Published: Thursday, August 7, 2014 at 2:43 p.m. Last Modified: Thursday, August 7, 2014 at 2:43 p.m.

No monthly parties.

No weekly bingo games.

No daily rounds of cards.

Many of the residents of the park's 180 units leave during the hottest months of the year. But most of those who stay are women, including several widows.

They gather each morning at the Gulf Shore swimming pool that used to be the Gulf Shore shuffleboard court. They meet for exercise and conversation in what has become the beating heart and liveliest part of summer life in the trailer park.

Water aerobics.

OK, calls out Ellen Laurent, the Massachusetts retiree who leads today's class. Russian dance forward.

Three other women bob up and down the shallow pool. They joke and laugh as they dance in place. They wear swimsuits, sunglasses and a variety of hats.

Margie Tonner of New Jersey is the one with the floppy sun hat. Jackie Winter of Indiana wears a mesh visor. Norma McCarthy Laurent's Boston sister-in-law sports a Red Sox cap.

Read the original:
On Longboat Key, they're the Girls of Summer