January 2, 2026…..
Dear Fellow Seawatch-on-the Beach owners,
First of all, Happy New Year to everyone! The holidays have now passed and the resort and island are gearing up for peak tourism season that generally begins with week six. Winter in Southwest Florida brings occasional strong cold fronts from our northern neighbors that often include a lot of wind. Generally, they are short lived. This brings me to a discussion on our pool temperature. Almost ten years ago, the Board made the financially responsible decision to heat and cool our pool with a Geothermal heating system. Yes…. cool our pool. In the summer, the pool, just like the gulf, can rise to over 92 degrees. The issues with this scenario go well beyond comfort, high water temperatures can complicate water sanitation and we can have algae issues. In the winter, with reasonable outside temperatures, this system will maintain a constant pool temperature of 86 degrees. The system utilizes the temperature of the ground, several feet below the surface, to assist in the heating and cooling of water, along with minimal electricity. We made this decision to go Geothermal due to the extraordinary cost of propane. Natural Gas is not available on island and propane is by far the most expensive way to heat large volumes of water. By making this change, aside from more acceptable summer water temperatures, over these ten years, it is estimated that we have saved $200,000 in pool heating costs. We continue to heat our spa and power our grills from the propane tanks on the property because these items use far less propane. The only downside to a Geothermal pool heating system is that during extremely low temperatures, like the ones we just had, the pool can get colder than usual, and the system then takes a couple of days to fully recover once reasonable air temperatures return.
Tim Pellerin, Board President