Urban Youth Impact Kayaking Trip 3/27/2012

Yesterday, after staring at the lake behind the Urban Youth Impact site, we decided to explore the lake on kayaks.  Following a safety and introduction to kayaking class, we unloaded the kayaks and paddled out.  Some of the students decided to bring along their fishing rods, armed with the fishing lures they made themselves the week before; while other to advantage of the silence on the lake, and relaxed and took in some sun.  Sadly, the wind was blowing a hard and the fish were not biting.  Even with the wind and no fish being caught, the students had a great time kayaking around the lake, and scouting out areas they would like to fish next time we go out.

Riviera CRA Boating Trip 3/24/2012

This past Saturday was the weekend that we all went fishing offshore for the Riviera Beach CRA Boating Program.  The students met us at the dock around 1:00pm, we did out safety briefing, untied, and headed out.  By the time we made it out the inlet, the wind had picked up a little from the morning, but it was still a gorgeous afternoon.  We trolled 3 lines around while we headed for our spot, and Capt Rich even turned the controls over to the students.  We had one hit on the planner line, but sadly it hit short and was never hooked.  We headed out to about 140ft and dropped some lines down to the bottom, and sent some flat lines out.  The bottom rods were getting hit right away once it made it to the bottom.  The students caught Vermillion Snappers, Sand Tilefish, Grunts, and much much more.  Around 3:30pm we finally had to bring all the lines in and head home because the seas were starting to build, and the students were looking a little unsure of the ocean.  We all had a blast being out on the boat, and can not wait to go kayaking and snorkeling next weekend at Peanut Island.

3/23/2012 Fishing, snorkeling, and kayaking at Peanut Island

Our students from Boynton High and Santaluces High School joined me for another day of fun around Peanut Island.  Today was one of the nicest days we have had in a long time, and we took for advantage of it.  The students enjoyed kayaking, exploring the island, fishing, snorkeling, and taking pictures of everything they were seeing below the water.  Above are a handful of the incredible pictures our students shot while snorkeling along the rocks on the east side of the island.

Dr. Guy Harvey 3/22/2012

This morning Capt Rich, Donny, Anthony, Janel, and I were invited to attend Guy Harvey's announcement of his new lotto scratch ticket, coming out in April.  Thank you so much to Guy Harvey for inviting us to attend, taking time for some photos, and for signing our student's Guy Harvey t-shirts.

3/22/2012 Riviera Beach YEC

This afternoon, Janel and I met the Riviera Beach YEC for an afternoon of snorkeling and fishing.  Sadly there were no fish caught, but the students did have a wonderful time snorkeling around the shallows, chasing fish and catching starfish.  Above are some pictures of the students with 2 of the starfish they found this afternoon.

Boynton Beach High School and Santaluces High School - Peanut Island Kayaking and Fishing 3/19/12

Today I spent the entire day out at Peanut Island with my United Way students from Boynton Beach High School and Santaluces High School.  We met at the marina at 9:00am, and despite it still being a little chilly, we packed up the kayaks and headed out for the day.  We began our Peanut Island adventure snorkeling in the swimming lagoon, where we saw mullet, snappers, grunts, barracudas, and much much more.

Once the water started getting a little murky, and we were getting cold, we hopped in the kayaks and began fishing around the island.  Sadly we did not catch any monster fish, but we did catch well over 100 snappers and grunts, lost more barracudas than we could count (we had no wire leaders with us!), and we even had 2 manatees come up to the kayaks to see what was going on.

We had an amazing day out on the island, enjoyed some fishing, swimming , and some much needed relaxation.  Todays group has already committed to going back to Peanut Island on Friday, but before then we have a fishing trip and two other kayaking trips planned for this week.  Hope the weather stays beautiful, and the fish keep biting!!

Riviera Beach CRA 3/17/12 - Kayaking and Swimming at Peanut Island

This past Saturday we had an amazing time with our students at the Riviera Beach CRA Boating Program.  We all met at the marina at 11:00am, and started the day by doing a beach clean up while Capt. Rich was cooking us all lunch.  The students filled 2 large garbage bags with plastics, ropes, glass, cigarettes, and much much more.  Following the clean up we all met back up and enjoyed a wonderful lunch of hot dogs, hamburgers, fruit, and veggies.

After lunch we all sat around talking while we digested the wonderful lunch cooked by Capt. Rich.  We then all loaded up in the kayaks and crossed the Intracoastal to Peanut Island, where we swam and explored the Island.  The students went from swimming to exploring, back to swimming and then exploring again.  They were extremely interested in seeing all the marine life around Peanut Island.  We found all sorts of fish, hermit crabs, starfish, urchins, and much much more.  Once the students were all exhausted, we loaded up in the kayaks again, and headed for home.  We have seen a huge improvement in their kayaking abilities, and are extremely proud at how hard they are working to achieve their goals of mastering kayaking.

This weekend was the largest group we have had at Riviera Beach, and we hope to see many more students in the weeks to come.  Next Saturday we are taking the Riviera Beach students out fishing offshore, and we are all crossing our fingers for a beautiful day and tons of fish.

With Spring Break this week for the Palm Beach County schools, we have organized trips for all our United Way and Riviera Beach students.  We are going out fishing one day this week on the boat, and spending a lot of time on Peanut Island swimming and searching for snook.

Riviera Beach CRA Boating Program 3/10/12

This past weekend we went kayaking again with our students from Riviera Beach.  We all met at the Riviera Beach Marina at 1:00pm and went through our kayak and water safety lesson before heading over to Peanut Island.  Last weekend the students practiced and became familiar with the kayaks around the beach at the Marina.  We set out as a group the cross the intracoastal, and everyone did extremely well.  Despite the current trying to push us south, everyone made it over to the Island in less than 10 minutes.  Once over to the island, we spent a bunch of time swimming in the Intracoastal and exploring the mangrove lagoon for marine critters.  Sadly it started to rain towards the end of the day, and we all made our way back to the Marina where we loaded the kayaks back up and tried to warm up under the shelter.


This coming week we hope to venture a little further round Peanut Island to the snorkeling lagoon on the southwest side.