Points of difference: Bradenton and Anna Maria Island
Florida’s west coast offers a host of unusual and rewarding experiences
Toes-in-the-sand dining and adventures on the water: Anna Maria Island and Bradenton, halfway down the west coast of Florida, offers a compendium of indulgence in alluring natural surroundings. Yet this is a location with roots – as you discover at the area’s own 19th-century fishing village, Cortez.
“There is never a dull day in this community – the fish house will keep you hopping.” So says Karen Bell of A P Bell Fish Co, the family firm that she now runs.
The warm waters of the west coast of Florida have long provided a rich harvest of seafood – which tempted her ancestors from North Carolina in the late 19th century. And today, the fishing industry is thriving.
“When people drop by to visit, especially at the fish houses, and they see what we do, they’re always amazed because it does seem more like just a tourist destination, but there’s a lot of work going on here too.
“We literally ship seafood throughout the world.”
Fortunately, some of the marine dividend stays around to supply the many local restaurants – the closest of which is just a stone crab’s throw from Karen Bell’s fish house.
At the Star Fish Company Market & Restaurant, the sea-to-table options include blackened grouper served with cheese grits – preceded in my case by stone crab chowder, which is served in season only, from October to April. Demand for a table in the sun is so strong you may have to wait in line; the motto here is “no hurries, no worries”.
Many more menus await just across the bridge on the island. At the Anna Maria Island Oyster Bar, I shared some of the Gulf bivalves with restaurant owner John Horne – who in turn shared his feeling each time he crosses the bridge.
“You sit up a little taller, you feel like nothing’s weighing you down. You’re on the beach – I think the only thing that upsets people is if you don’t say hello when you pass them on the beach. You’re going to have a margarita, you’re going to relax and enjoy it.”
The oyster is your world at this location, but across the island, you can relax and enjoy that margarita – along with a steel dish of clams – as you wiggle your toes in the sand at the Sandbar. The restaurant merges with the beach, and each evening the clientele applaud another magnificent sunset.
I strayed over to the Waterfront, on the opposite shore of this long, thin island, for a main course of tender tuna. The location is a 1922 cottage, partly constructed from timbers from old ships. In the next street along, Pine Avenue, repurposing is an art form.
“I resell vintage or ‘pre-loved’ items,” says Linda Dietrich – one of 30 independent retailers at the Pineapple Marketplace, a cooperative. “Everything from coastal decor and jewellery to clothing, glassware, handbags. You could do a lot of one-stop shopping if you look around.”
Elsewhere on the street, which calls itself “the greenest little Main Street in America”, you can buy a bag repurposed from billboard advertising vinyl or a bracelet made from recycled fishing lines.
Time to get out onto the water? Choose your vessel.
“We got a hard tide right now and I’m dancing around,” says Captain Chris Bailey of Anna Maria Island Dolphin Tours. We are looking for these highly intelligent cetaceans in Sarasota Bay.
“Our average depth of water is three to five feet for almost a 40-mile stretch, he says. “That makes it unique for dolphins. They don’t have to work as hard to hunt.”
As we scan the horizon, Chris explains their Florida lifestyle: “They’re very social, but they’re like every one of us: they have moods. So you never know what you’re going to get them in. And there’s days where they’re going to come up and say ‘Hello’ and there’s other times where this is their bedroom, their living room, their kitchen we’re in their space.”
On cue, a frisky male dolphin popped up to hitch a ride on the boat’s wake.
“When you have those moments where they do want to interact and be social, whatever adjective you want to put on it – magical, spiritual – I’ll go with all of them,” says Chris.
The ecosystem in the Bradenton area is complex and vibrant, as fresh water mingles with the sea. And in a remarkable reversal of humanity’s encroachment, the Robinson Preserve is returning former farmland to nature.
Charlie Hunsicker, director of natural resources for Manatee County, says: “We built this with bulldozers, but we didn’t plant any of it – it was all brought in by nature. You let the tides come in and with it all the food, seed sources, and it makes this a wonderful thing.
“We had a vision to bring back a tidal connection with the Gulf of Mexico. By doing so, we introduced another natural Florida environment at this location.
“This preserve is here to stay and we want to be interactive with nature, not fighting against it.”
Robinson Preserve has a network of trails and a tower from which you can survey the natural jigsaw. For a closer look, paddle a kayak through a mosaic of waterways and a tangle of vegetation.
“Our mangrove swamps act as this really neat nursery for juvenile species of fish and different wildlife,” says Taylor Masnjak. She is a guide for Get Up and Go Kayaking, and piloted me through the waters of the Robinson Preserve on the mainland.
“This area in particular protects all sorts of different species of fish, wildlife from raccoons to otters, to even a more charismatic megafauna like our manatees.”
Here in Manatee County, beside the Manatee River, manatees are the local heroes. Also known as sea cows, their closest relation is the elephant. And they have prodigious appetites, says Taylor.
“Manatees eat about 60 different types of plants, so what they’re really doing out here is making sure those plants don’t grow out of control. They’re out here kind of acting like a gardener taking care of all that.”
In return, humanity takes care of the manatee.
In Downtown Bradenton, the Bishop Museum of Science and Nature uniquely has a Manatee Rehabilitation Center. Andrew Sandall, the CEO, explains: “Every year we will take in young, usually orphaned juvenile manatees, get them up to full health and then get them released back into the river where they want to be.”
Back in Cortez, Karen Bell is taking care of fishing business.
“It’s a handful because fishermen are like giant adult children. But they’re a lot of fun to work with: they’re independent, they’re good at what they do. “I was lucky enough to be born into this – what I think is a wonderful way of life.
“I should probably travel more, but I always, after three or four days, I miss this little place. To me it means the world.”
Travel essentials
Getting there
I paid British Airways £501 for a return flight from London Gatwick to Tampa – the nearest airport to the Bradenton Area with nonstop flights from the UK.
Virgin Atlantic also flies to Tampa from London Heathrow. Bradenton is under an hour’s drive away via the Sunshine Skyway Bridge across Tampa Bay.
Orlando, with multiple flights from the UK, is about two hours away.
The closest airport, though, is Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport – just 15 minutes’ drive – with connections via hubs such as Atlanta and New York JFK.
Getting around
I rented a Ford Mustang convertible from Avis at Tampa airport for $379 (£312) for a week.
Anna Maria Island is connected with the mainland via Cortez Bridge to the south and Manatee Bridge to the north. Free parking is widely available, including in the multi-storey car park in the centre of Bradenton.
The best connection between Bradenton and Anna Maria Island is the Gulf Islands Ferry.
MCAT has a comprehensive bus network covering the Bradenton Area and linking the mainland with Anna Maria Island. On the island, a bus service known as the Trolley runs almost from top to bottom and back every 20 minutes or so – at no charge.
At just seven miles long and no more than a mile across, Anna Maria Island is made for cycling. Some properties supply complementary bikes during your stay, or you can rent them from a range of outlets.
Places to stay
Both the island and Bradenton have many accommodation options. I have stayed in the Waterline Villas and Marina in the centre of Anna Maria Island, and at a property marketed by Prime Vacations on Gulf Drive in the north of the island.
In Bradenton, Springhill Suites has an excellent location beside the river and close to the Bishop Museum and the Gulf Islands Ferry quay; it also has a restaurant on the roof.
Ocean Holidays (www.ocean-florida.co.uk / 0203 9931 749) offer a seven-night stay on Anna Maria Island from £1,629 per person. Price is based on four people sharing a villa with a private pool and includes return flights with American Airlines from London Heathrow departing on 5 June 2025.