Hermit House Slog

Today Panama took the class on an adventure slog through the muddy coast of Chapman Field Park, through the Mangroves, about a quarter mile, to a shack a transient had built out of trash he found washed up and laying around.  When the county finally discovered what he was doing, they kicked him out.  Deciding it would cost over 80k to remove it, they left it there.  Hmmmm.  I wonder what I could get away with.

 

It's interesting to show up at class, because you never know what you are going to do ahead of time.  Sometimes the teachers change the lesson based on weather or mood.  Sometimes they give you a heads up that we will be canoeing or hiking, but not always.  On this day, I had worn flip flops.  Not the worst shoes to wear, but definitely NOT the right shoes for slogging.   You need shoes that are tied on!!  I was going barefoot most of the way home.  The sticks hurt, but my shoes kept getting stuck under inches of mud.  I had no choice.

Eco Academy - Canoeing

The moon is giving off a huge pull this month so the tide was very high.  The water was coming up over the sea wall - but just barely.  It's about 3 feet higher than normal. 

 South Beach is on the news - flooding.

15 canoes and kayaks set sail today - and one motor boat

 We went out just a bit and found a tunnel in the mangroves.  Tech went first and led the group. Gray, Scout, and I went in last. 

 We paddled "through the woods" and over the stumps.  It was the first time for most of them.

We sang our canoe song and Scout taught Gray about mangroves.  The three kinds, their roots, seeds and leaves, and how they expel salt.

She remembered!  

Experiencing these classes is so much more effective in learning for her than sitting in a conventional classroom.

Scout caught a cuban tree frog.

It reminds me of the time we did it at John Pennekamp.

2005!!  HOLY COW! has it really been that long?!?

 

 

 

 

Eco Academy - Mangroves

Today we learned all about the different types of Mangroves and how to identify them. We went tromping through the marshy mud and saw lots of wildlife as well.

These are the roots of the Black Mangrove. They poke up through the ground like little feelers.





Scout loved looking all over for crabs and spiders and other living things among the muck.

You had to keep a watchful eye overhead so you didn't walk right into the webs of the giant banana spiders that were abundant.

Scout had to give it a try too!

We also saw a big blue crab.


And a ladybug that didn't have any spots.



The red mangrove has long pods and long green leaves.  It also has roots like fingers.

 

 

The Black Mangrove's leaves are white on the underside.  They filter the salt out through their leaves,  You can wrap your fish in black mangrove leaves to flavor it when you are camping.

 

The white mangrove has little nodes above it's leaves where it excretes salt.

 

It's leaves have a heart shape at the top and it's seeds are small and white.