Anna Maria Island With Toddlers

Use the bay side

The island is only a few blocks wide in most places, so switching coasts takes minutes. West is the Gulf: gentle most days, but still open water with surf and the occasional rough afternoon. East is Tampa Bay and Sarasota Bay: shallow, protected, warm by late morning, and flat enough that a two-year-old can wade out a long way and still be standing.

You also get mangroves, wading birds and regular dolphin traffic, all of which hold a small child's attention far longer than an empty horizon does. Use the Gulf side for sunset and the bay side for the mornings when nobody is in the mood for waves.

Where to go

The sand, the shade and the walk

• The dry sand is soft and defeats stroller and wagon wheels alike. The damp strip at the waterline is firm enough to walk and push along.
• Most island accesses are a street end and a dune crossing rather than a lot beside the sand, so expect to carry a small child part of the way. Backpack chairs are the reason your arms are free to do it.
• Coquina is the one beach with real natural shade. Everywhere else, the umbrella is the shade, so plant it deep and angle it into the breeze.
• Set the umbrella for where the shade will be in two hours, not where the sun is now.
• Sunscreen at the house. Applying it over sand at the beach is a fight nobody wins.

Check two things before you go

• The flags. Manatee County flies warning flags at the guarded beaches. Double red means the water is closed, single red is a high hazard, yellow is moderate, green is calm and purple means dangerous marine life.
• Red tide. A naturally occurring algae bloom that appears on this coast periodically. It can irritate eyes and throats and leave dead fish on the sand, it moves around, and one beach can be unaffected while another a few miles off is not. Both the county and the state wildlife agency publish current conditions, so check the morning you go.

Short outings that hold up

• The free trolley, end to end and back. It costs nothing, it is dry and air conditioned, and a small child will treat riding it as the day's main event.
• Dolphin watching at the Coquina boat ramp, twenty minutes, free, and often successful.
• The shaded paved path from Cortez Beach down to Coquina Beach: flat, separated from traffic, with the water beside you the whole way.
• Leffis Key, across from Coquina: shell paths, boardwalks and a small hill with a view over the bay. Half an hour, and almost nobody else is there.
• A short cart trip to the beach access or to Bridge Street. Everyone gets a seat and a belt, and you skip the parking problem that makes every island outing longer than it should be.

Leave the beach the way you found it

The island expects the sand to be clear overnight, and it is a sea turtle rule before it is a tidiness one. Take everything home with you, including the umbrella, fill in every hole the children dug, and knock the sandcastles down. From late spring through October, nesting turtles and hatchlings have to cross this beach in the dark, and a hole is a genuine problem for them.

Common questions

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