MANATEE, Fla.-Red Tide off Sarasota and Manatee counties enters week three, and things are not looking up.
Red tide isn't just leaving marine life dead, it's also taking a toll on businesses in the impacted areas.
Dan Neumann and his wife Rochelle are the owners of Cortez Surf & Paddle Shop.
They said they should be out on the water giving a tour or cashing out rentals, but instead their rental units are docked and their August calendar for rentals is empty.
“Ninety-fve percent of our business is guided tours, rentals, paddle boarding, kayaks. We are completely shut down,” said Rochelle. “Summer time is our prime season. It’s when people want to get in the water.”
The Neumanns said they have felt the red tide's impact of their business. They've had to lay off four part-timers, Dan took a part time job, and Rochelle plans to look for a job too. For now, they’re pushing bike rentals and repairs.
“It was good until now. Our business was growing doing quite well. Great place to put people in the water until the water goes bad,” said Rochelle.
The Neumanns said they set up their surf shop at Cortez’s Fishing Village two years ago, after the blue-green algae destroyed their surf shop business in Stuart on Florida’s east coast.
Rochelle said they chose Cortez because it was 100 miles north of the Lake Okeechobee discharges.
As soon as they learned Red Tide was off Manatee County beaches they stopped renting.
Mike Holderness, owner of Beach Villas, 200 rental properties on Siesta Key, said he’s seen current and future business take a sharp dive.
“Our phone went from ringing off the hook to completely stopping,” said Holderness.
The Neumann’s said every day with no one walking through their door is one day closer to closing their surf shop.
“We’ve dumped everything we have financially, physically, emotionally everything into this business…now we are at zero,” Rochelle said.
Business owners said they wondered if red tide cleared up tomorrow how long will it take for visitors to come back--if they come back at all.
Mike said it’s taken a year to regain the tourism traction that was slowed by Hurricane Irma last September.
You can keep track of those movement forecasts by clicking here.
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