It’s hard to avoid stepping on dead fish by the shoreline on Fort Myers Beach lately. The familiar smell of red tide is in the air, and its latest victims are washing ashore.
NOAA satellite images show the bloom stretching the size of Cape Coral, with Sanibel, Fort Myers Beach, and Charlotte Harbor among the hardest-hit areas.
Despite the conditions, Fort Myers Beach was still bustling Tuesday. Some visitors, like Emma Caskey, say the fish kills were much worse over the weekend.
"It was absolutely terrible. I would definitely describe the smell close to, like, rotting garbage. Almost like it was terrible. We couldn't even stay on the beach longer than an hour," said Emma Caskey. "It looks a lot better than it does the other day. And a lot of, like, the wash-up is not as bad today."
But business owners worry about what’s ahead. Tyler Marshall, who manages Rebel Water Sports, says his business was just starting to recover from storms and a slower season.
"Business was slow due to it being off-season, but it just started picking back up now. Now that the red tide is coming back in, I'm worried about getting too bad and scaring some people away from beach," he said.
Over on Sanibel, crews have been out every morning clearing dead fish from the sand and even pulling them from the canals. Near Pine Island, Waterzway Work Boats shared pictures with Gulf Coast News showing loads of dead fish being hauled from the water over the weekend.
The town of Fort Myers Beach says their public works division is checking the sand every morning for fish kills, and Wednesday they plan to keep a crew out there the whole day, raking shorelines.
For now, local businesses are staying open, and visitors are still coming.
"Two years ago, after the hurricane, it was bad. I couldn't be here a minute, but there was mountains of fish. Compared to years ago, it's awesome," said Charlie Compeau, on vacation with his family here.
"Dead fish or not, this place is beautiful," said longtime visitor Sophia Skeeters.
While business owners and visitors alike hope the red tide will clear out soon, officials are urging beachgoers to check conditions before heading out and to avoid prolonged exposure if they experience coughing throat irritation, or other symptoms linked to red tide.