by Sue Cocking, Guy Harvey Outpost staff writer scocking@guyharveyoutpost.com Those delicately-flavored sautéed frog legs you pay $25 and up for in South Florida restaurants do not come from amphibian …
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=Procuring Haute Cuisine by Airboat on Lake Okeechobee&body=<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/p1010117.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2987 alignleft" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/p1010117.jpg?w=300" alt="P1010117" width="300" height="225" /></a>by Sue Cocking, Guy Harvey Outpost staff writer
scocking@guyharveyoutpost.com
Those delicately-flavored sautéed frog legs you pay $25 and up for in South Florida restaurants do not come from amphibian farms somewhere in the Far East. Unlike some fish sold in U.S. markets and eateries which is farmed overseas, this freshwater delicacy likely is harvested by moonlighting cowboys, construction workers and fishing guides riding around on airboats at night on Lake Okeechobee or the Everglades.
While most do it for the money--(they get between $7 and $8 per pound of dressed frog legs)--some do it for fun, dinner, and charters.
Captain Bobby Stafford of Okeechobee earns his living by guiding locals and out-of-towners on bass fishing, gator or duck hunting, and frog gigging expeditions on the Big O. Between bookings, he sometimes goes out to harvest enough frogs for dinner.
"It's a fun thing to do, plus you get to bring home good table fare," he said. "There's a challenge to it."
On a recent weekday night, Stafford and I embarked on his newly-refurbished,14-foot airboat at Okee-Tantie on the big lake's north end, which is slated to become a Guy Harvey Outpost RV Resort and Marina in 2017. An early-evening downpour had ended just before dark and we could hear the croaks, chirps, and burps of our quarry as soon as we hit the lake.
However, Stafford was a little uncertain about our dinner prospects because of a steep rise in water levels in the previous two weeks.
"Their whole habitat is getting readjusted to the high water," he said. "But I like frogging after the rain. I think the frogs climb up higher."
Wearing a bright headlamp, Stafford cruised the cattail marsh on the edge of the lake with his left hand on the tiller and his right holding a ten-foot-long, four-pronged gig like a pool cue. It's nearly impossible to spot a frog in tall cattails, so Stafford stuck to shallow sloughs coated with lily pads where the animals often sit out in the open. All that vegetation distracts the eye, but the guide knew what to look for.
"You have to look right in the light. Sometimes you see their yellow eyeball from a ways off. Sometimes you see the white of their throat," he explained.
Sweeping the swamp with his light, Stafford pulled back on the tiller to slow down and gigged a shiny, greenish-brown frog perched on a pad. He put his quarry in a fiberglass chute attached to a mesh catch bag and kept motoring.
"You're trying to hit them and time it just right," he said. "I aim for the head."
He stuck about a dozen more and missed a couple that dived under the lily pads at the airboat's approach. Every now and then his headlamp beam would catch a pair of ruby orbs-- a gator patrolling the marsh.
"When we find the frogs thick, there will be a lot of baby gators in there eating them," Stafford said.
But the frogs and gators seemed to be spaced pretty far apart; no mother lode as in previous weeks when water levels were lower. And Stafford passed up a few frogs that were too small to be worth cleaning.
On a normal four-hour recreational gigging trip, he said, he and guests could expect to harvest about 15 to 20 pounds of frog legs. Commercial froggers keeping at it all night might score as much as 100 pounds. Nearing midnight, after about 2 1/2 hours of hunting, Stafford had taken about 30 frogs, or three to five pounds of legs. The catch was still plenty for me, him, his wife and two sons served battered and deep-fried or sautéed in garlic and butter.
Purveyors of fine foods may dream up all sorts of frog leg dishes and wine pairings targeted to the palate of the sophisticated gourmand. But diners should remember that some guy in an airboat first had to find and stick that delectable entree and then dress it to make it presentable.
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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/procuring-haute-cuisine-by-airboat-on-lake-okeechobee/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=No End to Spring Break Family Fun at Guy Harvey Outpost&body=If you and your family are planning an escape to Florida from the frigid north for spring break, you're probably already salivating over the prospects of sipping a cool drink on a warm beach, splashing in the waves, or catching a fish dinner for the restaurant at one of our Guy Harvey Outpost resorts. But there are plenty of other attractions and activities for vacationers of all ages to keep busy and have fun when you decide to take a break from the beach. Here are some suggestions:
ISLAMORADA, FLORIDA KEYS
Check out our <a href="http://guyharveyoutpost.com/islamoradapackages/">Spring Family Fun Packages in Islamorada</a>, or inquire with the Guy Harvey Outpost Travel Desk at <a href="mailto:sales@guyharveyoutpost.com">sales@guyharveyoutpost.com</a> for special savings at Theater of the Sea when you book a stay at the Islander Resort, a Guy Harvey Outpost. Must book at the web site or with the GHO Travel Desk for these deals.
<a href="http://www.FloridaStateParks.org">State Parks Boat Tour</a>: 305-664-9814
Visit two of Florida's state parks in a three-hour guided boat tour out of Robbie's Marina offered Fridays through Sundays through April. Your first stop is Indian Key Historic State Park where you will walk the perimeter of the 10-acre island that served as the 19th century county seat of Miami-Dade. You'll see the ruins of a once-thriving town populated mostly by 'wreckers'-- people who made their living salvaging merchant ships that got stuck on the nearby coral reefs-- and check out the tropical plants originally grown by a physician/botanist who lived there in the 1830s.
Your second and final stop is nearby Lignumvitae Key Botanical State Park located only a short boat ride away where you will join a park ranger for a guided tour of the Matheson House and the surrounding tropical hardwood hammock. The house, built in 1919, looks much as it did at the turn of the 20th century, with polished wooden floors, cisterns and the remains of a windmill tower now occupied by an osprey nest.
In a walk through the woods, you'll spot the eponymous lignumvitae tree which doesn't look like much, but whose wood is so dense and hard that it was used extensively in shipbuilding. You'll also get a look at trees with weird names such as poisonwood, strangler fig, and gumbo-limbo.
<a href="http://www.captainslate.com">Underwater Easter Egg Hunt</a>: 305-451-3020
Join Captain Spencer Slate on a shallow-water dive/snorkel/glass-bottom boat trip April 16 as he dresses up as the Easter Bunny and leads the tenth annual underwater Easter egg hunt. Prizes will be awarded to everyone who attends, but there's a special surprise for whoever is lucky enough to find the golden egg.
For lodging packages at the Islander Resort, a Guy Harvey Outpost in Islamorada, <a href="http://guyharveyoutpost.com/islamoradapackages/">GO HERE</a>.
ST. PETE BEACH
<a href="http://www.swimwithourfish.com">Get Tanked!</a>
You just can't help gazing at the mesmerizing peacefulness of the 33,500-gallon aquarium at the RumFish Grill at Guy Harvey Outpost, a Tradewinds Beach Resort on St. Pete Beach. Filled with numerous species of colorful, native tropical fish, it was designed and built by the crew on Animal Planet's popular television show, TANKED. Lately it has added some new inhabitants, including two stingrays, Atlantic blue tangs, doctorfish, ocean surgeonfish, and a large French angelfish--enhancing its hypnotic appeal.
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/14352097_1101744903237377_6817329903301162398_o.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-4628" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/14352097_1101744903237377_6817329903301162398_o.png" alt="14352097_1101744903237377_6817329903301162398_o" width="1179" height="579" /></a>
But you don't have to be content to just admire the aquarium's residents from the restaurant. Visitors aged 8 and up are invited to plunge right in with these friendly sea creatures on guided snorkeling tours. It's safe, fun, and a lot more exciting than watching "Finding Dory" on TV.
<a href="http://www.tampabayboatshows.com">Tampa Bay Boat Show</a>
Check out a variety of watercraft from kayaks to cabin cruisers at St. Petersburg's expansive Tropicana Field March 10-12. Boats new and used will be on display indoors and outdoors. You may end up towing your new purchase back home after spring break. Admission is free; parking costs $6.
Art Shows - <a href="http://www.tarponspringschamber.com">Tarpon Springs Fine Arts Festival</a> and <a href="http://www.mainsailart.org">Mainsail Arts Festival in St. Pete</a>
Make plans to attend the 43rd annual Fine Arts Festival on the Bayou in Tarpon Springs April 8-9. Held at Craig Park on the scenic Spring Bayou, it will feature as many as 250 exhibitors of a wide range of juried art. The event also includes food and live entertainment. Admission is $5, with free parking and shuttle service.
Then on April 22-23, St. Petersburg will host the 42nd annual Mainsail Art Festival at waterfront Vinoy Park. Peruse paintings, sculpture, ceramics, jewelry, tapestries and many other media while listening to live music and munching on local treats. Kids will be able to create their own artworks in a special tent; adult professional artists will vie for a share of a $60,000 prize purse. Admission is free.
To arrange your stay at Guy Harvey Outpost, a Tradewinds Beach Resort, <a href="http://guyharveyoutpost.com/destinations/florida/st-pete-beach/">GO HERE</a>.
ST. AUGUSTINE
<a href="http://www.floridasbirdingandphotofest.com">Florida's Birding & Photo Fest</a>
Attend workshops and lectures on birding and photography; take walking, boating and kayaking tours of scenic woods and waters; and add to your life list in this April 26-30 outdoors extravaganza.
The event will be based at the Guana Tolomato Matanzas Estuarine Research Reserve, located just off A-1-A about halfway between St. Augustine and Jacksonville. Outdoors and photography gear will be on display and food trucks will be standing by to serve hungry hikers. Some of the outdoor tours already are sold out, so make a reservation now. There's a $25 registration fee. Cash and prizes will be awarded in a photo contest.
<a href="http://www.alligatorfarm.com">Alligator Farm Zoological Park</a>
This is the only place in the world where you can see all 24 of the world's alligator and crocodile species in one place-- including Maximo, a 15 1 2-foot-long, 45 year-old Australian croc. Other reptiles such as the Komodo dragon are housed here as well. An ancient, spreading oak in the middle of the park serves as a scenic rookery for many colorful local birds and provides limitless photo ops. You can tour the park on foot or take a zip line tour.
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/16711474_10154845538210803_6926099617369395332_n.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-4629" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/16711474_10154845538210803_6926099617369395332_n.jpg" alt="16711474_10154845538210803_6926099617369395332_n" width="583" height="418" /></a>
<a href="http://www.saaquarium.com">St. Augustine Aquarium</a>
This just-opened, 80,000-gallon aquarium holds more than 200 marine fish, and also features a shark and stingray cove. There are hands-on displays and opportunities to snorkel with the tank's inhabitants. An odd-looking guitarfish and a friendly nurse shark are among the highlights. Future plans call for a zip line and educational facilities.
More information on Guy Harvey Outpost, St. Augustine coming soon! https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/no-end-to-spring-break-family-fun-at-guy-harvey-outpost/){kind=link}
 at the <a href="https://business.facebook.com/events/235445656799071/" target="_blank">Blazing Mako Tournament and Festival</a> Father's Day weekend June 16-19 at the Islander, a Guy Harvey Outpost resort in Islamorada.
Here's an advance peek at several of the artists and their creations that you can browse in the tents of the "Conch-servation Village":
CHRIS NICOLAUS, Fort Lauderdale
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/IMG_20160213_102841-1.jpg"><img class="aligncenter wp-image-4001 size-large" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/IMG_20160213_102841-1-1024x768.jpg" alt="IMG_20160213_102841 (1)" width="1024" height="768" /></a>
Several years ago, Nicolaus began organizing trash clean-ups in the Everglades where he and his volunteers picked up more than 500 pounds of spent shell casings. His friends told Nicolaus to just scrap them, but he decided instead to turn them into marine life art.
"I've always been a fan of Guy Harvey and a fan of fishing," he said.
Despite no formal artistic training, Nicolaus forged ahead, sorting the shells by caliber, washing and drying them, gluing them to hand-cut wooden backings in the shapes of sailfish, orcas and other sea creatures, then painting them. Photos of his creations showed up on social media, and he has sold more than 20 for several hundred dollars each over the past few months. He puts the money back into his conservation program.
"I'm taking something that's destroying the Everglades and making something beautiful," he said.
He expects to display as many as 70 pieces at the Blazing Mako.
JOYCE NELSON, Miami
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/VINTAGE-PINK-CORAL-PEARLS-1.jpeg"><img class="wp-image-4000 size-full aligncenter" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/VINTAGE-PINK-CORAL-PEARLS-1.jpeg" alt="VINTAGE PINK CORAL & PEARLS (1)" width="433" height="289" /></a>
This Coconut Grove former advertising executive who taught fashion merchandising and design at the college level didn't originally set out to become an artist. But after taking jewelry-making and gemology classes beginning in 2000, she fell in love with precious stones and pearls and decided to make hand-crafted jewelry a full-time career.
Since 2005, Nelson's one-woman firm Cosmopolitan Jewels has been creating one-of-a-kind, head-turning necklaces, bracelets, and earrings suitable for dressing up or down. Prices range from about $75 to $4,500.
"It's versatile that way," Nelson said of her artistry. "You can wear it anytime and if you do, people will notice you. I can create anything-- just ask."
As lifelong anglers and boaters, Nelson and her husband Ron are excited about coming to Islamorada for the Blazing Mako.
DAVID WIRTH, Islamorada
A well-known and longtime contributor to the Keys art scene, Wirth produces a wide range of wildlife art-- some of it made from the wildlife itself. A lifelong fisherman and hunter, he is fond of saying that he hunts and fishes to make art and makes art to hunt and fish.
At Wirth's Islamorada gallery, visitors might find rich wooden or bronze sculptures of fish with backgrounds of mangroves and sea fans; hardwood furniture with handles made from the antlers of a deer; Hawaiian-style circle hook jewelry; and a variety of creatures fashioned from stone.
Nearly all of the wood the artist uses comes from blown-down trees or remnants from cleared lots. He fashions wreaths from barbed wire discarded in farm fields. A deer skin becomes a throw rug (while the meat goes into his freezer). Works sell for an average of $2,500 to $3,500 apiece.
He won't have to travel far to attend the Blazing Mako.
"The Islander is a great location-- a nice, Keys-y place to do an art show," Wirth said. "We're all about supporting anything Guy does."
ALISON CLAIRE LaMONS, Lakeland.
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/GULFSTREAMCHARTERS_REV_72DPI_WEB.jpg"><img class="aligncenter wp-image-4004 size-full" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/GULFSTREAMCHARTERS_REV_72DPI_WEB.jpg" alt="unknown title" width="432" height="288" /></a>
This seafaring, world-traveling, beach-loving, architectural drafting, married mother of three has longed to become an artist since her childhood in Fort Lauderdale. But LaMons didn't make art her full-time career until about three years ago and she occupies an unusual niche: watercolor portraits of vintage neon signs.
"I want to be the Guy Harvey of vintage neon signs!" she declared.
The hand-painted, original signs may depict anything from sport fishing boats to tropical flowers to blue marlin accented with shimmering neon that immediately catches the eye. Frames are fashioned from salvaged scrap metal.
"It's sexy and at the same time kitsch-y," LaMons said of her work. "I invent a sign to suit what I want to say."
LaMons' larger watercolors sell for upwards of $5,000, but she'll also bring a selection of prints and note cards to the Blazing Mako.
"I have great fun doing these art shows," she said.
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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/full-spectrum-of-original-artwork-on-display-at-the-blazing-mako/){kind=link}
![](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.
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Pups-Sups-1080-Image.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-4825" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Pups-Sups-1080-Image.jpg" alt="" width="1080" height="996" /></a>
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}
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