Mainsail Supports Love it Like a Local

It’s true when they say Anna Maria Island is more than a vacation destination; it’s a home. Whether staying year-round or visiting for a weekend during the summer, Anna Maria Island is cherished by hundreds of thousands of people for its natural sprawling landscape, pristine beaches, and charming local shops and restaurants.

Many locals strive to balance out local preservation with tourism, welcoming individuals to the island while still making it clear that we are all stewards of the coast. 

This is the main purpose of Love it Like a Local, a campaign for the preservation and protection of Anna Maria Island. While there are many reports of over-tourism eroding the character of major vacation destinations across the world, many of these popular communities are now promoting sustainable and respectful visitation. In other words, we’d love to host visitors from around the globe, but please be good stewards of our community during your vacation.

It is a message fully embraced by the locally-operated team of Mainsail Vacation Rentals, providing well-appointed Holmes Beach vacation rentals that will immerse you into our destination.

What is Love it Like a Local? 

Love it Like a Local is an initiative created by the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. The group promotes ethical traveling to Manatee County and the communities of Anna Maria Island, Longboat Key, Bradenton, and Lakewood Ranch.

The group’s website provides quick tips for traveling, ways to engage with the community, and places to explore to maximize your adventure in the Bradenton area. The goal of all this is to encourage respectful traveling, covering how tourists can come to the area and have an amazing time, while reducing their footprint, respecting residential homes, and nature we all love and value.

Why is it important?

Love it Like a Local now may be more important than ever. With 2020 far behind us, 2021 and beyond is bound to be all about the adventures that come from traveling far and wide. It can be easy to lose sight of the fact that every action you take affects those around you. This includes natural habits for local flora and fauna as well as the people who live every day in these small communities. The group helps promote ethical traveling and is a steady and comfortable reminder that what you do here along the gulf coast of Florida has a direct impact on everyone and everything around you.

This may encompass the waste you leave behind, the businesses you support, the excursions you partake in, and the off-the-beaten paths you go.

Mainsail’s Commitment to Preserving AMI’s Beauty 

Our local Anna Maria Island vacation rental team agrees that our community is worth protecting- we wouldn’t call it home if it wasn’t! 

We don’t just talk the talk, we also walk the walk here at Mainsail. Our team takes place in beach cleanups throughout the year to preserve the beautiful beaches that Anna Maria Island is known for. We also provide recycling options in our vacation rental units, so that our guests have the opportunity to recycle appropriate items if they wish. Finally, we help to keep our guests informed of turtle nesting season on Anna Maria Island. We provide tips for being a good neighbor, even to our marine life, and how to avoid confusing the hatchlings when they emerge at the end of the summer. 

We believe that all these considerations make our Anna Maria Island rentals safe, and they all echo the sentiment we feel towards the community as a whole. We are committed to making it an enthralling and special place for all our guests. 

Ways You Can Help

You do not need to join a group to contribute to the safety and preservation of the community. We compiled some of our biggest-impact travel tips for enjoying the many fun Anna Maria Island things to do.

Recycle, Reuse, and Dispose: We can’t emphasize enough that it is everyone’s responsibility to pick up trash, clean up after ourselves, and reuse when possible. Our collective trash is falling into the oceans and rivers in shocking numbers. We implore you to respect your surroundings by reducing single-use plastics and disposing of any trash in the appropriate areas. This is especially so at the beach. Please be mindful of your waste on the beach, as it ends up floating away to sea. Our trash often even ends up digested by our turtles, fish, and birds.

Respect the neighborhood: While scouting out some really cool spots to see the water or enjoy nature, please be considerate of your neighbors who are proud to call Anna Maria Island their forever home.

Use Local transportation: Take advantage of the AMI trolley. The trolley runs virtually all day during the summer, around 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., from the City of Anna Maria down past Bradenton Beach. You can also rent bikes. Bikes are eco-friendly and flexible, keeping cars off the road and helping the local environment. They also provide convenience during your Anna Maria Island vacation as parking can be difficult in certain areas, and especially during high-season!

Slow Down: Please (please!) slow down while driving or boating and save a life. Likewise, if you are traveling on foot, be aware of your surroundings.

Fishing: Fishing is one of the most popular Anna Maria Island activities. Responsible fishing means disposing of line and cutting the line appropriately for the fish. Wildlife often gets ensnared in fishing lines. 

Choose an eco-friendly sunscreen: We are more aware of the impacts of sunscreen. Poor sunscreen will bleach and destroy coral through a variety of damaging chemicals, most notably oxybenzone.

This is only a brief review of the high-impact things you can do to contribute to a healthier and better Anna Maria Island. Follow signs, be respectful of others, and keep your footprint low and non-invasive. It just takes a bit of teamwork and patience to make sure the island can be appreciated for generations. 

Where to Stay

Please review our list of Anna Maria Island family-friendly to find the best fit for your vacationing needs. We offer accessible beachfront luxury right against the gulf. This is authentic Old Florida elegance.