Swim at your own risk.
It’s summertime and beating the heat in a pool or at the beach sounds refreshing.
But for the young and the elderly, pools can be a fatal attraction and floating devices aren’t always the answer.
And, there are no lifeguards on most of Anna Maria Island’s beaches.
Sgt. Mike Jones, who heads a team of eight deputies in Anna Maria who routinely patrol the beach, warns parents and the community to keep children close and watch out for the elderly.
He believes vacation rental homes are in compliance with pool safety laws. But anyone who notices an unsafe pool enclosure should immediately notify the property manager.
At the MCSO substation, a block from the beach, Jones said his “biggest concern” is beach safety — especially for riptides.
A rip current is a strong channel of water that flows seaward near the shore in breaking waves and can pull a swimmer out to sea.
If caught in an undertow, Jones said, “don’t resist the rip current and go with the flow” before swimming out of the current and then to the shore.
Signs at Anna Maria beach accesses advise beachgoers on the hazard.
“But many people say they don’t see the signs, or if you’re from Germany or France, you might not understand and jump right in,” Jones said.
With a blink of an eye, a person can disappear in the current.
Some Anna Maria cases in point:
- April 22, 800 block of South Bay Boulevard. A 4-year-old boy went into a pool at a rental home, initially unnoticed. The family had just arrived from New Hampshire for a vacation when his brother alerted his father to the endangered child. The father performed CPR until first responders arrived.
- April 26, Bayfront Park, 316 N. Bay Blvd. An elderly woman was floating on a noodle float in the bay when emergency responders were called to her rescue. “It’s unclear if that was a medical event,” Jones said.
- June 23, 100 block of Spring Avenue and the Gulf of Mexico. Courtney Blankenship, 40, a visitor from Lithia, lost her footing and a riptide forced her under water near the Sandbar Restaurant, the MCSO reports. She was rescued by friends, family members and emergency responders.
The Islander’s archives also show: - In June 2017, police reported a 25-year-old man from Lakeland, Joseph Teston, found unconscious 20-30 feet from the beach near the Sandbar and later pronounced dead.
- Dushay Nelson, 14, of Winter Haven, was found dead July 6, 2013, after disappearing in the surf between Willow Avenue and the Sandbar Restaurant.
- Two days earlier, 12 young swimmers were caught in a strong northerly current near Sycamore Avenue, but rescued.
- In August 2010, an adult brother and sister, Gerard Hernandez, no age given, and Josefina Pardo, 71, died after they were pulled under water north of the Sandbar Restaurant. Two other family members survived.