SeaSide Inn Beach Resort and Tradewinds Resort on Anna Maria Island have new websites. We hope the new look, feel and functionality will provide a better user experience. Check them out!

We have lots of great specials! Check it out!
Tradewinds Resort

SEASHELLS WEDDING BELLS
WIN-A-WEDDING CONTEST

Sign up now to participate in the SeaShells Wedding Bells Win-a-Wedding Contest. You can win three free nights (plus many more valuable gifts) at your choice of our award-winning winning resorts – Tortuga Inn Beach Resort – Tradewinds Resort – SaeSide inn beach Resort on charming Anna Maria Island.

WEDDING CONTEST

Our new website has launched! For information about Anna Maria Island Florida, or our three distinctive resorts, Tortuga Inn Beach Resort, SeaSide Inn Beach Resort, or Tradewinds Resort, please visit us at our new Anna Maria Island Resorts website.

By Tom Vaught | sun staff writer
If you’re going to write about something, you should experience it first.

That’s what Lynn Walker did with her husband, Kevin Baker, when she researched her article on Anna Maria Island recently to do articles for Southern Bride magazine and Romantic Destinations Travel.

Working in conjunction with the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Anna Maria Island Chamber of Commerce, they stayed in the beachfront Seaside Inn Beach Resort in Bradenton Beach and experienced what a couple having a wedding would, minus the ceremony.

They ate at the Waterfront, The Sun House, Harrington House Bed and Breakfast, the Sandbar, Ginny’s & Jane E’s, Beach Bistro, the Gulf Drive Café and Mattison’s Riverside. They took a kayak tour of Palma Sola Bay courtesy of Shawn Duytschaver, got a massage from Amy Welch of Acqua Aveda Salon Spa Store, sampled wedding cakes and pastries at Matt and Dom’s Pastry Café, visited the Anna Maria Island Art League, got a sunset beach portrait from Dara Caudill, of Island Photography, and visited Baobab Tree Gallery and Studio in the Village of the Arts in Bradenton.

Walker, who now lives in Mississippi, is no stranger to the area as she spent a summer living near the beach in Bradenton Beach a few years ago before she got into journalism.

“When I lived there, I was a college girl,” she said. “The last thing on my mind was marriage.”

She said the Island is still the place to be.

“It has grown, but it still has that wonderful Florida feel,” she said. “It’s kind of homey and the people are so gracious.”

Walker said that the Island is a great place for destination weddings.

“Destination weddings are becoming big because it allows family and close friends of the couple to stay after the ceremony and possible enjoy a few days on vacation,” she said. “Those people will branch out and include fun events on their own, so it really feeds a lot of different businesses.”

Walker said her article for Southern Bride, which boasts a circulation of more than 100,000, would be aimed at readers in Alabama, west Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas planning destination weddings.

“What people from there normally do is plan destination weddings in the Florida Panhandle or northern Florida,” she said. “They don’t realize that there are places like Anna Maria Island that aren’t much more expensive.”

Seaside Beach Resort owner David Teitelbaum, a member of the Manatee County Tourist Development Council, agrees with Walker.

“The secret is out, we’re a great destination and more affordable than similar settings,” he said. “We have thousands of weddings on Anna Maria Island every year and a lot of those people are visiting for the first time. Pretty soon, you see them showing up again for a vacation.”

Walker said her second article, on RomanticDestinations Travel.com, will center on more than people wanting to plan a wedding.

“It’s more for couples who are married and want to get away for a romantic time,” she said. “They might have kids so they would be looking for some place where their children would have something to do as well.”

Walker expects the Southern Bride article to come out toward the end of June, while it should be September or December before the Internet article to is published.

Caudill, who is a member of the Chamber Wedding Merchants, said that she expects the articles will reaffirm what we all know – Anna Maria Island is a great place to be.

Our quaint, yet robust island, situated perfectly on Florida’s Gulf coast is attracting vacationers from around the globe. The recession does not appear to be effecting travel and tourism here as Anna Maria Island is attracting a bevy of spring break tourists. Tourism officials say a recent wave of national media coverage of Anna Maria Island is giving businesses a boost. Southern Living’s March issue featured Anna Maria Island with a four-page article, and USA Today published a travel feature on the island in December.
“It’s just unleashed a surge of interest,” said David Teitelbaum, a Tourism Development Council member and owner of Tortuga Inn, Tradewinds Resort and SeaSide Inn Beach Resort. “Anna Maria Island is not a secret anymore.”

An excerpt from Southern Living Magazines –
Beach Magic By Wanda McKinney March 09

Richly textured, Not Ritzy. Accommodations can be as upscale or as casual as you like. Once again, no cookie-cutter mentality reigns here. On the south end of the island I discovered Tortuga Inn Beach Resort, tucked amid palms trees and garden oases and the perfect image of my dreams. Although many mom and pop lodgings dot the island, Tortuga’s feel is more modern resort, although cozier and with greater character than many contemporary, sprawling complexes. While staying here, I walked just across the road to the resort’s private Gulf beach, where it seemed the sea and sand were all mine to enjoy. I had the choice of studio, apartment, or more standard hotel room; I picked the apartment. This proved perfect, with plenty of room to enjoy a cup of coffee after waking up to a water view in a tropical garden setting. The kitchen, living, and dining areas added so much to the experience. I also luxuriated in a fountain-fed heated pool. Free Internet brought in the real world (but I learned to ignore it).

BEST OF ANNA MARIA ISLAND – LODGING
Tortuga Inn Beach Resort

Anna Maria Island Florida holds claim to some of the best beaches and resort accomadations in the world. A tranquil and quaint island located south of Tampa Bay, our island offers something for everyone. Serene nature, pristine beaches, casual to gourmet dining, all in a pace you want to relax in. We have a free trolley service, ample free parking and recreational ammenities galore for your enjoyment.

Been to our island for vacation? Join in and post your comments and memorable experiences here.