By Gerry Barker
Photos/Video by Gerry Barker
The St. Regis Longboat Key resort offers everything the brand’s founder — business tycoon John Jacob Astor IV — included when he launched the St. Regis New York in 1904, and more.
Known worldwide as a symbol of luxury and refined living, The St. Regis Longboat Key debuted last August on a 18-acre, beachfront location just south of Sarasota, FL. In fact, Florida is the the only state with two St. Regis properties; the other is in Bal Harbour, near Miami.
One of the unique features at the Longboat Key resort is their 500,000-gallon aquatic environment called The Lagoon. It houses 40 different species of fish, totalling 3,000 altogether. Guests can observe their movements through a glass observation wall, or sign up to join a group that goes into the water and interacts with the fish several times a day.
Overseeing and providing for the fish is a team of six aquarists, plus a curator and two maintenance workers. They have one person whose job is counting the fish every day to “to make sure they are all there,” said Hawaii-born Nick, one of the aquarists.
A graduate of Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, with a masters degree from University of New England in Maine, Nick said part of his job is “figuring out who gets along with who, what fish you want to add and what fish you don’t want in here. It’s an ever-evolving process.”
As we talked, several sting rays gracefully swan by. The Lagoon boasts a number of rays, “99 percent of which were wild caught,” said Nick. “All our rays were brought in, which is super important because it’s called a founding population,” he said. “All the genes we have here are brand new to the aquarium industry, so when our rays have pups, those can introduce new genes as well.” He said the only exception is Nova, a spotted eagle ray that came from Ripley’s Aquarium in Gatlinburg, TN.
In all, The Lagoon is host to 40 stingrays — 30 cow nose rays, nine southern stingrays and the one spotted eagle ray, named Nova. Nick said they have named all the southern stingrays as well. “It takes some practice, but we can tell them apart and get to know their personalities.”
For resort guests, there are four tours a day, at 12, 1, 2 and 3 pm. “It’s a three-part program,” Nick said. “We start at one end, where guests can feed the rays, then bring them to the deeper portion, where they can snorkel and interact with the fish, then at the other end they can interact with the southern rays.”
He said they try to vary their diet, “since some of our stingrays are kind of picky eaters. But shrimp seems to be the universal favorite.”
While the rays are all comfortable interacting with people, Nick explained as an extra precaution, just like guests in the resort Spa getting a pedicure, they keep their barbs trimmed.
“Their barbs are made of keratin, the same material fingernails are made of,” he said. Trimming doesn’t hurt them, but for the biggers rays, they sometimes have to be sedated just to make the process easier.
As we talked, one of the aquarists in SCUBA gear came into view, using a gravel vacuum. “Oragnic matter builds up at the bottom, so this helps keep the gravel clean and the water quality clear,” Nick said.
At that moment, a school of French and bluestriped grunts swan by, along with moonfish, black angelfish and pork fish. “One of main goals at the moment is add more colorful fish,” he said, such as the parrotfish. “Everyone gets along. The only issue is with some local birds — there’s an osprey that likes to hang out of the top of these buildings and will steal a fish now and again.”
Looking ahead, Nick said it would be nice to add a small tide pool section, “especially for the kids who aren’t ready for the deep water.” He envisions it would feature invertebrates like sea cucumbers, sea stars, small crabs and similar sea life.
“We want to make sure The Lagoon is set up for success before we move to other projects.”
While not part of The Lagoon per se, nearby you’ll find the home of Jack and Rose, two aldabra giant tortoises. Among the largest tortoises to be found, they can live over 100 years and weigh up to 550 pounds. While staying at the resort, guests may have an opportunity to feed them some of their favorite foods, like lettuce, carrots or fruit.
The resort turns on yellow lights for turtle nesting season
Speaking of turtles, May-October is turtle nesting season in Florida, when sea turtles lay their eggs on the beaches. Since bright lights can interfere with the nesting process, the resort switches to yellow lighting at night, and asks guests to keep their room drapes closed after dark. Generations of future turtles will thank you.
The St. Regis Longboat key is located at 1601 Gulf of Mexico Dr. in Longboat Key. Find out more at their website.
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