We were at casa Ybel during weeks 51 and 52. There were some red tide issues, with a small amount of fish kill. One day, I found several small eels, and a couple larger (2’ diameter) ones washed up. I experienced a little throat discomfort, but nothing major. One afternoon, my granddaughters and I wandered out in the gulf, and noticed that when we got to the sandbar, the water had become an eerie shade of green, which I had never experienced before. It also felt a little oily. It was a small patch of red tide, and we could see a slight reddish hue when we got back to the beach.

Bottom line: Yes, we did experience red tide, but it was fairly inconsequential and certainly nothing to be alarmed about. The red drift algae issue we experienced a few years ago was much more unpleasant. On the plus side, resulting kills can be interesting (like the eels).

I stayed at Casa Ybel last week and the beach and water were the cleanest and clearest I've seen it in the eight years I've been going there. It was lovely. No red tide.