Retired U.S. Navy Petty Officer Seth Wade likely will have to get around using a wheelchair for the rest of his life– a daunting prospect at the age of 26. After losing use of his legs in a 2014 …
Work Off Turkey Day on Big O Hike
17 Nov 201611:07 AM
Now here’s a novel way to pig out on Turkey Day with impunity: hike the Herbert Hoover dike around Lake Okeechobee.
The Loxahatchee chapter of the Florida Trail Association will conduct the popular Big O hike, now in its 25th year, from Nov. 20-25 on the elevated trail that surrounds the lake. You can join as many as 30 of your soon-to-be-closest friends in South Bay on Nov. 20 for the first leg of 12 miles to Pahokee or opt for the ‘wimp walk’ of only three miles.
For the rest of the week, you’ll be doing a series of day hikes totaling about 65 miles — not the entire 110-mile perimeter of the Big O since several sections are closed for dike repairs. No need to stuff a big backpack because you will be shuttled between your base camp at the KOA Campground in Okeechobee to and from entry and exit points each day; a day pack will do fine.
Post-hike social events will be held daily at the KOA, with a Thanksgiving Day feast served on Nov. 24.
Chapter president Roy Moore of Wellington will lead the hike.
“It’s a social thing–people doing day hikes together,” Moore said.
You’ll take in panoramic views of one of the largest lakes in the U.S. and probably spot some animals.
“You see a lot of wildlife around the northwest corner,” Moore said. “Coyotes, wild hogs, lots of birds.”
The guest list so far includes a nine-year-old girl and an 85-year-old man, among others.
To learn more and register, go HERE.
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![](mailto:?subject=Vet to Vet: Dive, Dive, Dive!&body=Retired U.S. Navy Petty Officer Seth Wade likely will have to get around using a wheelchair for the rest of his life-- a daunting prospect at the age of 26. After losing use of his legs in a 2014 auto accident that damaged his spinal cord while on deployment in Europe, Wade is adjusting to civilian life in his hometown of Tampa. But instead of being depressed about what he can't do as a paraplegic, Wade has decided to focus on what he CAN do-- snow and water skiing, sailing, and, just recently, scuba diving.
"Being in the water gives you a sense of freedom," Wade said between pool training sessions in Clearwater recently. "I love it. I can't wait to get to the good stuff."
Wade was trained by Scott Crawford, a U.S. Air Force retiree and owner/instructor at Rock Bottom Divers near Tarpon Springs. Crawford has been donating his time to teach and certify military vets-- both disabled and able-bodied-- as scuba divers for the past three years. He works with several non-profit veterans' groups to help defray costs for the dive boat, equipment and instructional materials.
"It's called 'adaptive diving'," Crawford said of how he trains his students. "It's based on what the candidate can do -- not what he can't do."
Crawford was introduced to Wade by Nelson Corbin, executive director of the North Carolina-based Wounded Veteran Retreat Program. Corbin, a U.S. Army Rangers veteran, began organizing outdoor outings for wounded vets about three years ago after his son, who served in Special Forces, lost both legs in Afghanistan.
Corbin helped out with Wade's dive training sessions in the pool and an inland spring. But neither he nor Crawford cut the young man any slack. Wade lowered himself from his wheelchair to pool side and in and out of the water. He had to perform the same skills as any other open-water dive candidate-- removing and clearing the mask underwater; executing out-of-air drills and emergency ascents; donning his buoyancy control device and many others-- all while swimming with webbed gloves and no fins. He took to the skills easily-- probably because he grew up fishing and snorkeling in Tampa Bay.
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/P1010485.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-4206" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/P1010485-1024x768.jpg" alt="P1010485" width="1024" height="768" /></a>
"Good work, man!" Crawford congratulated Wade.
The student earned both an open-water and Nitrox scuba certification through the SSI agency. Nitrox is a breathing gas containing less nitrogen than regular compressed air-- important for Wade because it means less nitrogen accumulating in the scar tissue on his spine. Too much nitrogen in the blood and tissues can lead to decompression sickness, or the 'bends' -- a painful and serious medical condition.
"It's nice having two vets [in training sessions]," Wade said. "Doing it with non-vets from a local dive shop would be not as comfortable."
The new scuba diver reflected back on the dark days of his post-accident recovery at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center near Washington, D.C. where he was treated by several psychologists, some of whom he "fired". But one who he called 'Lieutenant Dan' stood out as particularly helpful.
"Somehow, he was hooked up with Guy Harvey," Wade recalled.
'Lieutenant Dan' got Wade a limited-edition print of a tarpon signed by Harvey, along with a tee shirt. Today, that tarpon hangs over Wade's bed at home in Tampa.
"I never did get to thank Guy Harvey," Wade mused. "If you see him, tell him I said thanks."
<a href="http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com/dive-packages/"><img class="aligncenter wp-image-4200 size-full" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/ad.jpg" alt="ad" width="737" height="301" /></a> https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/vet-to-vet-dive-dive-dive/){kind=link}
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![](mailto:?subject=DEEPEND: Catching Weird Mini-Monsters from the Deep Sea&body=Inside several lockers on the fifth floor of the Guy Harvey Oceanographic Center at Nova Southeastern University near Fort Lauderdale are jars full of some of the weirdest-looking sea creatures that anyone has ever seen.
Cartoon-like miniature orange monsters with long, rapier teeth sticking out of their faces; telescope fish with goggle-like eyes that retract into their heads; dragonfish that light up like Christmas trees; anglerfish that dangle lure-like appendages with actual hooks to entice their prey.
All were collected about 3,000 feet deep in the Gulf of Mexico by scientists from the Deep Pelagic Nekton Dynamics Consortium, or DEEPEND-- a collaboration of nine universities and other research groups led by Dr. Tracey Sutton, associate professor at NSU's Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography. And the researchers are eager to share their never-before findings with the world.
"We want to make people aware of the life and diversity down deeper than anyone ever goes," Sutton said. "There's ten times more pure mass of these deep-sea fish than the shallower-water fishes."
Sutton and his colleagues began towing large pelagic trawl nets to collect specimens in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon oil gusher which spewed 210 million gallons into the Gulf and killed 11 workers in 2010. The scientists were hired by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to find out what kinds of marine life lived down in the dark, freezing depths that may have been impacted by the spill.
The scientists netted over a million specimens of 700 different species that took them four years to identify. It's the first baseline data set of its kind in the world.
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/fish2.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-4515" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/fish2.jpg" alt="fish2" width="840" height="560" /></a>
"There were over 60 species that had never been found in the Gulf, including a new species of anglerfish," Sutton said. " Now we've got a big list. The deep part of the Gulf may be the best known of all the oceans of the world."
Besides looking very weird and flashing lights from various appendages on their bodies, Sutton said some of these deep-dwellers rise to the surface at night where they can be dip-netted. South Florida anglers sometimes find them in the bellies of the swordfish and marlin they catch.
You can check out photos and blogs on DEEPEND's work at <a href="http://www.deependconsortium.org">www.deependconsortium.org</a>. Scientists also give talks at boat shows, fishing clubs, and public and private schools to rave reviews. They invite teachers to join them on their research cruises.
Now operating under a grant which expires later this year, Sutton hopes to extend DEEPEND's work for two more years in order to find out how the oil spill may have affected life in the deep. Commercially and recreationally-important blue marlin and bluefin tuna are known to spawn in the waters where the disaster occurred, and one member of the consortium is studying the larvae of those two species to see if there are changes.
Sutton notes that following the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska's Prince William Sound, it took four years for that region's first ecological collapse to occur. Today, more than six years after Deepwater Horizon, about one-quarter of the oil that gushed into the Gulf has not been accounted for. And DEEPEND and others would like to determine the effects of the oil combined with Corexit, the toxic chemical used to disperse it.
"We're just now getting enough data to see how things changed naturally and because of that, to see how things may have changed because of the oil spill," Sutton said. "We have a lot better idea what lives below 1,000 meters than we did before." https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/deepend-catching-weird-mini-monsters-from-the-deep-sea/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Diving the Grouper Moon&body=<img class=" size-medium wp-image-3275 alignleft" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/grouper.jpg?w=300" alt="Grouper" width="300" height="222" />By Sue Cocking, Guy Harvey Outpost staff writer
scocking@guyharveyoutpost.com
Marine artist/conservationist/cinematographer Dr. Guy Harvey this week is scuba diving at one of the most exciting and ecologically-important sites in the Caribbean-- a coral wall about 100 feet deep near Little Cayman Island recognized as one of the largest spawning aggregation sites for endangered Nassau grouper anywhere.
Harvey plans to gather more video footage for "The Mystery of the Grouper Moon"--a documentary he first produced with George Schellenger in 2011. The aim is to help build a groundswell among Caymanians to continue protection for Nassaus that use the site for reproduction each year around the full moons in January and February.
Harvey's efforts paid off when the Cayman government extended a harvest ban in the area through 2019. But he said that's not enough to ensure a sustainable Nassau population.
"Our goal is to get the population here in Cayman up to 10,000 and repopulate the other islands and bring this fishery back to its former glory," Harvey said.
Not so long ago, tens of thousands of Nassau grouper-- a beautiful, slow-growing, and unfortunately very tasty reef-dweller-- reproduced successfully at five sites around the Cayman Islands in winter. But fishermen quickly figured this out and so decimated the aggregation that the only spawning site left in the area is off Little Cayman.
This pattern of overfishing also occurred at some 50 other spawning sites in the Caribbean and Bahamas, rendering between one-third and one-half of them inactive.
Today, the harvest of Nassau grouper is banned year round in the U.S.; prohibited December through February in the Bahamas, but open everywhere in the Cayman Islands except off Little Cayman.
Harvey would like to see all Nassau harvest closed in the Cayman Islands from November through March, and he's not alone.
The Key Largo-based Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF) and the Cayman Department of the Environment have been researching the "Grouper Moon" for the past 13 years-- counting fish; implanting them with acoustic tags; collecting larvae and performing other research.
Harvey said it's fascinating observing the scientists working with the fish.
"The area is spectacular-- a wall on the western side of Little Cayman," he said. "They spawn at dusk in about 100 feet in the current. They turn black and white as they spawn-- one to two dozen males with one female. One of the wonders of nature. Very exciting,"
Harvey said efforts to protect the aggregation-- while not as comprehensive as he would like--have achieved some benefits. In 2010, he said, researchers counted about 2,500 spawners. Last winter, he said, about 5,000 were found reproducing at the site.
"I get first hand the feeling on how the spawning population has improved from previous years," he said. "It really is working."
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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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