Manasota Beach

Manasota Beach, at the north end of Manasota Key Road, is kind of like the beach that time forgot. The picnic shelters are still painted in that peach-and-teal color scheme you hardly see anymore. This beach has gotten bigger over the last decade, as sand has migrated south from beach renourishment projects. Local children go skimboarding in the afternoon, although it can get a little dodgy when the shore is crowded. There's practically no sandbar at Manasota Beach, which means the water gets deep quickly, and there's less room for bathing and playing. A lone lifeguard tower looms over a few hundred yards of public beach.