Grand Cayman – January 5, 2012 – In celebrating the first anniversary of the sinking of the USS Kittiwake as an artificial reef, The Cayman Islands Tourism Association recently presented Cayman …
Happy Birthday From 20,000 Leagues Under
7 Feb 201411:42 PM
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![](mailto:?subject=Guy Harvey Receives Certificate of Appreciation on First Anniversary of USS Kittiwake Sinking&body=<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/guyaward1.jpg"><img class=" wp-image-1042 " title="Guy Harvey receives certificate of appreciation for sponsorship of USS Kittiwake sinking" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/guyaward1.jpg" alt="" width="495" height="329" /></a>Guy Harvey accepts a certificate of appreciation from CITA President, Harry Lalli and Acting Chief Officer, Leonard Dilbert during the Kittiwake Sinking Anniversary Reception at the Governor’s House. The event was held in recognition of the one year anniversary of the ship's sinking as an artificial reef.
Grand Cayman - January 5, 2012 - In celebrating the first anniversary of the sinking of the <a title="Sinking of the USS Kittiwake" href="http://guyharvey.wordpress.com/2011/01/09/cayman-islands-creates-new-artificial-reef-with-sinking-of-the-ex-uss-kittiwake/" target="_blank">USS Kittiwake</a> as an artificial reef, The <a title="CITA web site" href="http://www.cita.ky/" target="_blank">Cayman Islands Tourism Association</a> recently presented Cayman resident and celebrated marine wildlife artist and conservationist <a title="Guy Harvey Inc. web site" href="http://www.guyharvey.com" target="_blank">Dr. Guy Harvey</a> with a certificate of appreciation.
An ardent supporter of the project, Dr. Harvey was on hand a year ago and photographed the sinking of the USS Kittiwake and its short journey to the bottom, 64ft below the surface off the north end of <a title="About Seven Mile Beach" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Mile_Beach,_Grand_Cayman" target="_blank">Seven Mile Beach</a>. The <a title="GHRI web site" href="http://www.nova.edu/ocean/ghri/" target="_blank">Guy Harvey Research Institute</a> served as one of the many original sponsors of the effort to make the USS Kittiwake an artificial reef. The effort received substantial support from the local dive and business communities as well as the government.
Watch the video below to take an underwater video tour of the USS Kittiwake with Guy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnggzEo5Nv0&list=UUK-ol6-5sVk_NcRHN1LtmOQ&index=3&feature=plcp https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/guy-harvey-receives-certificate-of-appreciation-on-first-anniversary-of-uss-kittiwake-sinking/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Rehabbed Turtle Released off Florida Keys to participate in Tour de Turtles’ Event&body=<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/11754301_733884743406613_3971705450198939655_o1.jpg"><img class="wp-image-2826 size-medium" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/11754301_733884743406613_3971705450198939655_o1.jpg?w=293" alt="11754301_733884743406613_3971705450198939655_o" width="293" height="300" /></a>Photo Courtesy of Andy Newman.
MARATHON, Florida Keys -- A rehabilitated loggerhead sea turtle that convalesced about four months at the Florida Keys-based Turtle Hospital was fitted with a satellite-tracking transmitter and released Friday off the Florida Keys.
Named Aaron, the subadult reptile crawled into the Atlantic Ocean in front of several hundred cheering spectators at Marathon's Sombrero Beach.
It is the only rehabilitated turtle of 12 that is part of the Tour de Turtles initiative created by the Sea Turtle Conservancy.
Beginning Aug. 2, the online education and awareness program will track the reptiles for three months. Turtles will be followed after releases in Panama, Costa Rica, Nevis, W.I. and Florida.
"It's the sea turtle who goes the furthest distance in three months that wins the marathon and wins the Tour de Turtles," said Dan Evans, research and technology specialist with the Sea Turtle Conservancy. "The takeaway from the whole program is to really raise awareness about sea turtles, to get people interested in sea turtles through technology and to also let people know what they can do to help protect sea turtles."
Aaron was discovered floating in a Key Largo boat basin in March. It was treated at the Turtle Hospital in Marathon for an intestinal impaction and parasites in its digestive system with antibiotics, anti-parasitic medications, lactulose, vitamins and a diet of squid and fish
Learn more here:
Tour de Turtles: <a href="http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tourdeturtles.org%2F&h=tAQHKPX4B&enc=AZNRUuCt5hIJx33XuBw3zcy-tyIGy6-uvyaKnyWxJIqBOGXfS-FZhNUD9qYelatOGq5nvUvQfLji-c1LuPjQIHfPRp0Ozwei5hGNAK5NXO43BlJOoeO3jgyaOvEHeYj8yzW6Q_4HWMe16xT2rBmfZnbMniNaxUwTNHRt1sglx8RB5_g9jX-9IilW42_-LENnsnAnqxdwHfydNJWMKTInmj71&s=1" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.tourdeturtles.org</a>
The Turtle Hospital: <a href="http://www.turtlehospital.org/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.turtlehospital.org</a>
https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/rehabbed-turtle-released-off-florida-keys-to-participate-in-tour-de-turtles-event/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Capt. Slate’s ‘Creature Feature’ Dive – New Location, New Thrills&body=<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/slate.jpg"><img class="alignnone wp-image-2903 size-large" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/slate.jpg?w=660" alt="Slate" width="660" height="256" /></a>
(Tavernier, FL) The five-foot-long green moray eel glides out of its coral reef cave and heads straight for the ballyhoo that Captain Spencer Slate dangles from two gloved fingers. The eel quickly gulps the bait then allows Slate to cradle it in his arms and stroke its slick sides. Slate holds the eel out to a ten-year-old diver sitting nearby who gives it a pat, and it returns to its cave.
"A sweetheart, a doll," Slate says later of the eel, who he has named Wasabi.
Slate has been making friends with eels, sharks, barracudas, Goliath groupers, and numerous other Upper Keys reef denizens since the late 1970s. His twice-weekly 'creature feature' feeding dives on Fridays and Sundays conducted from Captain Slate's Scuba Adventures Dive Center, a Guy Harvey Outpost outfitter in Tavernier, regularly draws a sell-out audience.
On a recent Sunday, two families from Fort Pierce-- both with newly certified scuba diving ten-year-old daughters-- travelled to the Keys for the third time to participate. Both girls thoroughly enjoyed the dive, and declared they would share photos and videos upon returning to school.
"They were cute!" one girl said of Wasabi and Lester, another green moray befriended by Slate.
Slate escorted his guests to the first dive at Davis Reef, a shallow, scenic coral ledge about 25 feet deep where Wasabi makes her home. Slate dropped to the bottom carrying a PVC canister filled with chum and bally hoo, quickly attracting a school of yellowtail snapper and grunts that followed the scent trail.
The captain stopped in front of a shallow cave near a large Southern stingray that rested half-buried in the sand and kept a wary eye on the food fest. The swarming snapper and grunts were so thick around the chum canister that the divers could barely see Slate. The divers settled down in the sand to see what would happen next.
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/10924171_770345289702868_1772420048942809884_o.jpg"><img class="alignnone wp-image-2907 size-large" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/10924171_770345289702868_1772420048942809884_o.jpg?w=660" alt="10924171_770345289702868_1772420048942809884_o" width="660" height="339" /></a>
Wasabi appeared pretty quickly after Slate took out the first bally hoo. Her jaws flexed open and closed as she approached the bait, then devoured it. She held pretty still for all the public displays of affection by the humans, then went back to her cave to digest the meal. She never snapped at anybody.
The stingray, tired of the hoopla, slowly dusted itself off and swam away.
Slate let the schooling fish have their way in the chum slick for a little while, then got out another bally hoo for Wasabi. She re-emerged from her cave, ate her snack, indulged the divers, then departed.
None of Slate's guests has been injured by his featured creatures in decades, but he has. Following numerous nips to the fingers requiring multiple visits to a hand surgeon over the years, Slate began wearing chain-mail gloves. Even today, he has very little feeling in his digits. Trying to feed barracudas bally hoo clasped between his teeth, Slate has suffered split lips, a black eye and a severed nerve in his cheek.
"Like getting a haymaker from Sonny Liston," he said.
A Goliath grouper he fed regularly at the wreck of the City of Washington off Key Largo once swallowed his arm and part of his head in its haste to score a meal.
He just laughs off the injuries and vows to keep hanging with the sea life.
"You know me. If I find an eel, I am going to make a buddy out of it," he said.
On the second dive with the group from Fort Pierce, Slate headed to nearby Pleasure Reef where he is trying to cultivate a more solid friendship with Lester, another moray. Lester responded a bit slowly to the offered bally hoo and didn't want to hang around too long for the requisite love fest. But he didn't display any hostility, just shyness.
During that dive, the guests also spotted a large nurse shark and a sea turtle passing by. Nobody was scared -- just excited.
That's the whole purpose behind the creature feature, Slate said -- showing visitors that residents of the underwater world are not out to get them.
"I've done this my whole life, so people will respect them and get over the idea they'll eat you alive," Slate said.
That message certainly went a long way with two very exhilarated ten-year-old girls.
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. https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/capt-slates-creature-feature-dive-new-location-new-thrills/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=What Are Your Earth Day Plans?&body=Each year we honor our planet with Earth Day. Many of us participate in organized activities. Organized or not the most important thing to do is, get off the couch, get outside and get into nature! Ideally, get wet, but GET OUTSIDE!
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/nasa_modis_wonderglobe_lrg.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-2686" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/nasa_modis_wonderglobe_lrg.jpg?w=660" alt="Image converted using ifftoany" width="660" height="660" /></a>
Here are some Earth Day suggestions:
Get out early and listen to the birds. They have lots to say first thing in the morning.
Go for a sunrise beach walk. Take a bag with you and fill it with trash on your way back.
Take the dog to a new park. Heck, take the kids to the park too!
Go snorkeling in the nearest body of water. What is there to be discovered?
Count the turtle nests at <a href="http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com/destinations/florida/st-pete-beach.html">Guy Harvey Outpost, St. Pete Beach</a>
Lie on your back in the sand and let it the grains fill the voids to support you.
<a href="http://ghofish.com/">Go Fish</a>!
Enjoy your church’s Earth Day activities.
Bike a new trail, take a different route.
Watch for the Green Flash at sunset from <a href="http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com/destinations/bahamas/west-end-grand-bahama-island/overview.html">Old Bahama Bay</a>, <a href="http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com/destinations/bahamas/bimini-bahamas/bimini-sands-bimini.html">Bimini Sands</a>, <a href="http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com/destinations/florida/islamorada-fl/rest.html">the Islander Bayside</a>, <a href="http://http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com/destinations/florida/st-pete-beach.html">St. Pete Beach</a>, or the <a href="http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com/destinations/beyond/southern-cross-club/overview.html">Southern Cross Club</a>.
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/vaughfred-bonefish1.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-1424" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/vaughfred-bonefish1.jpg?w=660" alt="VaughFred.Bonefish" width="660" height="440" /></a>
Go paddle boarding on new waters or your favorite water.
Get away from city lights; lie on your back and count stars. (Island beaches are excellent for this.)
Walk through wet grass barefoot.
Paint a picture.
Plant something pretty in your yard.
<a href="http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com/adventures/diving.html">Go Diving!</a>
Feed your senses, close your eyes and smell the plants, the sea and the earth around you.
Get on your hands and knees and grab hold of mother earth. Give her a hug, she deserves one.
Join Guy at Jacksonville Beach this Saturday April 25th 9-11 am for the <a href="http://www.guyharvey.com/">Jax Beach Clean-Up</a>! Registration takes place in front of Seawalk Pavilion at the corner of 1st Street N. & 1st Ave. N. Jacksonville Beach.
<a href="http://www.earthday.org/">EarthDay.org</a> has lots of organized activities for you to choose from.
PLEASE take the time to get outside and enjoy your planet.
For Fishing with Guy Harvey Outpost: <a href="http://www.ghofish.com/">www.ghofish.com</a>
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![](mailto:?subject=Diving South Florida’s Best New Underwater Attraction: Lady Luck&body=By Sue Cocking, Guy Harvey Outpost Travel Journalist
scocking@guyharveyoutpost.com
Pulling myself hand over hand down a descent line to the shipwreck Lady Luck against a stiff current took a couple minutes. But when I finally reached the main deck of the 324-foot-long former sludge tanker, I was glad to see it sits perfectly upright in the sand. Sunk on July 23 about 130 feet deep off Pompano Beach, Florida, the region's newest shipwreck is attracting hundreds of eager divers-- and also some fish.
Exploring the Lady Luck is an exciting and challenging experience; there's really nothing like it underwater anywhere. Longer than a football field with its main deck sitting about 100 feet beneath the ocean's surface, the former Newtown Creek that for decades performed the mundane task of transporting New York City's sewage sludge is now decked out as a mock casino. And divers are taking full advantage of the opportunities for underwater selfies.
Our group -- consisting mostly of members of the South Florida Divers Scuba Club -- arrived at the stern of the ship and worked our way slowly forward, using its giant stacks and bulkheads to shield us from the current. No marine growth coats the wreck, but that's understandable given how recently it went down. We swam into the wheelhouse to find some navigation equipment still intact, then discovered some unexpected decorations outside on top: sculptures of shells and starfish created by Pompano Beach artist Dennis MacDonald.
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Julie-dealing-to-Jeanne-Kossey.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-4169" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Julie-dealing-to-Jeanne-Kossey-1024x576.jpg" alt="Julie dealing to Jeanne Kossey" width="1024" height="576" /></a>
Continuing forward, we found giant dice; a poker table surrounded by sculptures of card sharks and a mermaid cocktail waitress; an octopus shooting craps; and a couple slot machines. Ironically, a school of real Atlantic spadefish hovered around the poker table!
Because of Lady Luck's length and depth, it's tough to cover in a single dive. Divers will want to return again and again to visit parts of the ship that they didn't have time to see the first time around. And it won't be too long before sponges and soft corals begin to attach to its decks and bulkheads and extensive network of piping, creating habitat for fish both large and small.
The Lady Luck is expected to be the centerpiece of Shipwreck Park, surrounded by 16 other sunken vessels. Its deployment was the work of a non-profit formed by the city of Pompano Beach, the Isle Casino and several local businesses that raised more than $300,000 to purchase, clean and sink it. Captain Jeff Torode, operator of South Florida Diving Headquarters, a Guy Harvey Outpost Outfitter in Pompano Beach, was a key player in the project.
To book a dive trip to the Lady Luck, call 800-771-DIVE (3483) or visit the <a href="http://www.southfloridadiving.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SFDH web site</a>.
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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/diving-south-floridas-best-new-underwater-attraction-lady-luck/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Killing for Conservation!&body=<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/green-turtle-lionfish-haul-2014.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2068" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/green-turtle-lionfish-haul-2014.jpg?w=225" alt="Lionfish Derbies Work, 908 Dead Lionfish Cannot All Be Wrong!" width="225" height="300" /></a> Killing for Conservation?Lionfish are incredibly fertile and have no natural predators in the Atlantic Ocean. <a href="http://www.reef.org/">Reef Environmental Education Foundation</a> (REEF) has been leading the fight against this Indo-Pacific invader and after six years of Lionfish Derbies at Green Turtle Cay the evidence is clear: Lionfish Derbies Work! Lionfish now range from Brazil to North Carolina and beyond. They can live in fresh water too! The 908 Lionfish killed in this one day event was fewer than in previous years even with more divers and better weather. AND those fish that were killed this year were smaller than in previous years; another good sign. Lionfish Derbies will not send the fish back to the Pacific; they can however help local communities keep the population in check.<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/credit-ellie-splain.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2071" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/credit-ellie-splain.jpg?w=300" alt="Three Contestants for the Smallest Lionfish Caught. Photo Credit: Ellie Splain" width="300" height="200" /></a>Three Contestants for the Smallest Lionfish Caught. Photo Credit: Ellie Splain Click Image to Enlarge<a href="http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com/destinations/bahamas/green-turtle-cay-abacos/overview.html">The Green Turtle Club</a>, a <a href="http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com/index.php">Guy Harvey Outpost</a> Expedition Lodge hosted the event. For six years, REEF scientists have conducted a Lionfish Census before and after each event to assess the impacts of the Derbies. REEF estimates that had these 908 demons been allowed to roam Abaco waters for another year they would have consumed between 700,000 and 2.2 MILLION! Native prey fish.Congratulations and Thanks to REEF & to The Green Turtle Club for executing a great event for an important conservation mission!For more information on <a href="http://www.reef.org/">Reef Environmental Education Foundation</a> and other <a href="http://www.REEF.org/lionfish">Lionfish Derbies</a>.For More information on <a title="The Green Turtle Club" href="http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com/destinations/bahamas/green-turtle-cay-abacos/overview.html">The Green Turtle Club</a>For More information on <a href="http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com/index.php">Guy Harvey Outpost</a> https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/killing-for-conservation/){kind=link}
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