Coastal Breeze News

By Craig Woodward The former Coconut Island was a traditional place to raft up your boat, along with your friends’ boats, on a lazy Sunday afternoon and have a cookout on the beach while everyone swam and simply relaxed. It was a beautiful location – just north of the future Hideaway Beach, due east of Isles of Capri, situated in the mouth of the Marco River and the view to the west was of the Gulf of Mexico and the setting sun. Hurricane Donna created Coconut Island in 1960 when the south tip of Cannon Island was cut off; over ... Read More »

By Coastal Breeze News Staff In order to learn more about endangered sea turtles of the Florida coast, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Fish and Wildlife Research Institute hosts two sea turtle monitoring programs. Outlined at myfwc.com, the Statewide Nesting Beach Survey (SNBS) and the Index Nesting Beach Survey study and track nesting patterns of the five species of sea turtles that nest along Florida’s beaches. According to myfwc.com, “The Statewide Nesting Beach Survey (SNBS) program was initiated in 1979 under a cooperative agreement between the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and the U.S. Fish and ... Read More »

By Coastal Breeze News Staff  Baylor Rodman was on vacation recently with his family for his annual visit with his grandparents, Ed and Marianne Valvano. Baylor went out for a day of fishing and fun on the water with his father. They were off Coconut Island near Hideaway Beach when he caught something. As he reeled in the catch, passer-by’s were in awe of the catch, a 5-foot sawfish! They immediately took a photo and released the fish. “We knew the fish was rare, but didn’t know who to contact,” said Baylor’s father. Ed Valvano contacted Coastal Breeze New who ... Read More »