This expedition we went on a canoe trip in the Florida Everglades. We went on our canoe trip for 2 weeks. During those 2 weeks we went through storms, sunshine, cold, heat and even PM (pirate moments). During the storm we went through we endured massive waves and hail, but in the end we all got to shore safely. Once we got to shore one of the boats almost sank and we were freezing cold. The next day we canoed only half a mile to the neighboring island for a day of rest. On our day of rest we had school and had PM. PM also known as pirate moments are moments where we drift away to a town called Margharitaville on the island of Rumington, created by Evan Anderson. In Margharitaville everyone on the team is in charge of something or some kind of industry and the town is a town in the Carribean during the time of the pirates. After a couple days we finished our canoe trip and headed back to North Carolina in the van.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Mitchell Wilkinson- Harrison- Blog #2 - S.O.A.R Spring 2011
Mitchell Wilkinson- Harrison
10% Paddle by Ray-Ray (Evan Anderson - Blog # 2 - S.O.A,R. Spring 2011
10% Paddle by Ray-Ray (Evan Anderson)
Day 7, canoes depart for Lopez campsite.
This day had to be the group’s most successful day of the entire canoe trip. We had the wind and the tide going the same direction we planned on heading.
20 miles in under 7 hours with some awesome innovations being made by the individual boats. On this day I was with a staff from our group (Evan Small) and we both decided paddling was pointless effort, but we still wanted to have some speed to make good time. I just happened to have this nearly perfect stick which would work great as a mast. My sleeping pad was accessible as well. So the idea came to be that we could create a sail to make our laziness more, obvious. I pulled out my sleeping pad and lashed it about the mast (or the stick I had), used the paddle to hold out the sail to catch good winds and boy did we fly across those bays! Other people had other ideas, Stephen used his hammock. I worked efficiently but we believed too much air was flowing through it because it was light materials. The 10% paddling comes from the fact that we only paddled 10% of the time like during small streams or rivers where wind is minimal. So the theme is that whenever you’re doing something difficult, use your resources around you to make life easier.Evan Harr - S.O.A.R. Journal entry 2 - Spring 2011
Evan Harr
This last expedition we went canoeing in the Everglades. On the way there we got to stop by Dustin’s mom’s coffee shop and get some free hot chocolate and coffee! We first stayed at a couple state parks, and just chilled out there. When we finally put our canoes in the water, we paddled a lot and had many fun experiences. It was a great experience overall.
I enjoyed fishing, and I caught 9 fish! Some of these fish included Spanish Mackerel, Ladyfish, and Silver Trout. We usually ate them for dinner when we caught them. It was probably my favorite thing to do this expedition, and I was really stoked when I caught my first fish. My personal pole snapped after the first time that I used it. Luckily, my parents are going to send me a new one that is much better. There was a lot of wildlife on this expedition. It included raccoons, bald eagles, vultures, more birds, and fish. We also saw sea turtles, crocodiles, dolphins, and sharks. More animals included rabbits, squirrels, and a manatee. My favorite animal of all would have to be the sharks that we saw. They were really cool and we think they were bonnet sharks.
In all, there were three storms on this expedition. The first one was the worst one and that is when I caught the Spanish Mackerel. The rain hurt when it hit you, and the waves were pretty big so we got to ride them on the way to our island. I was with Billy that day in the boat, and we had a lot of fun together. At one point during the storm, we couldn’t see the two canoes ahead of us. The other two storms were pretty mild compared to the first one, and some people freaked out, but I toughed it out.
After the first two nights, we never stayed at the right islands that we were permitted to. At the beginning of the week, we got a permit to stay at certain islands, and most of the nights, we ended up at the wrong islands. Some of my stuff got wet because apparently the dry bags that we used weren’t good enough. Next time, I won’t pack as much stuff in the dry bags so I can roll it up tighter.
I learned how to steer in the back of the canoe for the first time. Both of the days that I was in the back, the canoe would either keep turning right or left. This got frustrating and often slowed down my canoe because I had to keep using my paddle as a rudder.
At most islands we went to, they were like horseshoe graveyards, because they had so many dead horseshoe crabs on them. On one of the islands, we found a live one. At another island, we actually found a gravesite for a person where there were a couple American flags. Over the expedition, I got to sleep in Evan Small’s hammock a few times. It was amazing, and my parents are going to send me my own ENO hammock. I can’t wait, because they are also going to send me a pair of 5 points shoes. They are shoes that have five different toes separated and can work as any type of shoe, like running and water shoes. Evan Anderson let me borrow a pair of them, and I like them a lot.
Another thing that we did over the expedition was Evan Anderson made his own island, and chose jobs for all of us to do on it. I am the second in command because my name is also Evan, and that alone gives me 4,000 shillings. Most other people get less than 900 shillings. I am also the fisherman and the flax farmer, which are pretty important jobs. A shilling alone is worth 10 American dollars.
Overall, it was a great expedition, even though I couldn’t wait to pull our canoes out of the water. My favorite part was fishing, and sleeping in Evan’s hammock. I had a great time with everyone!
Dustin - Blog 2 - S.O.A.R. Spring 2011
Hey you guys it is me again and I just got back from the Everglades and let me tell you it was a blast.
On the first day we went and we put in at the drop off and we set out for our journey. We did five miles on the first day.
Thursday we did twelve miles and it was really hard. We saw a few dolphins and they were right next to our boat. We had dinner at a late time but it was no big deal really.
Friday we got out of the island and we only did a few miles but there was a big storm going on I freaked but the waves were really cool and it hailed and it stung because I was not wearing a shirt but I am fine know. We waited the storm out on an island then we went to a different island to spend the night but it was not the island that we were supposed to be on. None of them were except the first and the last two.
Saturday there was another storm but not has bad. My boat almost flipped because there was a lot of waves and water coming into our boat but no big deal. I just bailed the water out. And we saw a sea turtle and that was also cool.
Sunday it was a fun day. We waited out a storm and by the way the day before this one I swam in a big swell and it was dangerous but I didn’t care. I swam like none other. It was a time to be a strong swimmer and to know how to read the waves. I only did one of those things and it was the swimming part. The waves were huge. So on Sunday we paddled like 20 ft and we spent the day on a pretty island.
Tuesday we left that island and we did a few miles. We saw a few sharks and we stayed at a dock. We caught three fish that day and we ate them. They were pretty darn good.
Wednesday we did 20 miles and it was hard but we wanted to get out early.
We made sails out of our sleeping pads and we did like six miles an hour. We were flying. But it was cold because of the water.
Thursday we went back to base and now we are just chilling till next time. BYE
I am Billy Cullity - S.O.A.R. Spring 2011
Billy Cullity 1/13/11
Blog 1
Hi my name is Billy Cullity and I am 13 years old, I was born on July 1st 1997. I am from North Palm Beach, FL and still live there currently. Some of my hobbies are fishing and pretty much anything you can do on the water. I also like the outdoors and most of the activities you can do in the out doors. I also like to go to shooting ranges and shoot my rifles or pistols.
I have also traveled a few places to such as Argentina, Panama, Chile, and a lot of places in the states too. I also want to start a collection of wooden masks from all the new places I go especially Costa Rica. One of the reasons why I want to collect masks is because my Grandpa whom passed away loved masks and I love them to. They remind me of my grandpa and all of the fun times I had with him. They also remind me of all the different places I got them from and the fun times I had when I got them. Some day I would like to have over 100 masks and have them all on a wall just for memories or have them in different parts of my house.
I also like to play ice hockey and football. I am also interested in music such as country music and American folk rock; my favorite artists are Billy Currington and Jack Johnson. I live with my mom and my dad because my brother and sister already moved out and I also live with my aunt and cousin in some sort of way cause I go to their house a lot. Some of my goals for this semester are getting my advanced scuda license and catching a lot of big fish.
Billy Cullity 1st Blog Entry- Spring 2011
Billy Cullity 1-31-11
Expedition 1
On our previous expedition, we went to the Everglades in South West Florida. We were paddling through the Gulf of Mexico, for the first half of the expedition. We were also paddling through the swampy areas for the second half of the expedition. In general we were paddling the whole time for two weeks straight.
For the first half of the expedition we were paddling through the Gulf of Mexico. While we were paddling through the first half of the expedition we came across a couple storms, two to be exact. The first storm we came across was the worst one; there was a very heavy down pour of rain and very strong winds causing big waves and lots of white caps. We had waves crashing over the canoe with very high chances to flip our canoe. We had to go to an island and beach our canoes until the storm died down. The second storm we came across wasn’t as bad but it was still pretty bad. There was more wind but no rain and bigger waves. We also had to stop at an island and once we got there one of the canoes sank, but we retrieved it and only lost a couple small things. That’s when we decided to stay the night there and then as we were unloading the canoes, another one sank, we retrieved that one to. That was the end of the storms for a while.
The next morning the sky was clear and there was no storm. We only had to paddle one half of a mile that day. The campsite we stayed at that day was great; Tristan and I got to set up out hammocks. Our hammocks were ser up over water literally! It was also the day we all tried to get in a canoe and then had to flip it once we got in it, it was fun. The next day we paddled about twenty miles and saw one alligator, this was also the day we started paddling inland through rivers and small little bays. We also caught some fish that day and I caught a big spotted sea trout.
Then the last day of the expedition we only had five miles. We also finished expedition one day early, and got to do fun activities the next day because of this reason. Some of the activities we did were walking around town, going out on a pear, and eating out for Tristan’s birthday.
The next day we started driving to Georgia. We stopped at the Florida information center as we were crossing over into Georgia for free orange juice. Then once we got to the camp site we played Frisbee and played on the jungle gym after we set up camp. Then the next day we were on the road again, heading back home to North Carolina. Once we got back home we had to sleep in the basement because the new cabin wasn’t done yet. But now were still in the basement waiting on the new cabin but having a normal base week until we go on our next expedition.
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