Not only did Hurricane Debby push water onto the streets and sand into Times Square and down Old San Carlos, the storm also carried and huge amount of red drift algae from the Gulf and deposited it onto the beach. Mayor Dan Allers would like the smelly red stuff cleaned up as soon as possible.
Some of the reddish looking gunk brought in tangled up debris, most likely from Hurricane Ian, when it washed upon the beach. Right now the town is evaluating how it can clean the mess up. Town Manager Andy Hyatt says he’s tasked staff with hiring a contractor to remove the gunk.
The first order of business was for Turtle Time to check on every turtle nest across the entire 7-mile island. There were 109 nests to check on. The state informed the town that no cleaning or raking machines were allowed on the beach until Turtle Time checked on those nests. It took until Thursday to complete the task.
It may look and smell like gunk but its nature’s way of replenishing and preserving barrier island shoreline and after removing manmade debris, should be left to do its job. To rake and haul this organic material away while spending millions to bring in sand from elsewhere is both insane and expensive. City of Sanibel does not rake and haul. We shouldn’t either.