Florida Sea Base News

VISITORS

I had two visitors at the Florida Sea Base yesterday; the first was an 8′ manatee that hung out around the T-Dock for a while.

Click to enlarge.

The second visitor was Scuba Instructor Richard Goldman.  Mr. Goldman is here this weekend to continue his work on scuba certifications for Florida Sea Base staff members.

SCUBA

The Scuba Adventure participants were pleased with yesterday’s dives.  They reported 45′ of visibility with building seas.  Today may be challenging with building winds and seas.

SAILING

One of the Coral Reef Sailing crews returned today for their luau.  They said they had a great week with Captain Giuseppe on S/V Silent Harmony.

WEATHER

The wind increased as forecasted but was tolerable for the divers.  We may break 80ºF this afternoon.  Our overnight low was 74°.  The wind forecast has been dialed down from 20 knots to 15 knots for today and tomorrow.  That’s a little bumpy for our current Scuba Adventure crew but hopefully they have been acclimating during their stay and will be able to handle it.

Capt. Steve Willis
Professional Scuba Bum™
Aboard S/V Escape

Today was a fairly routine, paperwork kind of day.  Until Carl and Ingred Lindsten arrived.  Carl explained that he was a retired professional Scouter from Sweden.  He and his wife happened to be visiting the Florida Keys and had stopped at the Brinton Environmental Center earlier.

Carl and Ingred Lindsten of Sweden

They took several photos and were kind enough to allow me to take a photo of them in front of our BSA Centennial / FSB 30th Anniversary seal.  So while I had the camera out I took a few photos that relate to earlier posts.

Phase one of the sea wall repairs was completed last Friday as I recall (minus setting the Habitat back in place).  This section of sea wall is about 80 feet long and cost nearly $100,000.

Here are “before” and “during” photos of the exterior repairs to the staff housing unit referred to at the Annex.  It is the original motel from the old Tollgate Inn.

Before repairs

During repairs

The volunteers who are doing this project, plus landscaping and much more are Steve and Leah martin, Warren and Carol Bacon, John and Marlene Reilly and Walter and Maxine Frost.  When they finish here, they will go to the Brinton Environmental Center and meet up with Dennis and Karen Bobo and do even more good works there.  These folks are the epitome of Scouting volunteers.