By Sue Cocking, Guy Harvey Outpost staff writer scocking@guyharveyoutpost.com Help a dolphin paint a picture; get a stair-climbing workout like no other; eat great seafood; take a walk in the woods; light …
Guy Harvey to Raise Funds for Hurricane Relief Efforts in the Bahamas
19 Sep 20192:07 PM
Guy Harvey Enterprises is supporting hurricane relief and recovery efforts in the Bahamas by donating 100 percent of net profits from a newly designed t-shirt to Convoy of Hope: Anglers for the Bahamas.
The Bahamas Strong t-shirt, which features an iconic Guy Harvey sailfish design with the Bahamian flag, is priced at $25 and available at https://www.guyharvey.com/bahamas-strong/bahamas-strong-t-shirt.html.
“Hurricane Dorian left an unprecedented path of destruction through the Bahamas, causing unimaginable loss of life, property and security,” said Dr. Guy Harvey, world-renowned artist, conservationist, scientist and entrepreneur. “I was born in the Caribbean and lived here all my life, so I am particularly heartbroken by the devastation in the Bahamas. We sympathize with our island neighbors and will help in any way we can.”
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![](mailto:?subject=Guy Harvey to Raise Funds for Hurricane Relief Efforts in the Bahamas&body=
Guy Harvey Enterprises is supporting hurricane relief and recovery efforts in the Bahamas by donating 100 percent of net profits from a newly designed t-shirt to <a href="https://www.convoyofhope.org/donate/anglers-for-the-bahamas/">Convoy of Hope: Anglers for the Bahamas</a>.
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/bAHAMAS-sTRONG-sHIRT.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-5422" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/bAHAMAS-sTRONG-sHIRT.jpg" alt="" width="578" height="721" /></a>The Bahamas Strong t-shirt, which features an iconic Guy Harvey sailfish design with the Bahamian flag, is priced at $25 and available at <a href="https://www.guyharvey.com/bahamas-strong/bahamas-strong-t-shirt.html">https://www.guyharvey.com/bahamas-strong/bahamas-strong-t-shirt.html</a>.
“Hurricane Dorian left an unprecedented path of destruction through the Bahamas, causing unimaginable loss of life, property and security,” said Dr. Guy Harvey, world-renowned artist, conservationist, scientist and entrepreneur. “I was born in the Caribbean and lived here all my life, so I am particularly heartbroken by the devastation in the Bahamas. We sympathize with our island neighbors and will help in any way we can.” https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/guy-harvey-to-raise-funds-for-hurricane-relief-efforts-in-the-bahamas/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=The Most Wonderful Season of All to Visit St. Augustine&body=<img class=" size-medium wp-image-3089 alignleft" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/staxmas.jpg?w=300" alt="StAXmas" width="300" height="180" />By Sue Cocking, Guy Harvey Outpost staff writer
scocking@guyharveyoutpost.com
Help a dolphin paint a picture; get a stair-climbing workout like no other; eat great seafood; take a walk in the woods; light up the night; and tour one of the oldest standing structures in North America.
These are just some of the experiences awaiting you in St. Augustine -- one of America's oldest cities-- located on the northeast Florida coast. Beach, history, natural wonders, art, and lots of opportunities to eat and drink distinguish the First Coast from the rest of the Sunshine State.
Here's just a small sampling of what you can see and do in a couple of days:
<a href="http://www.marineland.net" target="_blank">MARINELAND DOLPHIN ADVENTURE</a>
I stumbled into this venerated attraction without reservations on an afternoon when the staff was setting up for a wedding. Wandering around, I came upon a large open tank where several dolphins were making jaw-clapping noises on the surface. I stopped to snap a photo and one of them came right up to me and grinned into the camera. Then I got yelled at by a volunteer who said I was in a restricted area.
Whatever. If you make advance reservations, you can touch and feed the animals; swim with them; and hold a canvas over the water while the dolphin paints a picture-- among other adventures. You can also check out the sea turtle and shark tanks holding clients from the University of Florida's Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience headquartered right across the street.
I bet that wedding was a doozy.
<a href="http://www.blackflytherestaurant.com" target="_blank">BLACKFLY, THE RESTAURANT</a>
Hungry after my impromptu dolphin encounter, I visited Blackfly, the Restaurant on St. Augustine Beach, operated by Vaughn Cochran and partners and renowned for delicious sushi and other seafood.
Cochran-- an artist, former flats fishing guide, lodge operator and now owner of the top fly shop in nearby Jacksonville-- has helped create the region's only saltwater fly-fishing-themed eatery. Incorporating elements of prized recipes from the various lodges Cochran ran in the Caribbean and Central America, Blackfly specializes in local fish with creative touches.
I dined on local sheepshead in a tasty tomato-bacon beurre rouge sauce accompanied by mashed potatoes and bok choy. Yum. And even better, I got to go fly -fishing with Cochran and guide captain James Dumas the next day and we all caught and released redfish on the flats.
<a href="http://www.staugustinelighthouse.org" target="_blank">AUGUSTINE LIGHTHOUSE & MARITIME MUSEUM</a>
If you think your Stairmaster workout at the gym is tough, check out what the 19th century lighthouse keepers had to do to keep this beacon going and prevent ships from running aground: climbing 219 stairs carrying a 30-pound can of lard oil four times a day every day. Heck, I was winded walking to the top toting nothing heavier than my purse. But once there, you will be treated to panoramic views of the ocean and Old City.
If you don't feel like making the climb, you can tour the lighthouse keeper's home and boatbuilding shed, walk a nature trail, or take your kids to the shipyard-styled playground.
<a href="http://www.nps.gov/casa/" target="_blank">CASTILLO DE SAN MARCOS NATIONAL MONUMENT</a>
One of the oldest standing structures in North America, this Spanish fortress took 84 years to build, completed in 1756. It's spectacular to see from both St. Augustine Inlet and the Old City, and equally breathtaking to tour.
The fort is built of more than 400,000 blocks of coquina stone-- all cut and set entirely by hand-- and it still looks a lot like it did in the 18th century. You get to explore cannons and watch towers, and visit the ancient rooms where soldiers slept, ate and stored their ammo.
Though the fort changed hands many times over several centuries, it never fell in battle. Rather its transfer from country to country was accomplished through treaties and peace agreements.
Now it's a hugely popular historic site managed by the National Park Service.
<a href="http://myfwc.com/viewing/recreation/wmas/lead/Guana-River" target="_blank">GUANA RIVER WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT AREA </a>
Located on A-1-A about halfway between St. Augustine and Jacksonville, this 9,800-acre region of forest, fresh- and saltwater ponds, and marshes is a haven for the outdoors enthusiast.
Visitors can fish from shore or wade in the redfish- and flounder-rich waters of Lake Ponte Vedra, hunt ducks from November through January, and go paddling, hiking, biking and horseback riding.
I took a short hike on one of the miles of trails that loop through the area, enjoying the quiet and shade of an oak hammock.
This hunting/recreation area abuts the 2,400-acre Guana Tolomato Matanzas Estuarine Research Reserve, designated in 1999. Take time to visit the reserve's Environmental Education Center located just before the entrance gate.
<a href="http://augustine.com/event/nights-lights" target="_blank">NIGHTS OF LIGHTS</a>
This truly is THE most wonderful time of the year to visit St. Augustine, especially after dark when the entire city-- buildings, homes, parks, monuments, street lamps and vehicles-- are strung with millions of tiny white lights to observe the holiday season. Named one of the top ten holiday lighting displays in the world by National Geographic, it stems from an old Spanish tradition of placing a single white candle in the window of each home. The light fest runs through Jan. 31.
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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/the-most-wonderful-season-of-all-to-visit-st-augustine/){kind=link}
![](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.
**********
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=Get Ready to Wahoo with the IGFA & Old Bahama Bay&body=Capt. Tony DiGiulian Teaches How to Catch Wintertime Wahoo at the <a href="http://www.igfa.org/Educate/School-of-Sportfishing.aspx">IGFA's School of Sportfishing </a>next Monday, December 15, 2014, 7-10pm.
Known as one of the fastest fish in the ocean, wahoo don't last long on a dinner plate either. Capt. DiGiulian's class will teach anglers how to target and more consistently catch wahoo in the cooler months of the year. He is co-founder of the IGFA School of Sportfishing and has lectured on fishing techniques around the world through his <a href="http://www.saltwaterproconsulting.com/">Saltwater Professional Consulting</a>.
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/tony-wahoo.png"><img class="wp-image-2426" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/tony-wahoo.png" alt="Tony Wahoo" width="600" height="284" /></a>Captain Anthony DiGulian and his favorite wahoo rig.
Unlike most locales where wahoo are often considered incidental catches due to their somewhat nomadic and loner nature, at <a href="http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com/destinations/bahamas/west-end-grand-bahama-island/overview.html">Old Bahama Bay, a Guy Harvey Outpost Expedition Lodge</a> they are caught consistently October to March. Double and triple headers of wahoo are relatively common during the season. One-hundred pounders are caught each year in the Bahamas. Wahoo grow quite large with the all tackle record reaching 184 pounds. Just north of <a href="http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com/destinations/bahamas/west-end-grand-bahama-island/overview.html">Old Bahama Bay </a>is the area known as "Wahoo Alley." This stretch, where the Little Bahama Bank meets the Gulfstream, gets special recognition on fishing charts. Wahoo also make great table fair and can be found at your local sushi bar as Ono. To celebrate WAHOO Season, Guy Harvey Outpost is hosting the <a href="http://ghofish.com/">Wahoo Bonfire Festival and Tournament </a>at Old Bahama Bay February 26th - March 1st 2015. The Wahoo Bonfire Festival will feature a variety of activities including a Burning Wahoo Sculpture by artist Bobby Little.
<a href="http://ghofish.com/"><img class="aligncenter wp-image-2436" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/burning-wahoo-logo.jpg" alt="http://ghofish.com/" width="375" height="375" /></a>
The Wintertime Wahoo Techniques class will be held at the <a href="http://igfa.org/">International Game Fish Association's </a> Headquaters in Dania Beach, FL. Cost per class is $100 USD for IGFA members and $150 USD for non IGFA members. The fee covers the cost of the class, course materials, and tackle used for activities during each class. For more details call Anthony Vedral at 954-924-4254 or e-mail <a href="mailto:avedral@igfa.org?subject=IGFA%20School%20of%20Sportfishing">avedral@igfa.org</a>
For Fishing with Guy Harvey Outpost: <a href="http://www.ghofish.com/" target="_parent">www.ghofish.com</a>
More Information on Guy Harvey Outpost & their great resorts: <a href="http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com/" target="_parent">http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com/</a>
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![](http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/billfish-invitational-auction-spotlight-the-blue-a-bronze-casting-by-kent-ullberg/&media=https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/billfish-invitational-auction-spotlight-the-blue-a-bronze.jpg&description=Billfish Invitational Auction Spotlight – “The Blue", a bronze casting by Kent Ullberg){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=End of Summer Deals for Old Bahama Bay, Guy’s West End Outpost&body=Too Cheap To Stay Home!
If you are looking for a great deal, <a href="http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com/index.php">Guy Harvey Outpost</a> has them at Old Bahama Bay, now through Sept 30th. <a href="http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com/destinations/bahamas/west-end-grand-bahama-island/rest.html">Book Junior Suites</a> for only $150 per night weekdays and $199 Friday/Saturday nights (plus tax and service). Book Dockage for $1.50 weekdays and $1.75 weekends per foot, per night.
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/marina-with-obb-logo.png"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2225" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/marina-with-obb-logo.png" alt="Marina with OBB Logo" width="550" height="275" /></a>
Come and enjoy the barefoot elegance <a href="http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com/destinations/bahamas/west-end-grand-bahama-island/overview.html">Old Bahama Bay</a> offers couples and families. Outpost Guests receive Complementary Watersports including: Kayaking, paddle boards, sailing, snorkeling & our oceanfront pool. Up for a little off property adventure? There is great diving and fishing just minutes from our private marina. Scuba dive on the Wall or fish for Tuna, Marlin or Bonefish we have it all. And for those who just need a break, we have hammocks and umbrella drinks to help you chill out. For more information call 800 513-5257 or reservations@guyharveyoutpost.com .
More information on Guy Harvey Outpost & our other great resorts: <a href="http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com/">http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com/</a>
For the Guy Harvey Outpost Blog <a href="http://www.guyharveyoutpostnews.com/">www.guyharveyoutpostnews.com</a>
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