
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The upper beach and lifeguard tower at Manasota Beach. Looking to the north. |
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Covered picnic table at Manasota Beach Park. |
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The beach at Blind Pass Park, one of my favorite beaches. It too is very quiet, but does attract a good weekend crowd. There is no town or significant residential development close by, just a few beach houses. |
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Blind Pass on Manasota Key has lots of vegetation on the upper beach. It has some of the most prolific sea grape trees around. I enjoy sampling the sea grapes here every summer. There are lots of flowers to be seen and plenty of gopher tortoises, rabbits, lizards, and birds of all kinds. |
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A hot summer day on Blind Pass Beach. |
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At left is another photo taken at Blind Pass Park. This is an old dilapidated beach cottage damaged by storms. The photo was taken just before sunset on a warm May evening. There are several old buildings here, one is being restored, and there are some very old wooden cisterns under a large strangler fig. You don't see many of those around any more. |
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Wooden cisterns from the old days. Water was hard to come by on the islands, so collecting rainwater was very important to survival. |
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My beach chair and umbrella at Blind Pass. This was a very peaceful evening with a magnificent sunset. There were no seagulls on the beach so the ghost crabs were scurrying about everywhere, hunting for dinner and fearlessly defending their turf. Check out the Gulf; it just doesn't get any calmer than this. |
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Englewood Beach at Chadwick Park. This is Englewood's public beach and not long ago was completely renovated with new sand, boardwalks, facilities, and a very large parking lot with pay stations. |
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The beach at Stump Pass Beach State Park. Notice the dead Australian pine trees. They are being killed by the state as part of a habitat restoration project because they are non-native vegetation. Unfortunately, they were the only real shade available. Most native beach vegetation in Florida does not grow high enough to produce good shade. In the distance is Stump Pass, a narrow pass between this beach and Palm Island, which is accessible only by boat and has a number of beach homes. The park is about a mile long and has no buildings beyond the restrooms, which are located by the parking lot and entrance. Boaters visit the large treeless beach at Stump Pass. Lots of sea turtles lay their eggs on this beach. |
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Looking across Stump Pass, you can see the northern end of Palm Island, also known as Little Gasparilla. Palm Island island is accessible only by boat. See my photos of Palm Island, Florida here. |
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