Islamorada artist BJ Royster will unlock the creative process in you in a relaxed, informative and creative manner. This class is for designed for complete beginners, as well as those artists who want …
New Flights to Bimini Launching Soon
3 Aug 20119:30 PM
By HANNAH SAMPSON | Miami Herald
Published: August 2, 2011
Bimini will be a little easier to reach after IBC Travel expands its flight schedule to inlcude flights from both Miami International Airport and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
Flights to South Bimini International Airport in the Bahamas will be available daily from at least one of the two airports starting Aug. 15th. Fort Lauderdale had service previously, but no flights had departed from Miami.
From Miami, flights will leave on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. Flights from Fort Lauderdale will depart on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.
The 30-minute flight on a 30-seat plane will cost $289 per person round-trip. One-way flights are $169, and kids under 2 fly for $100 round-trip or $50 one way.
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![](mailto:?subject="Underwater Realism" Art Course Offered at Islander Resort In Islamorada&body=<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/roysterbj03tn-300x278.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-2889 alignleft" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/roysterbj03tn-300x278.jpg" alt="RoysterBJ03tn-300x278" width="300" height="278" /></a>Islamorada artist BJ Royster will unlock the creative process in you in a relaxed, informative and creative manner. This class is for designed for complete beginners, as well as those artists who want to enhance their knowledge and discipline within the creative process. You will take home a Keys reef scene on 11 x 14 stretched canvas.
WHAT: "Underwater Realism" art course
WHEN: Thurs, Oct 8, 22, Nov 5, 19; 1 – 4 pm
HOW MUCH: $165 <a href="http://moradaway.org/underwater-realism" target="_blank">REGISTRATION</a> (Materials Included)
Born and raised in South Florida, BJ is recognized as a foremost artist specializing in reefs. After overcoming a fear of diving, she became a certified SCUBA diver and now translates the underwater beauty to her canvases. Her award winning work can be seen around the world, in several publications, and in her gallery, BJ Royster Ocean Gallery in Islamorada.
CALL 800.513.5257 TO RESERVE YOUR ROOM AT THE ISLANDER AT OUR INCREDIBLE WEEKDAY RATES! https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/underwater-realism-art-course-offered-at-islander-resort-in-islamorada/){kind=link}
![](http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/billfish-invitational-auction-spotlight-bimini-big-gamer-package/&media=https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/aerial12-1.jpg&description=Billfish Invitational Auction Spotlight – "Bimini Big Gamer" Package){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Billfish Invitational Auction Spotlight – "Bimini Big Gamer" Package&body=BILLFISH INVITATIONAL AUCTION ITEM: The Bimini Big Gamer
The Big Game Is On at the legendary <a title="BBGC web site" href="http://www.biggameclubbimini.com" target="_blank">Bimini Big Game Club</a>, <a title="About GHO" href="http://www.biggameclubbimini.com/aboutus.htm" target="_blank">a Guy Harvey Outpost</a>, and this package is a front row seat to all the action. Swanky accommodations. A day of offshore fishing. A day of backcountry fishing. A day of diving. A night of wining and dining and some flying around on your own private plane. You’re in the major leagues now! Enjoy a five night stay in one of the Club’s four penthouse one bedroom suites which give new meaning to phrase "million dollar view". Each is designed with an individual style - the Hemingway and Lerner suites, side by side, as these two legends were in real life, or Guy Harvey’s personal suite and the adjoining Blue Marlin. Get rested up because every day is “Game Day” at the Big Game Club.
Day 1 - Sunrise...time to suit up and go chase the Man in the Blue Suit! Gear up for some serious blue water angling with the legendary <a title="About Capt. Billy Black" href="http://www.biggameclubbimini.com/charter-captain-billy.htm" target="_blank">Captain Billy Black</a>, a man who knows these waters like Hemingway knew his mojitos! Enjoy a day with Captain Billy and three of your fishing buddies aboard <a title="Photo of "El Viejo"" href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=196290337079665&set=a.167958453246187.29409.127094040665962&type=1&theater" target="_blank">“El Viejo”, a classic 53 Rybovich fishing machine</a>. The Man in the Blue Suit doesn’t take kindly to amateurs, so make sure you know your stuff, and if not, you’d best follow Captain Billy’s orders. It’s true, fish fear him!
Day 2 - And speaking of orders....bonefish, 2 o’clock, 30 feet, cast, strip, try again. Yes, on Day 2, we’re talking tough love from one of <a title="About Bonefish Bimini" href="http://www.biggameclubbimini.com/bonefish-bimini.htm" target="_blank">Bonefish Bimini</a>’s expert guides. These guides grew up fishing the flats of Bimini, and their knowledge of local bonefish and permit habits might constitute trade secrets. The skiff accommodates two anglers, but you may not want to share these secrets with anyone!
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/vaughfred-bonefish1.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-650" title="Bonefish Bimini guide "Eagle Eyes" Fred get another one!" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/vaughfred-bonefish1.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="366" /></a>
Day 3 - Time to suit up again...this time in your swimsuit or wet suit, because you and three friends are off for a two tank dive aboard <a title="About M.V. Bimini Blue" href="http://www.biggameclubbimini.com/our-boat.htm" target="_blank">M.V. Bimini Blue</a> with the dive pros of <a title="About Neal Watson's Dive Bimini" href="http://www.biggameclubbimini.com/dive-bimini.htm" target="_blank">Neal Watson’s Dive Bimini</a>. Wrecks, walls, reefs and the mysterious Atlantis Road – there’s no end to the diving options. Enjoy diving in style aboard the Club’s 60ft double deck, glass bottom boat, complete with men’s and women’s bathrooms, warm water showers, and snack bar with adult beverages on board. During your stay, you’ll be a guest of the <a title="About the Bimini Big Game Bar & Grill" href="http://www.biggameclubbimini.com/bimini-bar-grill.htm" target="_blank">Bimini Big Game Bar & Grill</a>, the island’s most popular waterfront restaurant and bar. Enjoy a complimentary dinner for four while overlooking the marina and debating who’s winning the Big Game. We’ll buy you dinner and a nice bottle of wine, but these types of debates go on long into the night, so cocktails are for your account!
When it comes there is no more time on the score clock, and the Big Game draws to a close, regardless of the score everyone’s a winner, for you and your friends are going home in style....just like the way you arrived ! On your very own private <a title="About Sky Limo Air Charter" href="http://www.skylimoaircharter.com/aboutus.php" target="_blank">Sky Limo</a> <a title="About the Cessna Caravan" href="http://www.skylimoaircharter.com/aircraft-cessna-caravan-208CX.php" target="_blank">Cessna Caravan</a> charter that seats seven - or you alone and a lot of luggage – round trip from <a title="FT. Lauderdale Executive Airport web site" href="http://ci.ftlaud.fl.us/FXE/" target="_blank">Ft. Lauderdale Executive Airport</a>. As you climb out over Bimini and look back at Alice Town and the Big Game Club, you know the Big Game will go on, but the Outpost team awaits the return of you, the Bimini Big Gamer! . Donated by the Bimini Big Game Club, “El Viejo” Sportfishing Charters, and Sky Limo Charters.
AUCTION INFORMATION:
Tickets to nightly events of the inaugural 2011 Billfish Invitational are available for $150/pp. Price includes cocktails, dinner and participation in the auction and award presentations.
On-site auction is Thursday, May 19th at the Bimini Big Game Club. Online bids accepted through Midnight, Wednesday, May 18.
Please contact Capt. Ned Stone (<a href="mailto:nstone@guyharveyoutpost.com">nstone@guyharveyoutpost.com</a>) for details. https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/billfish-invitational-auction-spotlight-bimini-big-gamer-package/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Guy Harvey Outpost Visits Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute Land-Ocean Observatory&body=<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/hboi.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2854 alignleft" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/hboi.jpg?w=300" alt="HBOI" width="300" height="232" /></a>A group of marine scientists sits before a computer screen in an air-conditioned command center in Fort Pierce, watching intently as a robot plucks a sea sponge from deep on the ocean floor that just might hold the key to combating diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer's.
Elsewhere on the same FAU/Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute campus, two technicians are preparing a special ambulance to rescue a bottlenose dolphin snared in an illegal fishing net. And out on the adjacent Indian River Lagoon, a university official is demonstrating for the local news media the latest additions to the world's largest interactive land-ocean observatory monitoring water quality in the one of the nation's richest estuaries.
And the expansive reach of Harbor Branch-- which was established in 1971 and merged with Florida Atlantic University in 2007-- doesn't stop there.
The institute's engineers develop the technology that enable its research scientists such as Brian Lapointe and Stephanie Farrington to figure out why coral reefs are declining so rapidly throughout the Caribbean and Florida and why thick carpets of maize-colored sargassum weed recently have clogged local beaches.
On the outskirts of the campus working in small Quonset huts, aquaculture scientists come up with techniques for growing food fish such as cobia and pompano and ornamentals such as clownfish in captivity to help end overfishing for these commercially-important species.
Although Harbor Branch's focus is "Ocean Science for a Better World", its researchers, professors and students pursue holistic, ecosystem-based courses of study encompassing the environment some 45 miles inland to the fresh waters of Lake Okeechobee, the Kissimmee River and beyond.
Adhering to the adage that 'everything flows downstream', scientists look at the connectivity between land and ocean, freshwater and salt, seeking ways to keep the entire ecosystem in balance. For example, if too much fresh water is discharged from Lake Okeechobee east to the St. Lucie Estuary or west through the Caloosahatchee River to the Gulf of Mexico, sea grasses, shellfish, food fish, dolphins and manatees suffer. The land-ocean observatory network rolled out before the reporters and television cameras recently will enable resource managers to address those issues in real time.
Harbor Branch doesn't close itself off to the local community. Residents and visitors can stop by the Ocean Discovery Center open five days a week and they may attend free weekly ocean science lectures conducted from January through April.
Whether you're a bass aficionado battling lunkers in the Big O or a salt chaser bagging kingfish for the grill off Fort Pierce, you both have a lot in common. Check out www.fau.edu/hboi. https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/guy-harvey-outpost-visits-harbor-branch-oceanographic-institute-land-ocean-observatory/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Fun Up the Creek With a Paddle&body=<img class=" size-medium wp-image-3250 alignleft" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/fisheatingcreek.jpg?w=300" alt="FisheatingCreek" width="300" height="225" />By Sue Cocking, Guy Harvey Outpost staff writer
scocking@guyharveyoutpost.com
[Palmdale, FL--] A paddler would be hard-pressed to find a more scenic, tranquil waterway in South Florida to explore than Fisheating Creek. Unlike many in the region, its water levels are not manipulated by humans, but dependent entirely on rainfall. No buildings line its banks except for the small office at the Fisheating Creek Outpost campground in tiny Palmdale. Mostly, it's just you in your kayak or canoe-- maybe an occasional hunter passing by in a john boat-- and gators, birds and frogs for miles around.
Fisheating Creek-- derived from a Native American phrase for " the creek where fish are eaten"--lives up to its name. It's loaded with bass, bluegill, and bream. Flowing gently south and east from rural Highlands County for about 50 miles to Lake Okeechobee, the creek is a narrow, shady, shallow haven for wildlife. If you are quiet, you might spy deer, wild turkey, and hogs as you glide by. The state of Florida controls the creek corridor, maintaining public access while the upland regions are mostly cattle pastures owned by the agribusiness giant Lykes Bros.
I enjoyed a nearly effortless seven-mile paddle down the creek at year's end, buoyed by unseasonably high water levels from recent rains that required no wading nor dragging my kayak over shallow sandbars. Sunny, breezy weather tamped down annoying insects and made for a comfortable three-hour float downstream.
An Outpost shuttle driver transported my kayak and me to the put-in site popular with day-trippers called Burnt Bridge. Had I desired a longer trip, I could have been shuttled further north to Ingram's Crossing-- a 16-mile, full-day or overnight excursion. Using the Outpost shuttle is the only way to access the creek upstream from the campground because you have to pass through several locked gates on Lykes property to get there.
Decades ago, paddling almost the entire length of the creek to its terminus in Lake Okeechobee was possible, but not today. The shuttle driver told me it is paddle-able for about 45 minutes south of the campground to a spot called Rock Lake. Beyond Rock Lake, he said, the stream is too choked with vegetation to continue.
No matter. I had plenty of spectacular natural scenery and wildlife to occupy me for my entire trip. I glided through towering cypress forest with many boughs still bright green despite the winter season. Their knobby knee roots lined the creek banks like columns of small soldiers. Overhead, crows, herons and ibis called, squawked, and grunted as I floated by.
I think I had only been underway for about 20 minutes when I came upon my first gator-- a five-footer sunning itself on a sandbar. I slowed down, and barely was able to snap off a photo before it slid into the creek and disappeared. Over the next three hours or so, I passed another 14 of the reptiles, one of them a jowly monster that looked to be about ten feet long. Without exception, they either ignored me or departed quickly at my approach. For some reason, I didn't see any snakes or turtles.
Since it was a weekday, watercraft traffic was light. I came upon exactly one small motorboat and a party of three kayaks.
"You're the first person we've seen for days!" joked one of the paddlers.
It is theoretically possible to get lost on Fisheating Creek, but you would have to try really hard. The route is marked with small directional signs and blue blazes on the trees. If you ever find yourself between markers, uncertain how to proceed, simply go with the flow-- following the strongest line of current downstream.
I stopped for lunch at a scenic sand spit dubbed Nude Beach on my trail map. It was deserted; no naked people anywhere around. However, as I munched on chicken tenders, I did spy two tail drags in the sand that doubtless were made by nude alligators.
Fish splashed and birds conducted me from the tree canopy as I continued downstream. Then I came upon a startling sight: a large, gray, roundish structure about six feet tall attached to a tree on the left bank. Peering closer, I saw that it was a really big wasp nest! I snapped a photo and pushed quickly away. Not long after that, I arrived back at the campground.
What a fun morning it had been. Beautiful scenery, non-threatening wildlife and no bug bites. I'll have to do the long version next time.
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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/fun-up-the-creek-with-a-paddle-2/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Connecting With One Special Veteran&body=On this Veterans’ Day the staff at Guy Harvey Outpost would like to share a letter we received from a Veteran. This letter has moved each of us and we are honored to have Veterans as our guests.
Dear Anyone,
My name is Christian and I am a disabled veteran. I recently had an opportunity to spend time at the Islander Resort, a Guy Harvey Outpost on Islamorda. I have to say it changed my life. I am writing Mr. Harvey and wondering if he would ever be interested in opening a facility in the islands for veterans? I know its crazy but I spent 3 days there and I slept more in three days than in years. I felt at peace and I didn't have bad dreams. I got to feel and smell and touch things without feeling anger or hate, I found my Jesus.. My wife Janet cried because for the first time in years I slept, and it was a beautiful sleep..
I bought a print of yours that hangs in my office at home. I look at it everyday and it brings me.. Hope, joy, peace.. I don't have a name like Guy Harvey but I believe your name can change the lives of veterans... The life style can release the anger and start the healing. I know this is a long shot and I don't expect much but what if we could open another resort? What if we could give them peace? What if we could save a generation from suffering and give them hope? No matter what happens I thank you. I am staying at the Islander again in July... No matter what I thank you for sleep.. I can never repay you for the peace I feel in Islamorada.
I hope and pray for you.. Thank you, Christian
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/2014-veterans-day.png"><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-2334" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/2014-veterans-day.png?w=550" alt="2014-Veterans-Day" width="550" height="430" /></a>
On Christian’s July visit he brought his family including his father (a former Navy SEAL). We look forward to the family's next visit.
See our response in the next Outpost Blog post.
https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/connecting-with-one-special-veteran/){kind=link}
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