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May 23rd marks the 17th annual observance of World Turtle Day, where people around the world are encouraged to celebrate and protect turtles and tortoises and their disappearing habitats. Several Guy Harvey …
Kayaking the shallows of Shell Key Preserve near St. Pete Beach, our group of 11 is being shadowed by some very determined cormorants. The black water birds with jade-green eyes paddle only a few feet …
Victoria has longed to be a mermaid for her entire 30 years. Her favorite childhood movies were “The Little Mermaid” and “Splash”. But life intervened; she joined the U.S. Army, …
[Dunnellon, FL.–] Mac Stone is kicking across the Rainbow River against the strong current as fast as he can, and even though he is carrying a bulky underwater camera with two protruding …
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26 Feb 2018 11:48 am
22 Aug 2017 10:51 am
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![](mailto:?subject=Calling All Pups: Stand Up for Warriors&body=Prop your pup on your paddleboard and race for fun, glory, prizes and to support a worthy canine cause at the first annual Pups & Sups event July 30 on St. Augustine Beach.
Humans and their pets will compete to see who can ride the biggest wave, take the longest ride, cruise in highest style, and take the best wipe-out-- among other categories-- in this family-friendly competition. Proceeds will benefit <a href="https://www.k9sforwarriors.org/">K9s for Warriors</a> -- a Ponte Vedra non-profit dedicated to supplying combat veterans returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan with service dogs that ease their adjustment into civilian life.
Paw-ticipants will be divided into weight divisions: large dogs (51 lbs. and up); medium dogs (21 -50 lbs.); and small dogs (20 lbs. and under). They will be launched by their owner/handler, with winners in each weight division advancing to the finals.
Registration is $40. Check-in time will be 7:30 a.m. at 860 A1A Beach Boulevard-- future site of the <a href="https://guyharveyoutpost.com/lodging/beach-resorts/st-augustine-beach/">Guy Harvey Outpost Resort, St. Augustine Beach</a>. Competition will begin promptly at 8:30 a.m.
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Tahoma Guiry says it should be a fun time for both people and dogs. Guiry--chief marketing officer and education director of K9s for Warriors-- says she and her three kids aged 11-18 really enjoy paddleboarding with their 1 1/2-year old Labradoodle Nash. The family adopted Nash last year after he washed out of the organization's rigorous training program for service dogs --("He got guarded with his toys, so I took him home," Guiry explained.) Today Nash fits right in with the Guirys and their other dog and enjoys SUP-ing on local lakes.
"He just chills out and goes along for the ride," Guiry said. "He loves the water and loves being with people and our family."
Since launching in 2011, K9s for Warriors has matched 323 military veterans with service dogs-- mostly pets from shelters, other rescue organizations, and a few breeders. The dogs perform a multitude of tasks for their warriors who may suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, brain injury and other conditions. The dogs help them avoid panic attacks, wake them from night terrors, enhance their physical mobility, and ease their anxiety in social situations.
U.S. Army veteran Matt Berg of St. Augustine was paired with his Labrador-mix service dog Sunny last year. At 98 pounds, Sunny is too big to ride Berg's surfboard with him, but Berg says "he's a good dog....always there....a good companion."
more information and to sign up for Pups & Sups, go to http://bit.ly/2tKyPA3.
https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/calling-all-pups-stand-up-for-warriors/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Nature, Notoriety Highlight St. Pete Kayak Tour&body=Kayaking the shallows of Shell Key Preserve near St. Pete Beach, our group of 11 is being shadowed by some very determined cormorants. The black water birds with jade-green eyes paddle only a few feet away, then dive down and follow us underwater.
"They're looking for fish that the paddles stir up," explains guide Ross Heintzelman of Coastal Kayak Charters.
The cormorants accompanied us for probably a half-mile to a mangrove island that serves as a rookery for pelicans and other birds, then faded off as we paused and floated.
Heintzelman and fellow guide Doug Allen noticed a long strand of heavy monofilament fishing line trailing from one of the pelicans roosting in the trees. The line was tangled in the boughs, tethering the pelican to its perch. The guides tried to retrieve the tag end of the line and bring the bird down to untangle it, but the pelican managed to pull free and flew away-- still trailing the fishing line.
Heintzelman and Allen were disappointed, but decided to come back later and try again.
"We've probably rescued 18 pelicans like that," Allen said.
We continued on, paddling over rich sea grass meadows teeming with jumping mullet as graceful herons and fierce-looking ospreys passed overhead.
The guides stopped near an opening in another mangrove island and led the group single-file down a narrow tunnel through the tree cover. Tiny mangrove crabs scuttled up and down the prop roots, but no one was startled because Heintzelman had briefed us ahead of time.
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Emerging into open water, we paddled a short distance before entering our second tunnel. This natural architecture reminds me of a darkened cathedral, but with a leafy canopy instead of a granite ceiling. Surprisingly, there were no mosquitoes.
The third and longest mangrove tunnel was through Sawyer Key which, according to Allen, once served as a drug and money cache for celebrated former marijuana smuggler Steve Lamb of St. Pete Beach. The affable Lamb and his Robin Hood-like band made numerous midnight runs between Jamaica and Florida's west coast in the 1960s and early 70s.
The smugglers were arrested in 1973 in Steinhatchee, Fla. in what was then the largest marijuana bust in U.S. history. Once out of prison, Lamb wrote a book about his exploits entitled "The Smuggler's Ghost". Allen said rumors persist that coolers stuffed with currency may still be buried somewhere in the sand mounds of Sawyer Key. I couldn't help staring hard at those mounds as we passed by.
Departing the shady gloom of Sawyer Key, we headed back across open water toward the put-in at Tierra Verde Bayway. The faithful cormorants accompanied us nearly all the way, skillfully dodging our paddles as they swam alongside us.
Heintzelman and Allen escorted a second group of kayakers in the preserve later that afternoon. But this time, they reported success in cutting the line from the tethered pelican we had encountered in the morning. They named it "Lucky 19".
If you would like to book a kayak trip with Coastal Kayak Charters, visit <a href="http://www.coastalkayakcharters.com">www.coastalkayakcharters.com</a>, or call 727.207.6342.
Check out St. Pete Beach package deals here: <a href="http://guyharveyoutpost.com/special/">guyharveyoutpost.com/special</a>, or call the Guy Harvey Outpost Travel Desk at 800.513.5257.
Photos courtesy of Coastal Kayak Charters.
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 Swamps and Springs){kind=link}
 Swamps and Springs&body=[Dunnellon, FL.--] Mac Stone is kicking across the Rainbow River against the strong current as fast as he can, and even though he is carrying a bulky underwater camera with two protruding strobes, it is very difficult to keep up.
Panting through my snorkel, I finally catch up -- just in time to see him dart away again in hot pursuit of a cormorant which itself is in hot pursuit of a sunfish darting through the eelgrass at the bottom of the river. From a distance, I can see the strobe firing over and over and I really hope he's getting the shots he wants.
Later, Stone said he kind of did.
"Today I got a lot of cormorants fishing, but I didn't get the apex moment-- the 1/100th of a second when the fish is in front of its beak and the beak is open," he said. "You try to put yourself in as many situations as possible. Even if you get skunked, you're okay because you're getting closer to your goal."
That attitude is typical of the "high hopes but low expectations" that Stone, 33, brings to his craft as one of the most sought-after professional wildlife photographers in the southeastern U.S. For this Gainesville-raised, former Florida Audubon biologist, shooting fish, birds, landscapes and other natural subjects is NOT about producing pretty pictures. Through his images, he aims to stir the emotions of regular people enough to make them care about the ecosystems where they live and want to conserve them-- especially in Florida.
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"There are things in Florida that don't exist anywhere else in abundance," he said. "Every state has things to marvel at, but Florida just seems Old World....places you can go to and feel like you are the first person who has seen it."
Stone first became interested in photography in high school, but got away from it for several years while studying international politics, environmental science, Spanish and biology as a student at Virginia Tech. Following graduation, he took a job teaching photography to youngsters in Honduras. Later, as a biologist conducting research on fish and birds in the Everglades, Stone began to realize "the power of photography to compel people to see their natural habitat in a different way. After a year working there, I started making all these photos. No one, in a compelling way, had told the story of the wildlife and the way it relates to the flow of water," he said.
The Everglades was and is in peril because of the lack of freshwater creeping south across the Florida peninsula to replenish it-- the result of manmade re-plumbing over the past century for development and farming. In 2014, Stone published "Everglades: America's Wetland" to convey to readers through breathtaking images the absolute dependence that species like the roseate spoonbill, Everglades snail kite, alligators and others have on the correct amount, timing and quality of water delivered. The book is now in its second printing and Stone has made wildlife photography a full-time career.
Lately, his attentions have turned to Florida's imperiled springs and that's why he was chasing cormorants fishing in the Rainbow River. The Rainbow, located in west-central Florida, is fed by a second-magnitude spring that pumps more than 450 million gallons per day of fresh, 71-degree water. While strikingly clear compared to Florida's mostly tannin-stained water courses, the Rainbow still suffers from degradation from manmade sources.
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/MacStone-1500.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-4711" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/MacStone-1500.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="933" /></a> <a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/MacStone-1176.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-4710" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/MacStone-1176.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="933" /></a>
Stone's photos undoubtedly will drive home the importance of saving this and other springs.
"Springs are so unique," he said. "They're accessible, but not celebrated like other habitats are. We don't realize that when we fertilize our lawns and run our sprinklers year round, that could have a negative impact on the aquifer."
So he and I spent nearly four hours snorkeling and drifting in the Rainbow, with me carrying the dive flag and he wielding his camera to capture the images that would seize potential conservationists by the heart. He didn't feel like he got them that morning.
"I just keep coming back and chasing the shiny red ball like a Labrador retriever," he said, and headed back to the Rainbow that afternoon.
To learn more about Mac and his book, "Everglades: America's Wetland", please visit <a href="http://www.macstonephoto.com/">http://www.macstonephoto.com</a>. https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/shooting-and-saving-swamps-and-springs/){kind=link}
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