ABOUT THE KEY WEST TRIP

Only fate could have brought together the twelve students who spent every cramped morning breathing the same stale air of a shared sleeping room, riding for ten hours in two vehicles with luggage crammed in every available crevice, and sharing only two shower-equipped bathrooms where your chances of having hot water slimmed with every person in line before you.

However, these small inconveniences don’t overshadow the many memorable nights of cooking dinner together, playing Mafia and Pterodactyl, heading out to Mattheessen’s to satiate a sweet tooth with cookies as big as your face, or trying to catch one of the many roaming roosters in town. Having the opportunity to meet Rev. Hooper, members of the St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, and staff at the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary have really shown me the color of the locals and the ‘Work hard; play hard’ mantra that they all seem to share. This is something so characteristic of Key West that I have not yet found elsewhere during my travels around the world, and I feel that this may be one of the things that I love and will remember about Key West.

  The other things I will remember will be the opportunities that I’ve had to remove almost 2,000 pounds of trash from the Key West environment (namely its shorelines and mangroves in the line of sea currents bringing debris from places including Central America), the ability to ride a skiff zooming through the sea, passing surfacing turtles and dolphins, and the chance to venture through remote islands, including Woman Key, and hotspots frequented only by locals. Though our trip was brief and only half of my Key West bucket-list items were checked off, I guess it looks like I’ll just have to come back again, relatively soon…

  

Photo credit: Stef Stanbury, Alyssa Wang

Key West Sunset

It looked like a piece of round gold melting into the sea against an inferno of red.

See more photos on my Flickr photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/93533849@N06/with/8543773980/#photo_8543773980

Once Upon a Key West Dream

Geiger Key Beach

I am dreaming of a land where the sun, so bright and strong, claims its unknowing and beachgoing victims with bright-red marks and scorching burns that can only be quelched with time and glops of aloe.

I am dreaming of a land where the circulating air within a car carrying a gaggle of bikini-clad and sunglasses-wearing college students reeks of Hawaiian Tropic sun lotion with notes of coconut and a hint of flowers.

I am dreaming of a land where the shapes and colors of its contemporary-island-styled houses on a single block vary from shell spiral to flamingo pink; cobblestone to sun-bleached white; a block filled with tourists and locals alike, dotting the roads with two-wheelers, golf carts, and sedans with conch shells decorating the dashboard.

I am dreaming of a land where other dreamers including Ernest Hemingway and Tennessee Williams have dreamed and where active citizens have, once in their history, retaliated with all their heart for the Conch Republic.

I am dreaming, but my dream was alive during my spring break of 2013.

Through the University of Florida’s Florida Alternative Breaks (FAB) trip to Key West, Fla., from March 2-9, I had some of the most amazing opportunities. But while I got to meet passionate students and fun-loving locals and participate in marine-life activities, I sensed a constant paradox between my Key West experience as a tourist with my FAB marine-life experience as an environmental activist. Though the Key West tourism industry stimulates jobs and economy, the  tourism impacts the beauty of its natural environment through the beer cans and other trash that I had witnessed piled within the sea-lining sludge.

During an education segment at the Florida Keys Eco-Discovery Center, I was shocked by an image depicting how microplastics outweigh plankton at the ocean’s surface by a six-to-one ratio. Having learned about the non-degradability of plastics and its endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs) from my school’s environmental class, this visual disturbed me most.

Ninety percent of marine debris are plastics, which do not degrade and only deteriorate into smaller and smaller pieces, increasing the chances of them being ingested by marine animals. Additionally, of all the animals affected by the sea debris, sea turtles make up 80% of this affected population.

Though our group had spent the week cleaning up beach shores, the impact of what we were doing really hit home on one particular day.

It was a Wednesday afternoon and the sun shown brightly and cool breeze blew. Our group with two Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary staffers were cleaning the Geiger Key Beach shoreline, which was littered with plastics. While cleaning, two pre-veterinary students went to collect what appeared to be a lump of garbage bobbing far out among the sea currents. This lump actuallly turned out to be a loggerhead sea turtle swimming in circles on its side, seemingly helpless and in danger.

The pre-vet students diagnosed a problem with the turtle’s buoyancy and attributed it the turtle’s swim bladder having possibly popped, or perhaps the turtle had eaten something that was putting it off-balance. Given that the injured turtle was found near this littered beach, I couldn’t help but put two and two together.

Man-made items found within a turtle’s stomach

Later on, and while venturing to clean a more littered part of the beach as the sea turtle was carried away on the turtle hospital ambulance, our group once again stumbled upon a smaller turtle that was both washed ashore and far from saving.

This experience has shown me how one can help Key West’s natural environment at the most direct level, but I feel that my place lies at impacting the environment from a public policy perspective. I feel that if laws were made and enforced to reduce the pollutants resulting from Key West tourism, as well as pollutants washing ashore from other nearby places, these marine creatures would not die a plastic death.

According to Reef Relief Executive Director Mill McCleary, what flows out from the Keys goes directly into the ocean. There are 972 storm drains in Key West, and everything that flows down the drains bypasses the water treatment plant and goes directly into the ocean.

‘If you just sit on Duval Street and watch people, you’ll literally see thousands of cigarette butts being thrown down the storm drains,’ McCleary said.

With about 18,000 Key West locals and over three million visitors a year, raising awareness and creating policies to reduce marine debris are greatly needed.

Reblogged: “Right Place at the Right Time”

Right Place at the Right Time

http://www.turtlehospital.org/blog/?p=4696

Posted on March 12, 2013 by Caitlin

Last Wednesday was an extremely busy day here at the hospital.  In the morning, as we had three turtles undergoing surgery for FP tumor removal, we received a call about a floating turtle by mile marker 10 at Geiger Key Beach.  The rescuers were conducting a beach clean up when they spotted the lethargic loggerhead floating near shore.  Luckily for this turtle the rescuers were marine science students from the University of Florida.  Upon observing the floating turtle covered in barnacles and algae Dillon Murph and Jennifer West quickly realized that this turtle was in need of some help.  They immediately gave us a call and we made our way to the beach.

Once we arrived on the scene we were able to pick up the turtle and load it into the ambulance for the ride back to the hospital.  The loggerhead, named Senor Fab by the rescuers, joined our other 3 turtles in the the recovery room and we began examining him between checking the heart rates of the turtles waking up from surgery.  We believe Senor Fab had been floating for a good amount of time due to the amount of epibiota covering his shell and his emaciated state.  This loggerhead was very lucky to have these quick thinking students in the area or he might have been floating for quite a bit longer.

A Reflection: Two thousand pounds of trash

FAB students walking a kayak full of trash through the sea from the littered and uninhabited Woman Key (Photo Cred: Stef S.)

There was two thousand pounds of trash — two thousand pounds of marine debris.

What represented potential harm to Key West sea creatures, wildlife, and nature, represented the collective hard work completed by 12 UF students during one spring break week.

From uncoiling ropes tangled in mangroves, digging up plastic bottles buried deep in the Key West muck, and cleaning up beaches covered in non-biodegradable plastic particles, we experienced firsthand the effects of made-made waste overcoming, what should be, a beautiful Key.

This Florida Alternative Breaks trip let me take away experiences that have changed my waste-producing behavior and given me memories of meeting 11 students who are inspiringly passionate about their service. From watching the sun set at Mallory Square to rescuing an injured loggerhead sea turtle to spending evenings cooking dinner together, playing games, or going out to get cookies as big as a person’s face, I will remember our spring break experience together. I will remember how we pulled a ton – one ton – of trash out together.

Volunteer with the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary

http://floridakeys.noaa.gov/volunteer_opportunities/teamocean.html

[Information below is taken directly from the above website link.]

 

Team OCEAN

One way to get involved and make a difference in the protection of Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary resources is through the sanctuary’s “Ocean Conservation Education Action Network,” or Team OCEAN program.

Team OCEAN volunteers and staff work to promote safe and enjoyable public use of the marine environment and to advocate protection of its natural resources.

For more information about the Team OCEAN program, contact Todd Hitchins. To learn more about volunteering with Team OCEAN, contact Hannah Weddington.

Team OCEAN Volunteers

Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary Team OCEAN volunteers are stationed on sanctuary vessels at heavily visited reef sites throughout the Keys during peak recreational boating seasons and heavy-traffic holiday weekends. Volunteers inform the public about the sanctuary and its special zones, encourage proper use of sanctuary resources, and provide tips on how to practice basic safety.

Boat groundings frequently occur because boaters are unfamiliar with the water and with the need to navigate around reefs instead of motoring directly across the reef. Team OCEAN volunteers directly prevent groundings by being present, watching for errant boaters, waving them off when they attempt to cross the shallow reef crest, and providing Teall’s Guides and charts to help familiarize new or visiting boaters with the sanctuary. Informational packets are offered to vessels, and include the charts, sanctuary information, and other helpful tips for navigating Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

The sanctuary is often looking for additional volunteers to join the program. Individuals may be trained as operators of sanctuary boats and as interpreters/educators.

Team OCEAN volunteers also participate in beach clean-ups. In 2010, Team OCEAN staff and volunteers collected more than 10,000 pounds of marine debris.

As a Team OCEAN volunteer, you will provide on-the-water education and information aimed at protecting sanctuary resources while enriching the experiences of visitors to Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and make a difference in the health of the ecosystem.

Day 1

‘Welcome to the Keys,’ said Rev. Larry Hooper of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church to a group of 12 Florida Alternative Breaks students from the University of Florida.

These students will partake in a week-long service trip to Key West, Fla., to work with the Florida Keys Natural Marine Sanctuary on issues regarding marine life conservation by performing environmental cleanups and other relief activities.

Rev. Hooper advised to the students to ‘work hard; play hard,’ hinting that this was the best Florida Keys lifestyle to live by for the trip.

Some students were ready to embrace these words.

 

 

 

After a whole day of traveling, beginning at 7 a.m. from UF’s commuter lot and ending at 6 p.m. upon reaching the church, which had allowed the students to use its space for shelter during the trip, some students were eager to explore the famous Duval Street, while others were ready to catch some sleep.

The 12 students worked together to squeeze their sleeping bags and air mattresses in a master-sized bedroom. Sounds of the nearby and slowly-busying Duval Street crept through the cracks of the ancient building, which had been originally built during the Civil War era.

Upon first meeting the students, Rev. Hooper had said, ‘Just to let you know, this is unusually cold weather for us.’

While the cold weather, 60 degrees Fahrenheit, breezed outside, the students worked together to create a warm dinner of grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato noodle soup for their first night in the town.

The rest of the week following was ready and waiting to be written.