Florida Up Close

So, I've been testing out the macro lens on my camera lately and the result has been some pretty cool shots. Check it out.

Portugese Man-O-War on the beach in Fernandina. Did you know their tentacles can get up to 60 feet long? Crazy!

Water Cabbage on the St. John's River, Central Florida

Felipe the turtle, Lake George, Central Florida

Dolphins on the Intracoastal Waterway, New Smyrna Beach FL

--------- The Glades --------

Horseshoe Crab on Turkey Key

Shells on Turkey Key

Waking up in a Healy Hammock at the Chocolate Chip Cookie Board Up Site.

This is a December morning in the Everglades.

Mossy Crap on a rock, Turtle Key 

Lightning Welk

Barnacles

Mangroves in the Nightmare

Beryl: Beach House Edition

Nothing like coming out of the field and returning home to a hurricane. Well, technically, the winds were not quite hurricane strength (a hurricane has 75 mph winds, we only had 70) but it was still a great storm. The following photos were taken ten hours before the storm wailed on us, around noon on Sunday May 27:

A very sandblown Ocean Avenue

Taking advantage of the surf

Storm clouds gathering

Waves gathering strength

At home, it was life as normal. A low-country boil on the table, plus extra gallons of water just in case.

Later that evening:

Marnocha

After a walk to the beach, we threw Stephanie Marnocha a surprise lead ceremony downstairs, in the best way we knew how: With Cake.

It was a great night with lots of great people around. The power went out right around midnight, and because we couldn't open any doors or windows (cause of the gale force winds) it led to a pretty balmy night here on Tarpon.

We avoided the predicted flooding, but the storm did tear shingles off roofs, siding off houses, and knocked over fences and street lamps. Needless to say, we were all very happy to not be in the field and to not have any of our cohorts out there either.

NST 87

 I'm back from the field, having just hung out on the Delta with the Illustrious "Mostly A Team" (Amy, Alaine, Amanda, Andrew, Aaron, Dave, Marisa, Steven, and Zach) for the last couple weeks. I've been told that the Outward Bound gods give you the exact weather you need for your course, which was entirely true in this case. Right off the bat we suffered through a lightning drill on the sandbar, followed by a rainy 12 hours of our lives (not unlike my ENTIRE New Staff Training). After we made sure the participants knew how to put on their banana suits and sit on gear bags and ensolite mats, the skies cleared up and the raingear stayed stowed for the rest of the trip. Warm days, cool nights, more fireflies than I've ever seen, behavior sims, lessons, teamy teamness...oh my. Talk about a wonderful way to spend most of May.

Boston and Busack. Representing oh so many things here. My co-trainer, Katie and I both served as team leaders in AmeriCorps and would often joke that we were "getting things done" for Kurt Hahn and Outward Bound.

Trying to figure out how on earth to get the whole team from point A to point B with nothing to protect them from the lava but magic glasses.

Figuring it out

I emerged the morning after the rainy night, from our tiny, tiny trainer tent...and it was one of those mornings that I'm just so grateful for this job and life.

Marisa reaching for main.

Aaron checking out the chart. Just kidding. The map.

My favorite stretch of the river, past all the houseboats. This one, however, is looking a little worse for the wear.

Awesome tree in Hastie Lake.

Heading for the Lizards.

The last 10%, coming in at 7:03 a.m. Once again, my co-instructor and I placed a friendly wager as to the arrival time of the team, and once again my guess was off by mere minutes. Katie hit it right on the mark.