BRADENTON BEACH – Folks flocked to Bradenton Beach and the south end of Anna Maria Island to celebrate the Fourth of July.
At 9:30 a.m., a short line of vehicles towing personal watercraft and boats waited to put in at the Coquina South boat ramp. The recently fire-damaged dock along the north side of the ramp was closed but the ramp itself remains open. In orderly fashion, boats, personal watercraft and kayaks entered and exited the water as a sunny Saturday morning unfolded.
At the south end of the Coquina South boat ramp property, families and friends set up tents along the Sarasota Bay/Intracoastal Waterway shoreline, while others enjoyed the solitude of fishing from the seawall near the Longboat Pass Bridge.
By 10 a.m., the South Coquina boat ramp parking lot was nearly full, as was the North Coquina boat ramp just up the street.
Across the street at Coquina Gulfside Beach, beachgoers were setting up tents and settling in for a day at the beach. Social distancing was practiced to varying degrees. Some groups and individuals maintained greater distances and others preferred to be in closer proximity to one another.
Just offshore, a pair of parasailers took to the sky and a Coast Guard plane flew along the Gulf of Mexico shoreline. Under the shade of the Australian pines, several groups gathered with family and friends for Fourth of July picnics.
To the east, several boats gathered offshore of Jewfish Key, with several boats flying American flags in honor of Independence Day. Other boaters preferred to beach their boats at nearby Beer Can Island.
To the north, the scene was similar on a smaller scale at Cortez Beach. Beachgoers and beach accessories lined the beach and sightseers and fishermen stood upon the nearby groin the extends out into the Gulf of Mexico.
A little further north, more beachgoers gathered near the Anna Maria Island Moose Lodge and the BeachHouse restaurant.
On Bridge Street, restaurant patrons enjoyed lunch and adult beverages, pedestrians walked the sidewalks, some wearing masks and some not, shoppers perused the retail shops and the Drift In bar was open for takeout and package service only in accordance with the governor’s current restrictions.
At 12:30 p.m., a trio of tow trucks passed by Cortez headed south, possibly awaiting calls for their services as legal parking spaces became more difficult to find.
