Why I Love August on Anna Maria Island

I love August on Anna Maria Island. It is softer, a little quieter and yes, in fact, a little warmer, but there is something about that pause before school starts that makes the whole island feel wonderfully unhurried. The lazier days of summer, even though they don’t seem quite so lazy when you have a 7-year-old.

A Quieter Side of Anna Maria Island

By August, the pace around Bradenton Beach begins to shift. You can pretty much park wherever you want, get into a restaurant without a big wait and enjoy the kind of open-ended morning that feels increasingly rare. There is no need to hurry through breakfast or plan every stop. You can just see where the day takes you.

And because August is Leo season, it is also my birthday month. Not to be a Leo about it, of course, but where do I want to go when it is time to celebrate? Where I want to pretend to be a tourist? I want crystal-clear water, a mask and snorkel, and a few hours when there is nowhere else I need to be.

Those Crystal Aqua Blue Mornings

If you start early, not always, but often, the Gulf is still and clear. The water turns that impossible crystal-aqua-blue color that doesn’t really have a proper name because it is just so perfect. It is one of my favorite versions of an Anna Maria Island beach day.

We went out this past weekend to celebrate another Leo friend’s birthday, and the Gulf kept offering us one little gift after another. Manatees passed by. Schools of fish moved through the water. We snorkeled in the shallows and found hermit crabs and sand dollars, then swam to the sandbar within a few minutes and stood waist-deep in the water.

You feel like you are part of it instead of apart from it. Gah!

Four Hours, One Umbrella and Plenty of Sunscreen

The Gulf water in August is warm, but just cool enough to feel refreshing. Add an umbrella and you can actually sit there for four hours minimum instead of 4 hours maximum, watching the water and letting the day stretch out around you.

I am not a huge sun girl. If you saw me, you would know, I am as pale as can be. So I recoat my sunscreen every couple of hours, which leads to a little plug here: Cove carries eco-friendly, reef-safe sunscreen, including a mineral powder and a spray-on option whoop whoop.

So many sunscreens can leave residue that affects the environment, along with our skin and bodies, in a negative way. Choosing reef-safe sunscreen is one small way to be more thoughtful about what we bring into the Gulf waters we love. If you are visiting Cove on Bridge Street before your next beach morning, you should check it out.

Turtle Nesting Season on the Island

August also falls right in the middle of sea turtle nesting season, which runs from May through October. This past weekend, we saw around 15 turtle nests along the beach, each one protected by small stakes so people know not to step into the nesting area.

Seeing those marked nests is a quiet reminder that the beach is not only ours. We are sharing it with sea turtles making an ancient journey back to shore. If you are lucky enough, you might even see a nest hatch one evening.

Give the nests space, pay attention to the markers and leave the beach as gently as you found it. That is part of loving this place, too.

Put Your Toes In

August is one of my favorite months of the whole year on Anna Maria Island. Before school starts, if you ever get the chance, come experience it. Even if you don’t have kids. Even if it isn’t your birthday month. Even if you only have one quiet morning.

Park near Bradenton Beach, find your way to the Gulf, put your toes in and look around. Maybe the water will be perfectly still. Maybe a manatee will pass. Maybe you will swim out to the sandbar and, for a little while, feel part of it all.

Isn’t that why we come to the water in the first place?