UPDATE ON COMMERCIAL USE OF "NARROWS" SOUTH END

CAYO COSTA IN PERIL: SIGNS, SIGNS, EVERY WHERE SIGNS

Remember when you could pull up in your boat, anchor off the narrow south beaches of Cayo Costa and enjoy a peaceful time with nature? Not any more. The state park officials are allowing Captive Cruises to negatively impact the resources on this fragile part of Cayo Costa State Park, this has to stop. Now there are signs everywhere and PA systems announcing the boat's arrival like you are some Disney theme park. This has to stop.

Remember this? The photo below is the way the beach used to look like along the now heavily traveled stretch. These photos were taken about 1.2 miles north and show a healthy dune system growing along roots stretching toward the Gulf:

Like clockwork at 9:30 AM and 1:30 PM plus other times unannounced you will hear the loudspeakers of the 50' long Captiva Cruises charter boats arriving at the tiny "south dock" with up to 52 passengers at a time. That's up to 104 people per day times 30 days a month times 365 days per year coming the the narrowest part of the island, only 300' wide. They disembark between the only 5 private houses on the south beach end of the island (there are about 2 miles along this stretch) on an illegally permitted dock and walk along a path where mangroves have been sawed back and native leaves and such have been raked away as inconveniences. They have turned this into Disney on Cayo.

The Captiva Cruises customers walk along the sand dune roots and pick up bags of shells. The shorebirds don't come there anymore during the day. The protected nesting snowy plovers don't nest along this stretch of beach anymore. The charter captains sit at the path but can't control where these people go once they leave the vicinity. The only bathroom is the head on the boat but most are way down the beach. Where do you think they go to the bathroom? Many of them trespass on private property.

Here is a photo of the continued destruction of the sea oat systems:

NOTE: These dunes will NEVER grow forward with this much human impact ruining their root systems. Basically they are stunting the growth of a healthy beach and this is wrong.

Above is the beach path with the lone clump of dune left after the people have trampled down the rest of the dune line. I staked this clump off and it is growing. Too bad it is not flanked by other sea oats to complete the chain and protect Pine Island Sound.

This beach only saw about a dozen people per day on weekdays but now there are 100 per day at least. Here is a view looking one way which another large group heads the other way.

Here is a "nest" made by a Captiva Cruises guest who left it on the beach. Now there are many holes and mounds of sand left on the beach, the ghost crabs are not having a good time and are affected by this impact. The seagrass washup is important for the sustainability of the beach and it's critters. Does this look like "wild Florida?" No, a bird did not build this.

Just a few miles further north are the State Park facilities designed for large groups of people. The same Captiva Cruises boats could travel a few more minutes and dock here where it makes more sense. Here there is a tram to take them the mile across five ecosystems of the island to the beach. There are bathrooms and concessions rentals and snacks to buy. This is where large groups should be dropped off for a wonderful Cayo Costa experience.

Here is what the Captiva Cruises staff do when they are on Cayo with their customers (staff member sits under umbrella behind the sand dune line) . They sit and maybe get up a couple of times but they do not and can't monitor what is going on along the beach. There is no control over this.

Meanwhile, below,  here is a Captiva Cruises customer trespassing on private property. They have not been instructed as to what the mean high tide line is. The state put "stay off dune" signs up and down the beach that talk about how important healthy dune systems are to the beach erosion problem. They need to be placed at the mean high tide line so people stay off the private property and stay forward of the advancing root systems.

Funny thing is no one ever used to worry about property lines or dune systems until all these people started coming at the end of January. Now there are signs up everywhere  which is unsightly and unecessary if they move these groups to the designated areas at the Park a bit further up the island.

If you care about what Cayo Costa SP's south beach will look like next year or in 20 years, let me know. Our group is working to seek a solution to stop this destruction. Please stay tuned and join us!

CAYO COSTA STATE PARK IN PERIL: SAVE THE DUNE LINE!

After several days of constant observation, we are more convinced than ever the commercial use of the south end of Cayo Costa State Park is taking a negative toll on this fragile end of the island.

NO NESTING SNOWY PLOVERS - This time NO plovers at all were observed along at least 2 miles of beach where constant human impact is now the norm. Two weeks ago there was one pair about a mile north of the path coming from the illegally permitted dock Captiva Cruises uses to offload up to 100 people per day. This past week, no snowies were observed at all.Last year there were many nesting pairs all along this stretch of beach. They are GONE.

EMERGING DUNE LINE CONTINUES TO BE COMPROMISED - The tour operator can't  keep people away from the dunes because it is impossible to watch them when they go wherever they want to. Because of this, the frontal boundary of the sea oat dune line is still being severly compromised to the point it will never grow forward. Sea oat roots trav

el and rely on uninterrupted root growth to grow. We are posting photos that show the negative impact hundreds of people are having on an area of the island in just 7 short weeks.

SAVING THE LONE DUNE HOLDOUT - I took matters into my own hands to try to save one dying sea oat cluster that remains at the GAP where the commercially used path spills onto the beach. The negative impact Captiva Cruises is having on the island has the potential to create a weak point where a washover (in the event of a storm) can split the island. I staked out this sea oat and watered it and it is showing signs of life. I also posted a sign to remind people to please stay off the dunes. As you can see from most pictures taken this past week, it's not doing much good. I hope this dying sea oat (with trash imbedded in the plant I left there to show everyone how no one cares to pick it up from the commercial tour boat group)  becomes a poster child for enlightening people to the cause.

PRIVATE BOATERS DON'T FEEL WELCOME - The illegally permitted, non ADA compliant dock has a gate that is always closed. Originally it was locked but they unlocked it because of pressure from media and those of us who pushed to question how they could lock the public off their own land. There is also a locked gate we hear at Don Pedro State Park. We spoke to more than 8 boaters who had to tie off to the mangroves and beach their boats up in the mangroves to get to the beach because they do not think they can use this dock. Mangroves are what hold the island in place, is this a good practice? The gate structure should be removed to these people feel welcome and should be able to tie off. SEE LAST PHOTO BELOW, THERE IS NO PLACE FOR PRIVATE BOATERS TO TIE UP EXCEPT TO  RED MANGROVES..these mangroves are just growing back after being completely destroyed by Charley in 2004.

LARGE TOUR BOATS TEARING UP GRASSFLATS - We observed Captiva Cruises boats revving the two outboard engines so much to reverse off the sand (low tide) it churned up the sand badly. They take a heading over the grassflats in an area that is only about 2 to 3 feet deep in spots, too. As a result there is a "hole" where these motors are dredging material from the bottom and marks where the twin hulls are parked. This tiny dock is not appropriate for large vessels and we believe tearing up the bottom and grassflats is illegal, right?

NO COMMERCIAL USE OF SOUTH END OF CAYO COSTA - The south end of Cayo Costa is very fragile. The south point is eroding and it is important to have large groups use the north end docks and infrastructure designed to handle so many people at once. Visiting the south end by small boaters is the way it has always been and should remain.

CAYO COSTA STATE PARK: EMERGING DUNE LINE DESTROYED

In just a few short weeks this image shows the damage that has been done to the sea oat emerging dune line on the south end of Cayo Costa. You decide for yourself if it's appropriate to offload up to 100 people per day on a non ADA compliant, illegally permitted dock onto what was a very pristene beach that was truly a protected piece of "old Florida". There are no facilities here, if you are a mile down the beach where do you go to the bathroom? If a storm comes up, where do you go? If you need emergency medical services, where do you go? Now there are NO LIMITS as to how many people they can bring at a time, how many parties/events/tents they can have up or any restrictions. This can only mean one thing for the south end of Cayo Costa, already under stress coming back from Charley in 2004...huge impacts that severly limit the ability of this part of the island to regrow and provide healthy habitats for protected nesting birds, turtles and native foliage.

WHO HAS VISITED CAYO COSTA ISLAND'S SOUTH BEACH?

Cayo Costa State Park is the largest, relatively undisturbed barrier island in Florida.  It is part of the Charlotte Harbor Estuarine System and a critical storm barrier that protects the mainland and Pine Island in Lee County, FL. With the exception of about two dozen private homes it looks much the same as it did when the Calusa Indians lived in the area many years ago. The north end of Cayo Costa State Park has infrastructure t designed for handling large groups of people and is where large charter boats normally land. It has big docks, restrooms, trams to take people to the beach and ADA compliant services.

A newly built, very tiny, illegally permitted dock installed in January 2016 by Captiva Cruises on the south "narrows" end of Cayo Costa island has begun to offload up to 100 people per day over a narrow part of the island exactly where Hurricane Charley hit in 2004. The south end HAS NO FACILITIES.  When they first built this dock it was locked so that none of the private boaters who traditionally used it could access the public property. After a call to the media, the state unlocked it but warned that "if the public got in the way" the lock would go back on.

This dock was arranged for and is being condoned by the Park Service who's work it is to protect the natural resources. As a result of this assault, an emerging dune line and protected snowy plover nesting areas have been destroyed. This path is between several private properties and people are trespassing on their properties. As well, there are Pre-Columbian Indian mounds in the area with evidence of tampering since this happened.

In just a few short weeks hundreds of people have trampled the beach that was once pristene without this new commercial use and concentrated impact. Since that time,  critical sand dunes and foliage have been destroyed. On February 27 and 28th Captiva Cruises held a private event/party for their clients and erected a huge tent, dragged equipment over the beach and served alcohol on state property.

If you remember the beach on the south end, it was very pristene and a true testament of how Florida used to be. This is a bridgeless island and the normal usage was day trippers who come by private boat and "leave no trace" behind except a few feet prints. IT DOES NOT LOOK LIKE THAT ANY MORE.

Take up to 100 people per day = up to 3,000 per month x 2 feet and you have up to 6,000 feet as opposed to about 6 to 12 people per day over the same area. This is a huge change for the island's resources. As well, they have chopped down native vegetation and raked a path clean to the beach which is the equivalent of chopping an interstate system across the island. This is the narrowest part of the island commonly called "the narrows" and an area which is very fragile. Stanley Herwitz stated in his "Natural History of Cayo Costa" (1971) this would be the next place to "breach"  should in a water-event storm.

If you care about preserving Florida's largest undisturbed barrier island from commercial use on the south end, follow this blog for more information. Write the park service, voice your concern for the island because at this rate of impact it will become commercialized to the point of extinction. Now there are no limits as to how many groups they can bring, how many events/tents they can put up or how much use this illegally permitted dock can receive. The park has the infrastructure for groups on the north end where it's about a mile wide and has facilities designed for group visits.

Keep the group visitors on the north end, no groups on the south end. Continue the visits all over the island by locals and other private boaters who love and respect the island. Don't lock them off!

Thank you for caring.

The photo image on the left is from 2012 showing how the visitors respected the beach foliage which keeps the island intact. The railroad vine (shown left) and sea oats (which are protected species) are being destroyed.










The images below are what it looks like today after just over a month of excessive use. Notice the ATV tracks above the dune line made by park staff showing complete lack of respect for the island resources. This has to stop.

If you are used to well traveled public beaches this may look normal to you but if you are a frequent visitor to Cayo Costa's south end you will be shocked to see what is happening to this land...There are NO MORE islands like this in Florida. The most critically imperiled bird species such as snowy and Wilson's plovers along with turtles nest on these beaches. They are coming here because all of their other habitats are overtaken by buildings, lights and many, many people. Cayo Costa is the only place they have been thriving and numbers increasing with each year. We can't allow this to happen.