Anna Maria Island, off the west coast of Florida near the mouth of Tampa Bay, has been a popular beach vacation destination for more than 100 years. More than 100,000 visitors annually sunbathe on the island’s beaches and enjoy its corporate-free old Florida attitude. If you’re planning a trip to AMI, or if you’ve already been there, you might want to learn a few things that make the island unique.
Here are five little-known facts about Anna Maria Island:
- The island has quartz beaches: Many first-time visitors are surprised by the powdery white sand that covers the beaches of Anna Maria Island. There are two very different ways that white sand can form. The first is through the collection of crushed seashells and washing them ashore over millions of thousands of years. The second is a rare phenomenon in which quartz rock is eroded by streams in high mountain ranges and washed out to sea. AMI’s sand comes from a combination of erosion in the Appalachian Mountains reaching the Gulf of Mexico and seashells. In addition to the soft white sand, quartz is also a poor conductor of heat, which means that the beaches on Anna Maria Island don’t get as hot as other beaches.
- 8 mile long beaches: Although AMI is about 7 miles long; the beach stretches around the northern and southern edges of the island to create over 8 miles of unbroken beach. The northwestern beaches face Tampa Bay, while the southwestern beaches face Sarasota Bay.
- AMI is 3,000 years old: It is impossible to predict exactly how old Anna Maria Island is. However, carbon dating and soil samples taken by the University of Florida suggest that the formation of the land mass dates back approximately 3,000 years. AMI is a barrier island formed by sediments washed ashore from the mainland. The northern parts of Anna Maria Island are the oldest, and the island continues to expand southward. Some southern parts of the island are less than 200 years old.
- Bean Point named for the settler: Anna Maria Island’s first beach travelers arrived in the late 1800s. George Bean settled at the northernmost point of the island. He and his associates used steamboats to ferry tourists from St. Petersburg to enjoy the then isolated island. Bean Point still offers a nearly 270 degree view of the Gulf of Mexico and Tampa Bay.
- Sea turtle nesting area: Millions of green and loggerhead sea turtles made their great seaside journey on the beaches of Anna Maria Island. In any given year, up to 200 turtles will build nests on AMI’s beaches. A typical nest contains 60 to 100 eggs.
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