Canopy on the beach

[Everytime]

Clearly some of you value turtles over tourist.

Fryday_1:

It's not that any of these people value turtles over tourists, it's that they value the turtles over your tent. Also, they value the safety of other tourists, locals, etc. over the convenience of you leaving your tent up overnight.

For turtles, it's about having families; if your tent or other peoples' belongings impede their trip to the delivery room, that can fatally affect their hatching cycle. For you, it's a matter of the convenience of not having to set your tent up each morning and take it down every night. We set up a tent about 8 Saturdays each fall in a popular SEC football town, and take it down after the game without too much pain or agony.

I was down there for much of the last two weeks, in the Eastern Lake area of Seagrove. Several groups of people left their tents and/or tent frames up overnight. Just about every other day, there was scattered rain or tundershowers during the night or early morning, and inevitably, tents, tent frames, tent fragments, and tent frame fragments would be displaced and scattered among the beach. On Saturday, June 28, this happened during dinner time (while we were at Pandora's). By the time we got back to our place, the storm had left, the beach was calm (and decent for a night time walk), but several tents had been uprooted and were scattered around the beach. Anyone out walking that night could have stepped on broken tent frames, tripped over anchor ropes, etc., but at least the tent owners had the benefit of convenience (although there tent may have been fatally damaged). Is part of your reason for leaving your tent up all week to "claim" your piece of real estate for the week, reserve your spot on the beach?

It's unfortuante that you see the tent issue as something that can "ruin" vacationers' time at Grayton Beach or SoWal in general. I'm beginning to wonder how I've gotten by at the beach for 35 years without having a tent up overnight; I must really be missing out.

 

[Miss Kitty]

I certainly am not trying to give anyone a bad name, and I think all of the posters have gotten my comments wrong. I do not feel entitled to do anything to the beaches simply because I spend my vacation and money in So Wal. To the contrary, I started coming to So Wal because of the way Destin developed. I do not want to see what happened there to happen here.

However, I leave the beach exactly as I found it, after my vacation. I do not leave anything after I am gone. I have simply left my canopy up overnight for my few days on the beach. My comments about tourist spending money in SoWal is just a fact. That county derives most of its revenue from tourism. The beaches are the main attraction. I do not want to see them littered with trash,chairs or discarded toys. Nor would I ever leave a canopy after I am gone. I can see that this issue is a real hot button for most. But it seems strange that the very posters who state that I cannot choose which laws to obey, do not want to accept the latest ruling that the owners of priviate beaches can ask them to leave. Seems hypocritical to me.

Might you look at this another way...let's say there are 50+ families vacationing in Grayton Beach the same week as you and they all have your attitude and a canopy tent. :scratch:

I will also add that we value tourists that value turtles.

 

[rdelong43065]

However, I leave the beach exactly as I found it, after my vacation. I do not leave anything after I am gone. I have simply left my canopy up overnight for my few days on the beach. My comments about tourist spending money in SoWal is just a fact. That county derives most of its revenue from tourism. The beaches are the main attraction. I do not want to see them littered with trash,chairs or discarded toys. Nor would I ever leave a canopy after I am gone. I can see that this issue is a real hot button for most. But it seems strange that the very posters who state that I cannot choose which laws to obey, do not want to accept the latest ruling that the owners of priviate beaches can ask them to leave. Seems hypocritical to me.

Hypocritical??? You say that you don't want to see junk scattered on the beach but have no problem leaving YOUR junk your entire stay. You are no better than all the others that leave their junk on the beach. How would you feel if people put their junk on your front lawn? But no, that would be wrong. I will take a turtle over simple-minded individuals like you anytime. Go to Disney next year.

 

[jpbhen]

Years ago, when we first vacationed in Sowal (before building here), we stayed in Seaside. We bought an SPF50 cabana our second year after we realized that Mr. Angel sort of hangs out from under umbrellas and sizzles in the sun . . . We set it up in the morning and took it back down and packed it up EVERY DAY, even while managing a little kid and all of his kid junk. Now, farther up the beach in Seagrove, we still use the same cabana when family comes, and we still set it up and take it down each day when we do. It was no big deal to do then, and it is no big deal now. I don't remember anyone leaving cabanas up at night until much more recently. It started with people leaving chairs and rafts under the walkovers overnight, and when they left for home. Now cabanas and tents everywhere. It has nothing to do with the difficulty (or not) of putting them up and taking them down. It has everything to do with good manners, or lack of them. Lo, these many years ago, I learned in kindergarten to put things back the way I found them - do they not teach this anymore?

 

[DuneLaker]

I just read this thread and am dismayed and shocked, but not surprised. You that leave your tents and junk on the beach are far worse than any Capt. Hazelwood. Shame on you.

 

[Matt J]

I just read thru this and rather than argue the finer points of respecting our environment, which has nothing to do with private beaches, would simply state the following:

Friday our economy will not crumble without your money, if you wish to leave your canopy up please find a beach destination that will allow it. If you do come back might I ask if you have a picture of your canopy and would you please post it?

 

[Teresa]

wow. when did the tents/canopies become so popular? there was a time on the beach when we just had umbrellas. I have noticed that people use the canopies to put their stuff under, but their bodies are usually some place else.

I know of NO locals who erect tents on the beach. why do visitors feel the need?

 

[Cheering472]

I agree Tootsie, I don't "get" the canopy thing. When we're too hot or have enough sun we go in. The last time I was in Sowal the people in the neighboring house had one. They were out there every morning putting it up and every evening taking it down. Their property rented for over $7000 a week. (I know because we priced it before we got our rental) Yet they didn't seem to think their financial contribution to the area meant they could do whatever they wanted.

Get a clue people. I spend alot of money at Disney too. But they probably won't let me set up a tent for my convenience, and leave it there for a week so I have a shady spot by my favorite ride.

 

[Smiling JOe]

wow. when did the tents/canopies become so popular? there was a time on the beach when we just had umbrellas. I have noticed that people use the canopies to put their stuff under, but their bodies are usually some place else.

I know of NO locals who erect tents on the beach. why do visitors feel the need?

The canopies became popular when Wal-mart and Sam's Club began selling them. Toots, that is a good observation above about most tents just being a marked territory. I see the same thing. Most tents are unoccupied for most of the day. When the sun gets too hot, people come off the beach. Tents are typically the place where people call their spot at the beach, and at the end of the day, I see all of the crap piled in the center under the tent.

 

[fishcookies]

Spot-claiming is the real deal!

I'm usually a lurking tourist, but sometimes I just can't contain my two cents.

People want to mark their territory on the beach. Period. They're perfectly capable of taking down the same canopy they just put up that morning -- they just don't want to because they'll lose their spot. I love how magnanimous Fryday sounds by assuring us that they don't leave anything on the beach after their week. Well, honey, what if that's the same week I'm there, and on one of those days I might like to have a chance at that spot you took?

Case in point, our vacation this June. We work hard to save for it every year. We LOVE SoWal -- stickers on car and everything. We visited here before my husband left for Iraq and again to celebrate when he came home. My child is 7 and has moved 7 times as an Army kid. Visiting SoWal is one of the few constants in her life. We don't gloat about how much we're pumping into the economy while we're here -- rather, we thank God every time we visit for this beautiful place He created that we are privileged to enjoy. This year, another tourist and his family set up not one, not two, but THREE giant canopies smack in front of our place at Blue Mtn. Villas. Oh, he took in all his junk every night and even removed the canopy covers (??), leaving only the giant (now invisible to walkers at night) frames. Well, thank you, Captain Canopy -- that was so gracious. The only time we even got a chance to take a picture of the lovely view from our window was Saturday morning, when Mr. Manners had taken down his tent city because he was going home, too. In my view, all this discussion comes down to the simple axiom we teach our daughter: "Sweetheart, it ain't all about you."

What can I do as a frequent visitor? Who should I call or write to counteract the tourists who threaten to take their money elsewhere if their stuff is removed from the beach? Where can I write and say, "Please take anything I am too discourteous to leave on the beach." I feel myself getting on a mission...

Boy, I guesss my two cents was really twelve... Sorry I get a little fussy..