Hurricane Helene may have reopened Midnight Pass, but it was Hurricane Milton that truly solidified it as a viable waterway. After four decades of controversy, nature finally reclaimed the pass, sparking enthusiasm across the community and halting decades of debate over whether the pass should be reopened. Those attempts finally gave way to Mother Nature’s undeniable power, as the pass found its way back into the landscape on her own terms.
The result? An outpouring of enthusiasm! To mark this historic natural event, a local lifestyle brand organized the Midnight Pass Killin' Boat Parade, drawing hundreds of boats to celebrate and raise awareness for the reopening of Midnight Pass Inlet in Sarasota. Held on Saturday, October 26, the parade took advantage of the high tide, which allowed boats of all types to clear the shallow through inlet, as reported by the Sarasota Observer in Ian Swaby’s article “Reclaiming the Pass.”
The procession began near the Blackburn Point swing bridge at noon, navigating the newly reopened pass and continuing into the Gulf of Mexico. Once through the pass, boats anchored by nearby beaches and sandbars, celebrating the day with a strong sense of community and a shared commitment to preserving Midnight Pass for future generations.
Midnight Pass once acted as a natural boundary between Siesta Key and Casey Key. However, in the 1980s, local governments closed it under pressure from influential homeowners concerned about erosion threatening their properties. This decision sparked decades of debate on whether to reopen the pass. Over the years, there have been various official and unofficial efforts to restore it, including a recent $1 million state budget allocation intended for design and permitting. Governor Ron DeSantis vetoed the funding, putting the project on hold once again.
The recent hurricanes resolved the issue naturally. Had the pass been reopened by human intervention, it likely would have been a more rigid, engineered structure, with its sand walls and natural migration restricted. Read the full story of the pass' history here.
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Glenn Compton
There’s no reason Sarasota County should continue to pursue permits to dredge open Midnight Pass, or any reason for the county commission to attempt to weaken Florida’s environmental protection regulations in order to obtain permits to dredge the Pass open.
The Sarasota County Commission should immediately return the $500,000 the Florida legislature earmarked to open the Pass, that money should be spent on hurricane recovery for those that need help, not on a wasteful dredging project.
Sunday, November 3 Report this