Beach weekend on Anna Maria

by Grace
(Lakeland)

Anna Maria Beach Weekend

Our family loves to take long holiday weekends and explore our adopted state of Florida. Thursday, July 3, found us pulling out of the drive of our house in central Florida heading to a 4th of July beach weekend on Anna Maria Island, near Bradenton Florida.

We’d only been there once before, on a February weekend when the weather decided to channel our native state, Illinois, and approaching the beach was asking to get blown nearly horizontal by 40 mph (and 40 degree) winds. We figured there was no chance of the temperature dipping into the forties in July.

A short drive and supper stop away, we found ourselves crossing the Manatee River into Bradenton, and before we knew it, we were headed across Anna Maria Sound, which separates the Island from the mainland. Anna Maria Island has three communities; from north to south they are Anna Maria, Holmes Beach, and Bradenton Beach. Gulf Drive, which runs the length of the island, continues south to Longboat Key.

I had made reservations for this weekend back in May; I was still able to find a good ($115/night) rate at Angelinos Sea Lodge in Holmes Beach. It was raining as we pulled in to the small establishment, and we wandered a bit looking for the office, which turned out to be the home of the owners, Richard and Lynn. Richard had us sit in his dining room as we completed paperwork, and he took us to our unit.

Each of the four units has a Caribbean Island name and décor. We had the Cancun, the smallest unit. It provided plenty of room, though, for my husband and me and our thirteen-year old, Vince. A small kitchen had a microwave, stove, oven, and half-size refrigerator.

The living room was equipped with a futon that folded into a queen-sized bed, and there was a king-sized bed in the bedroom. The only thing we missed was a large table, since we like to play games in the evenings.

Although we had seen signs prohibiting fireworks on the beaches, we heard from fellow residents that tonight was to be the night for fireworks. Around 9 we headed to the beach (20 feet or so from our unit’s door).

Small and large groups up and down the beach were already setting off fireworks, and kids with sparklers ran back and forth on the sand. One group lit a paper lantern that floated up, made into a hot air balloon by the heat from the flame. We watched it until it disappeared over the Gulf of Mexico.

A policeman on a noisy three-wheeler came up the beach, stopping to tell each group that fireworks were not allowed on the beach. After he moved on and was three or four groups down, the fireworks resumed.

At least two large fireworks display s lit the sky, in addition to the smaller bursts up and down the beach. The weather was perfect. The surf made enough noise to remind us that we were at the ocean, but not enough to drown out our conversation.

Fourth of July morning we were up at our usual time for breakfast in the room. Our family enjoys geocaching, a hobby involving finding hidden stashes using gps coordinates, so we had a morning of geocaching planned.

We especially enjoy geocaching in areas we’re not familiar with, since the locals who hide the caches know all the best spots and lead us to them via our gps unit.

When we get out fairly early (this morning we were on the road by eight), we beat both the crowds and the heat. Our first stop was the Anna Maria Island Butterfly Park. We didn’t see many butterflies out this early, but we did find the cache.

Our favorite cache of the morning took us out to the Anna Maria City Pier, where you can fish or dine at the City Pier restaurant. While we were looking for the cache, we saw a sea turtle looking for handouts from the fishermen—our first sea turtle in Florida.

Later caches took us to at least three spots where we could’ve parked and enjoyed the beach, but we kept seeing people setting up chairs along the roads; we figured this meant a parade was on the way.

By eleven we had made our way back to Angelinos, so when we heard the sirens, we parked outside our room, grabbed our folding chairs from the van, and walked a block to watch the parade.

It turned out to be an old-fashioned community parade. No fancy floats or spectacular marching bands, just lots of golf carts, convertibles, and company trucks passed by, most of them throwing necklaces or candy at the spectators. The parade lasted about twenty minutes, just the right length in my book.

Our necks heavy with Mardi Gras beads and hands full of candy, we walked the short block back to the room and put together a sandwich lunch with the groceries we had brought with us.

Finally, it was time for the main event: the beach! We took our lunches outside to the lounge chairs Angelinos provides for residents. After lunch, Vincent took his boogie board out to try the waves (we’ve never had much luck with waves on the Gulf side of Florida, but the waves today were about the best we’ve seen).

I had grabbed a paperback from the stash left for us in the room, and my husband Steve had a magazine. Angelinos’ yard has mature pine and palm trees providing plentiful shade, which we love, or you can venture out twenty more feet or so and be right on the sand.

Sometime during our lazy afternoon the lady from the house next door came over and said, “We’ll be having a band playing out in our gazebo from 5 until 8. Just let us know if the music bothers you.” Steve and I exchanged dubious glances, but when the band actually started up, they were quite good, and not unpleasantly loud. We enjoyed their whole performance.

My perfect Fourth of July needed only to be topped off by a dinner on the beach at sunset. Café on the Beach is a moderately priced restaurant at Holmes Beach. It’s not fancy—you’ll order at a window and find your own seat. The view, though, can’t be beat, especially around sunset.

Be sure to take plenty of cash; we had only credit cards and had to waste valuable time finding an ATM. If you have big eaters in your group, there are often all-you-can -eat deals here; my husband had the unlimited fish and chips, and if you feel like hitting the beach early, you can get all-you-can-eat pancakes and sausage here every morning.

As we watched the sun sink towards the horizon amidst the glorious oranges and reds of a Gulf sunset, the setting was marred only by the caterwauling of the country-western artist the Café must have hired for the Fourth of July crowds, singing along with his tracks of standards.

The next morning we were up for more geocaching, southward on the island this time. Coquina Bay Walk at Leffis Key was our first stop. It was still early and the parking lot was empty, but the park was open and we enjoyed a peaceful early morning walk with only the birds for company. Continuing southward, we crossed to Longboat Key, the next barrier island south of Anna Maria.

Parking at a beach access on the extreme north of the island, we took an early morning stroll on the beach. It was disappointing to see that the 4th of July revelers from last night had left their litter of spent shells (the exploding kind) and fireworks all up and down the beach, totally ruining the effect of the soft white sand and the beautiful blue water.

We headed north and after a short walk we were beyond the trash and back in unspoiled nature. Several couples were out early shelling (the natural kind) or fishing, and we enjoyed seeing the water birds as we continued all the way to the point of the island.

After enjoying the quiet and the view, we continued on to Joan M. Durante Park. We would not have known about this park if not for our geocaching hobby; it is sites like this that make geocaching such a great pastime.

This beautiful little park had a playground, several picnic sites, a lushly planted and welcoming botanical garden, and boardwalks and trails that crisscrossed the restored mangrove and wetlands ecosystem.

In order to retrieve all of the caches here, we hiked pretty much the whole park. Driving back to Anna Maria Island, we decided to check out the Farmer’s Market we had spotted earlier in Bradenton Beach.

After strolling through the twenty or so booths that were still open, we realized that all the walking had given us an appetite, even though it was barely 11.

We stopped in at Big Olaf’s Ice Cream Shop and Kite Store. The only “real” food Big Olaf sold was hot dogs, but a Chicago style hot dog sounded great to all of us right then, so we chose the meal deal which also got us chips and a cold drink, then splurged on ice cream. Steve had a traditional banana split, while I had a peanut butter and chocolate sundae concoction that was just about too good to be true.

Although this should have been the time to work off all that ice cream, we heard the ocean calling us once again. After returning to Angelino’s, Vince grabbed his boogie board and I grabbed my paperback.

We were all set. From our shady spots in Angelinos’ back yard, we watched a family on the beach filling up an inflatable pool with a hose and another group with one of the niftiest kites we’d ever seen: a buccaneer pirate ship with sails and a spinning tail.

Later I went in the water with Vince; together we saw a dark cloud in the waves. As we went to investigate, the cloud became a giant school of fish, moving from north to south.

Vince waded into the middle of the school and it flowed around him like a river and moved on. The water was warm; the sun was hot. Tomorrow we’d be back to home and work, but right now, on this perfect Gulf weekend, time stood still.