Artist Bobby Little’s Burning Marlin sculpture at Guy Harvey Outpost’s Bimini Beach Bash Bonfire & Tournament. Above, Duncan Brake’s photograph captures the marlin in full furry. The event …
Get Your AARGH on with Guy Harvey Outpost Outfitter Full Moon Treasure Dives
10 Feb 20162:44 AM
The treasure won’t consist of authentic pieces of eight, nor will it be buried. But divers will still get to hunt for some special hidden coins at two popular South Florida dive sites under the full moon Feb. 22 and then redeem them for Guy Harvey swag and other prizes, including scuba trips and gear.
This month’s Guy Harvey Outpost Full Moon Treasure Dive is the first of a series of monthly night dives being conducted by Outpost Outfitters South Florida Diving Headquarters in Pompano Beach and Capt. Slate’s Scuba Adventures in Tavernier, Florida Keys. Enough coins will be sprinkled around the dive sites so that everyone has a shot at taking home a prize. A grand prize of a three-night lodging package at Hotel Playa Media Luna, a Guy Harvey Outpost expedition property in Isla Mujeres, Mexico will be awarded at season’s end.
Captain Jeff Torode of South Florida Diving Headquarters plans to host a one-tank dive departing from his new dock at Sands Harbor Resort at 6 p.m. to the wreck of the Ancient Mariner, 70 feet deep off Pompano Beach. Upon returning to the dock, divers will exchange their coins for prizes and enjoy a waterside after-party at the tiki bar.
Captain Spencer Slate will conduct a one-tank dive departing at 6 p.m. from his Tavernier headquarters to the popular Davis Reef, about 30 feet deep off Islamorada. In addition to hunting for hidden treasure coins, divers may enjoy a visit with Wasabi– a large, friendly green moray eel who frequents the reef. (Don’t worry; Wasabi isn’t interested in grabbing a share of the treasure.) An after-party and prize-giving will be held at Slate’s dock, followed by an optional after-after party at the nearby Morada Bay Resort in Islamorada.
For reservations or more information, call 1-800-513-5257.
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Sue Cocking chronicles the Guy Harvey Outpost travel and adventure experience in regular blog posts on GuyHarveyOutpostNews.com/. For 21 years, Cocking covered the full spectrum of outdoors adventure opportunities in South Florida and beyond for the Miami Herald, including fishing, diving, hunting, paddling camping, sailing and powerboat racing. She is a certified scuba diver and holder of an IGFA women’s world fly fishing record for a 29-pound permit.
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Share your photos, videos and experiences with Guy Harvey Outpost by hash tagging #OutpostAttitude to all of your social media posts.
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![](mailto:?subject=Red Hot Blue Marlin with Guy Harvey Outpost&body=<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/duncanbrakeburningmarlin.jpg"><img class="wp-image-2061" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/duncanbrakeburningmarlin.jpg?w=300" alt="All Lit Up!" width="469" height="308" /></a>
Artist Bobby Little’s Burning Marlin sculpture at <a href="http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com/">Guy Harvey Outpost’s</a> Bimini Beach Bash Bonfire & Tournament. Above, Duncan Brake’s photograph captures the marlin in full furry. The event marked Guy Harvey Outpost’s return to Bimini after two years of growth around Florida, the Bahamas and Beyond. <a href="http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com/destinations/bahamas/bimini-bahamas/bimini-sands-bimini.html">Bimini Sands Resort & Marina, a Guy Harvey Outpost Expedition Lodge</a> hosted the three day event.
Barefoot skydivers from Island Extreme Adventures kicked things off, landing on the beach in front of the Infinity Pool. There was scuba diving with the legendary Neal Watson, fabulous food and ace fishermen. Captain Bouncer Smith, recently honored at the IGFA as a “Legendary Captain,” and young Victor Bermudez the event’s Top Angler teamed up to take top honors in the fishing tournament.
Stay tuned for more photos and details or check the latest on the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/GuyHarveyOutpost">Outpost Facebook page</a>.
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/red-hot-blue-marlin-with-guy-harvey-outpost/#more-2060" class="more-link">(more…)</a> https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/red-hot-blue-marlin-with-guy-harvey-outpost/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Speed Up Everglades Restoration&body=Borrowing from the immortal lyrics of country music’s Jerry Reed in the theme song of the 1977 film “Smoky and the Bandit”, Everglades restoration “has a long way to go and a short time to get there.”
While the song refers to the urgency of delivering beer cross country, it is far more applicable to the necessity of restoring historic fresh water flows to Everglades National Park and Florida Bay. The stakes — for sport fishing, diving, and the ecosystem as a whole– are enormous.
About 15 years have passed since Florida and the federal government began work to restore historic water flows in terms of amount, timing, and quality across the Florida peninsula from the Glades headwaters just south of Disney World into Lake Okeechobee, and finally into the national park and bay. The multi-billion dollar planning, land acquisition, and construction projects have been mired in bureaucratic problems and arguments over money. Meanwhile, huge quantities of polluted water have been shunted from the Big O east to the St. Lucie Estuary and west through the Caloosahatchee River, killing sea grasses, fish and other creatures while the Glades and Florida Bay remain parched.
In 2014, voters got so sick of the situation that they overwhelmingly adopted a constitutional amendment to set aside a third of taxes on real estate transactions to ensure land could be bought and water stored, filtered and sent south to benefit people and wildlife.
But the Florida legislature spent most of the money on debt service and buying vehicles. And Congress hasn’t funded an effort to speed up work to move water through the central Everglades into Florida Bay. The situation grew worse this summer when an unseasonable drought combined with high salinity and water temperatures killed sea grass, fish and mangroves in the bay. Now, scientists fear the onset of a massive algae bloom that could further decimate this once rich marine life nursery, and they are keeping a close eye out for it.
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/gators.jpg"><img src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/gators.jpg" alt="gators" width="550" height="413" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-120" /></a>
The Everglades Coalition, meeting earlier this month in Coral Gables, found a couple of reasons to be hopeful of better days ahead. A bill being introduced in the Florida legislature this session would set aside at least $200 million for Everglades projects. If lawmakers lack the political will to move ahead, Gov. Rick Scott has said he would set aside $5 billion over 20 years to create badly-needed water storage.
But the thirsty Glades could be running out of time. What’s being billed as the largest water restoration project in the history of the world was initially projected to take about 30 years. Now, experts say, it is barely at the halfway point, and could take up to 50 years. This doesn’t bode well for the 8 million Floridians who depend on the Glades for drinking water, nor the fish and other aquatic creatures whose very existence hangs in the balance.
To learn more about the critical situation in Florida Bay, you can attend a talk by Everglades Foundation ecologist Stephen Davis Jan. 27 at 6 p.m. at the Keys History & Discovery Center at the Islander, a Guy Harvey Outpost Resort in Islamorada. Fee is $25 for non-Discovery Center members and reservations are recommended. Call 305-922-2237 or email info@keysdiscovery.com.
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Sue Cocking chronicles the Guy Harvey Outpost travel and adventure experience in regular blog posts on GuyHarveyOutpostNews.com/. For 21 years, Cocking covered the full spectrum of outdoors adventure opportunities in South Florida and beyond for the Miami Herald, including fishing, diving, hunting, paddling camping, sailing and powerboat racing. She is a certified scuba diver and holder of an IGFA women’s world fly fishing record for a 29-pound permit.
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Share your photos, videos and experiences with Guy Harvey Outpost by hash tagging #OutpostAttitude to all of your social media posts. https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/speed-up-everglades-restoration/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Spring Into Adventure with Mermaids and Manatees&body=<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3422" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/12698307_10154157285116756_9106479937438679828_o.jpg" alt="12698307_10154157285116756_9106479937438679828_o" width="1280" height="853" />By Sue Cocking, Guy Harvey Outpost staff writer
scocking@guyharveyoutpost.com
[Weeki Wachee, FL--] Sitting in a subterranean amphitheater watching through clear glass as young women wearing glittering mermaid tails swim gracefully more than 16 feet deep underwater can almost make you suspend disbelief in the supernatural.
"There's Ariel!" a little girl in the audience shouts in delight, and nobody in the audience scoffs. Indeed, we all start applauding.
We are watching one of the live daily performances of "The Little Mermaid" at Weeki Wachee Springs State Park on central Florida's west coast. Here, since 1947, generations of young women (and a few young men) have delighted audiences with their unique stunts and choreography-- all executed while taking intermittent breaths off free-flowing air hoses scattered around the spring that serves as their underwater stage.
It takes considerable skill to do this. Wearing neither buoyancy compensation devices nor dive masks, the mermaids must control their depth by the amount of air they inhale and exhale from the hoses-- all while dancing, miming and staging mock combat for the audience watching through the glass. Often they must deal with surprise intruders in the spring that threaten to upstage them-- manatees, turtles, a snook that just won't leave-- and several times-- drunken patrons from the adjoining Buccaneer Bay water park. Unflappable does not begin to describe their demeanor.
The Weeki Wachee mermaid shows were the brainchild of Newt Perry, a champion swimmer, diver and attractions promoter. In their heydays of the 50s and 60s, they drew large crowds, and fans included the late Elvis Presley and other celebrities.
Attendance suffered after Walt Disney World opened, but the shows still went on, albeit to smaller audiences. Buccaneer Bay was added in the 1980s, and the attraction also includes an animal show, gift shop, restaurant, riverboat tour, and kayak rental. It became a state park in 2008.
The spring itself is dazzling. Bubbling up from deep within the earth's core, more than 110 million gallons per day of fresh, clear, 72-degree water form a narrow river that flows west from the mermaid theater for about 7 1/2 miles to the Gulf of Mexico near Bayport.
A friend and I paddled a five-mile section of the river, renting from the <a href="http://www.weekiwacheekayakrental.com" target="_blank">Kayak Shack</a>. It was a fun, relaxing, non-strenuous three-hour float from the park to the shop's headquarters over water so clear it appeared invisible. Surrounded by cypress and shady oak, we glimpsed schools of bass, mullet and bream as well as heron, ibis, turtles and at least five resting manatees. Gorgeous.
Visiting Weeki Wachee is but one of many fun outdoor adventures to be savored around Florida's Springs Coast. Visitors should also make it a point to explore nearby Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park where they can see a hippopotamus, a Florida panther, and a black bear as well as other mammals, reptiles and birds --and view fish and manatees in an underwater observatory. Dr. Guy Harvey and fellow marine artist Wyland painted the colorful mural that decorates the outside wall of the visitor center in 2000.
Bicyclists will enjoy pedaling the Withlacoochee State Trail-- a 46-mile-long former railroad track that's been turned into a multi-use path. A good place to start is the Inverness trailhead and bike either north or south.
All this activity tends to stimulate an appetite. Here are several recommendations for après-adventure food and drink in or near Crystal River, FL:
-West 82 Bar and Grill at the Plantation on Crystal River
-Peck's Old Port Cove Seafood Restaurant
-Vintage on 5th
Here's to happy trails-- paddling, hiking, biking-- and to putting a spring in your step.
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Sue Cocking chronicles the Guy Harvey Outpost travel and adventure experience in regular blog posts on GuyHarveyOutpostNews.com/. For 21 years, Cocking covered the full spectrum of outdoors adventure opportunities in South Florida and beyond for the Miami Herald, including fishing, diving, hunting, paddling camping, sailing and powerboat racing. She is a certified scuba diver and holder of an IGFA women's world fly fishing record for a 29-pound permit.
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Share your photos, videos and experiences with Guy Harvey Outpost by hash tagging #OutpostAttitude to all of your social media posts. https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/spring-into-adventure-with-mermaids-and-manatees-2/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Kuwaiti Kingfish: Adventure & Friendship Aboard an Army Vessel at Sea&body=<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/kuwait-austin-mickey11.jpg"><img class=" wp-image" id="i-1580" alt="Image" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/kuwait-austin-mickey11.jpg?w=650" width="527" height="293" /></a>Fishing buddies Mickey Swoyer and Austin Capers, U.S. Army.
<a title="GHO on Facebook" href="http://www.facebook.com/GuyHarveyOutpost" target="_blank">Guy Harvey Outpost</a> is all about adventure travel. As the saying goes: The difference between an ordeal and an adventure is “Attitude.” In honor of Patriots’ Day on September 11th we thought we would share a fishing adventure from Austin Capers & his pals on the US Army Vessel Lt. General William Bunker.
Austin grew up on the waters of Jupiter, Florida. Fishing was such an important part of his life he became a commercial fisherman and was fishing right up until he joined the Army in 2004. Six months after finishing training he volunteered for a deployment on the United States Army Vessel Lt. Gen William Bunker at Kuwait Naval Base.
Austin and his ship mates arrived in Kuwait mid-May just in time for summer to crank up. Their mission was to upload battle damaged equipment and transport it to various countries on the Persian Gulf to be fixed or replaced.
On an early mission to Bahrain they found several <a title="Okuma web site" href="http://www.okumafishing.com/" target="_blank">Okuma rods and reels</a> that had been donated by the Morale, Welfare, and Recreation (MWR) years before. The guys tried to fish them but the line was shot and they had little or no tackle. Austin’s Dad went to pals at Fishing Headquarters in Jupiter to round up some gear. Most of us think of Mom’s baked goods when we think of “Care Packages” from home. Austin’s was full of enough Ande mono to re-spool three rods, heavy mono leaders, a planer and assorted trolling rigs.
Also on board was Mickey Swoyer, a fisherman and “A character”, from the Outer Banks area in North Carolina, who shared Austin’s love for fishing. The Lt General William Bunker is a 274 foot, flat bottom, landing craft with bow and stern ramps for “Roll On – Roll Off” loading. Picture trolling out of a tuna-tower.
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/kuwait-lsv4-1.jpg"><img class=" wp-image" id="i-1584" alt="Image" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/kuwait-lsv4-1.jpg?w=650" width="527" height="204" /></a>The 'Lt. General William Bunker'
On their down time, the two started trying different combinations of trolling rigs, including a couple of Wahoo rigs Mr. Capers sent. The best working rig ended up being a simple pink skirt with a double rigged 6-0 hook set. “We were amazed how they loved that pink skirt!” Attempts to use the planer at cruising speed proved dangerous. “It flew out of the water like a Polaris missile.”
To hear Austin tell it, “The stern of this vessel sits about 20-30 feet off the water so we had to let a ridiculous amount of line out.” The boat cruised at 9-11 knots which ended up working perfectly. “After we started catching fish our skipper gave us a hand help radio so that every time we hooked up we could yell “Fish ON!!!” into the radio and he would stop the boat. It was awesome! We caught 6 to 10 kings and an assortment of other strange looking sea creatures. We lost a massive one at the pilot door that was much bigger than the one pictured here. It was a huge morale booster for the entire 30 man crew.”
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/kuwait-me-and-mickey1.jpg"><img class=" wp-image" id="i-1589" alt="Image" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/kuwait-me-and-mickey1.jpg?w=650" width="527" height="395" /></a>Kuwaiti Kingfish!
Austin went on to spend four more years on active duty including a 15 month deployment to Iraq. Today he is back in Jupiter with his family. Mickey has relocated to Daytona Beach with his family and the guys are hoping for a reunion soon.
Thank you Austin, Mickey and all who serve our country. https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/kuwaiti-kingfish-adventure-and-friendship-aboard-an-army-vessel-at-sea/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Organizers Not Giving Up on Rapa Nui Dive Site&body=<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/11242681_10152750655661710_105051262564212438_o.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2857 alignleft" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/11242681_10152750655661710_105051262564212438_o.jpg?w=300" alt="11242681_10152750655661710_105051262564212438_o" width="300" height="169" /></a>The upside down wreckage of the Rapa Nui Reef 67 feet deep off the Deerfield Beach Pier looks like the dark basement of a house crushed by an earthquake. But maybe not for long.
Plans are reportedly in the works to cut openings for divers to access the hull of the 150-foot-long barge that crushed 14 Easter Island-like statues affixed to it during the problem-plagued June sinking. Broward County recently deployed 500 tons of limestone boulders dubbed 'Mount Deerfield' just north of the site. And philanthropist Margaret Blume of Boca Raton and artist Dennis MacDonald of Pompano Beach are considering placing more statues, called moai, in a sculpture garden in the sand around the barge.
Right now, Rapa Nui-- the Polynesian name for Easter Island--isn't much of a dive. Swimming beneath the barge is dangerous because it's only being held up off the bottom by the brittle remains of the statues and their concrete base. One strong storm, and the rusty hulk will plop into the sand.
But this project was not a complete failure. The goal of creating new marine habitat is already happening. Algae coats the overturned hull, attracting bait fish and the grunts and gray snapper that eat them. A reliable observer reported two Goliath grouper swimming around the wreckage. And when I dived it with Jeff Torode, operator of South Florida Diving Headquarters, a feisty triggerfish-- backed by a posse of its buddies-- attacked his GoPro as he shot video.
With the planned enhancements, Rapa Nui could become as enjoyable for divers to visit as it is now for fish. Visitors could easily explore the underwater artwork and Mount Deerfield in a single drift dive. And there are other scenic reefs --both coral and manmade-- in the immediate vicinity that warrant making a day of it.
"I would like to improve it as a dive site," Blume, who put up $500,000 for the June deployment, said. "I really hope we will do something wonderful even on a small scale. You can't give up too easily." https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/organizers-not-giving-up-on-rapa-nui-dive-site/){kind=link}
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