Tigertail Lagoon – Not a Mud Puddle

I am writing to express my gratitude for publishing Andrew Taylor’s Letter to the Editor, “Tigertail Lagoon and Social Media,” on April 20-26, 2023.

I, too, have been confounded by the political descriptors of the Tigertail Lagoon. From Commissioner LoCasto’s April 6 newsletter, “you’ve seen a horrific deterioration of the water levels, water quality, clarity, and overall appearance of what was once a beautiful area enjoyed by visitors and wildlife. For the last several years, Tigertail Lagoon has been called ‘the mud puddle.’”

I am a resident of Isles of Capri and our favorite boating excursion for the last several years was slowly traversing the Tigertail Lagoon. Roseate Spoonbills, Blue Herons, White Pelicans and of course Osprey were all common sightings. The lagoon was a clean, functioning, eco-system. Not a mud puddle!

The only folks who saw the lagoon in a negative light were the folks at the exclusive Hideaway Beach. To portray those residents as environmental philanthropists, after dredging six acres of “Critical Wildlife Area,” is Orwellian.

The residents of Hideaway have been trying to manipulate “their” beach for decades, starting in the early 1990s with the installation of T-Groins. Why can’t these folks get Big Marco Pass is a naturally evolving area of sandy shoals that shift with forces of nature- not dredges, bulldozers, and dump trucks.