04.05.09

If it’s Sunday, it’s packing day getting ready to head off for the week’s work before resuming the Storm Rider Tour next weekend.  The boat will be here in Islamorada for another week before moving outside for an eight hour run to Key West on either 4/18 or 4/19 depending on the weather and seas.  Being about 40 miles from Cuba it is hard not to imagine what a remarkable opportunity it would be to visit there soon.  Tonight’s news on a local channel raised the issue of loosening the travel restriction on the island nation and that issue will be interesting to follow in the coming months.  Today was all about a few adjustments to the vessel here and there and then a ride and swim with the dogs. Rider loves the water and has the bad habit of slurping it up when he swims.  Can anyone guess what the ingestion of salt water means? Not pretty.  He’s up top as we close out our blogging for the week feeling a little blue.

04.04.09
24°58′50″N 80°33′20″W

It is wonderful to wake up in the Florida Keys and look out across the mangroves to the bay. Florida Bay is a shallow inner-shelf lagoon located at the southern end of the south Florida watershed. It is an area where fresh water from the everglades mixes with the salty waters from the Gulf of Mexico to form an estuary that is surrounded by mangroves forests and encompasses over 200 mangrove islands. Its nearly 1,000 square miles of interconnected basins, grassy mud banks, and mangrove islands are nesting, nursery, and/or feeding grounds for a host of marine animals: the American crocodile, the West Indian manatee, the loggerhead turtle, bottlenose dolphins, a variety of bird species and many gamefish. Parts of the bay are also the nursery grounds for the economically valuable pink shrimp and Caribbean spiny lobster. Florida Bay is also important economically, supporting a 59 million dollar shrimp fishery and 22 million dollar stone crab fishery.

Where is Florida Bay?

Located at the southernmost tip of the Florida Peninsula. Florida Bay lies between the mainland and the chain of islands known as the Florida Keys. The Keys, and the Florida reef tract extend 220 miles south and west of the Florida peninsula. The islands were formed from ancient coral and sand shoals, which are covered by mangroves and tropical hardwood hammocks. The bay itself is characterized by many shallow interconnected basins, with an average depth of only three feet. Most of the bay lies within the boundaries of the Everglades National Park. The bay and the Keys are part of the greater South Florida ecosystem, one that is unique to the world. This South Florida or Everglades ecosystem is approximately 10,800 square miles extending from Orlando to the Dry Tortugas.

The many small Keys communities are a bit funky and have the feel of a more relaxed time gone by. But hey, being at the Plantation Marina on Saturday with a local festival on the grounds where artisans had everything from ornate metal work on a Harley to the obligatory word carved pelicans was a treat. I’m always amazed watching the locals sway in a carefree Carribean way to the sounds of the local bands at these events. The evening hours a very special here as the seas quieten a bit and the sun dips below the horrizon to the sounds of boat horns and onlookers trying to see “the green flash of the sun” celebrating the end of a beautiful day. On this evening, we hosted boaters on the dock to a reception aboard the “Storm Rider” and gave out “Time and Tide” brochures along with “Pierre the Pelican” stuffed animals. A dock community bar-b-que ended the evening on just the right note over conversation about different stories we all have had tied to wetlands and our natural resources. In the boating group, many boaters had asked their parents down for the weekend, so the intergenerational stories were rich and the perfect ending for the day. Happy sails!

Click here to watch the video.

Trying To Save Our Wetlands One Port At A Time
Michael Williams - Reporting
PORT EVERGLADES (CBS4)

It was a small sendoff with a big message: Two men departed from their New River stop in Fort Lauderdale Thursday for a two month boat trip, with the goal to focus attention at 15 ports of call from South Florida to New Orleans on the need to push back against the erosion of our wetlands and coastlines.

Wetlands—think about the Everglades—are, or used to be, rich habitats for wildlife and natural reservoirs for drinking water. Vegetation once covered our barrier islands, creating the perfect erosion barrier against wind and tide.

Val Marmillion and Juan Pisani are members of a group called America’s Wetland Foundation. Marmillion said, “We call it sustainable development. You can have development and protect the wetlands and coastal areas. You can do both.”

Florida, indeed much of the Gulf Coast, is not exactly a shining example of that conviction. Wetlands continue to disappear under cement along with our barrier islands. That erases protection between man and Mother Nature, especially during hurricane season. We have seen the devastating results of that shortsightedness time and again.

The America’s Wetland Foundation is just the latest environmental voice making the case that what is good for the environment is good for us as well.

That’s a tough sell in places where high-rise projects have been welcomed with open arms for decades. The clock cannot be turned back. Moving forward, though, activists hope awareness might at least slow the disappearance of natural treasures that, once gone, can never be reclaimed.

04.03.09
25°46′13″N, 80°08′27″W

Reporting on Day Two “Storm Rider” tour activities from our port of call in Islamorada, Florida has me on the phone with the WWL Earl and Zack Carr Radio Show. Outside we’ve secured the boat for its stay here in the Florida Keys at a location between Key Largo and Key West. I would call our Journey on Friday windy and choppy through Biscayne Bay. The Marina that hosted us in Miami Beach was in the midst of also hosting a major bill fishing tournament, so sport fishing boat engines were revving up around 4:00am, with the sleepy fishermen preparing their rigs for rough seas. I saw them preparing as the Storm Warning flags on our boat were whipping and snapping in the wind. After talking with radio host Ellen Jaffe, Lite FM 101.5 in Miami, Bill Becker with US1 Radio in the Florida Keys and spending time with Garland Robinette in the WWL Thinktank, we cast off and headed under the Rickenbacker Bridge, which is the gateway to Biscayne Bay. One of the joys of journeying our our boat is that we seem to have curious dolphins always at our side. I’m not sure if it is the hum of the old engines or sight of the two dogs barking away at the dolphins, but it is always a welcomed sign that we are having safe passage because our friends welcome us into their world. The sea creatures were with us in Miami harbor and when we hit the narrow passage called the Feather Beds in the bay and on into the Keys, scores of dolphins frolicked on the port and starboard sides of the vessel, jumping, performing acrobatic maneuvers, flipping, dipping and diving. We also see in the distance during passage beautiful rookeries where birds were nesting. Along the route to Islamorada were numerous vessels, both sail and motor boats and small motor craft zipping and zagging around us. At sunset, we docked the “Storm Rider” and gave her a good cleaning and headed out to a local restaurant, Snappers, where you can dine on fresh Grouper or bring your own fish and they’ll put it on a cedar plank and serve it back to you. And if you wonder why I close out with a reference to sail, this heavy old lady cruiser, is outfitted with a sail for long journey, that can give the engines a little help with good winds. So, happy sails!

The first day of any trip is exciting because the sense of adventure is the highest. The Storm Rider tour was no exception. Today we had an eight hour trip but for a couple of hours we were at the Ft. Lauderdale marina in downtown FLL meeting a good showing of media and curious onlookers. They particularly loved our America’s WETLAND Estuarian character, “Pierre the Pelican,” plush toys that we gave to everyone along with beads with the Storm Warning 4 logo. For this first leg of the trip, we had folks from all over wanting to stop and talk about how important wetlands are to them. And more than one reached in their pocket and tried to give dollars to the effort. We sent them to the website to donate. The two Storm Rider mascots, Ruffee and Rider, were true hits, making the news on South Florida’s number one CBS affiliate in prime time. Check out the pictures and videos. Along the Intracoastal Canal it was constant thumbs up when passing boaters saw the Storm Warning decals and flags. All in all, the day confirmed that saving the wetlands is a serious priority for most folks, even if it is not at the top of the political hit parade. Tomorrow we depart early and head across Biscayne Bay toward the Florida Keys. I’ll be talking to radio hosts most of the crossing, including our favorite, Garland Robinette, WWL Radio in New Orleans, who brings meaty conversation each day to a wide ranging radio audience. We’ll catch Garland at 10:10 am Central Time. If you are in Miami, catch the Ellen Jaffe show for a half hour starting at 9:00am Eastern Time on 101.5 Lite FM. And for those lucky to be in the Keys tomorrow for a record high temp day, 104.1 FM, US1 Radio will air at 5:00pm on the Bill Becker Show. That’s it for Day One of Storm Rider. Happy Sails!