Mote Summit

A few weeks ago, I went to a summit at the Mote. It started with an introduction where you wrote down something that you wanted to do to help the oceans. I wrote about a documentary that I am planning on making. Then I went to four different groups to learn about something. The first one was about making art with trash like what I do with some of the trash that I find on the beach. The second group was about marketing and money, like that some companies will say that they are green and good for the environment, but green is a color and not all the thing that say they are green are really green. Then I went to the thirdgroup that talked about branding, not what some people might do to cows, but about brands and the mistakes that some branders make. The last one was about marine debris, and the effects that fishing line has on marine life.

Big Trash

Last week, my mom and I decided to take a walk on the beach after coming back from Save Our Seabirds. When we got there, we saw lots of birds flying around the water. At the wall where we usually walk to, I saw an Atlantic stingray. On the way back, I noticed something by the dunes. I was ahead of my mom, so I went to see what it was. It was a big, heavy pile of old wire and rope. It was just sitting there, so I picked it up and brought it along with me. It was heavy and bulky, I passed lots of people and they looked over, but they did or said nothing. My mom caught up and helped me with it the rest of the way back. While I was doing that, I got inspired to make a documentary about the trash on the beach. I have not thought of a name yet. I will probably ask my sister, Courtney who likes to video tape movies but not be in them, to film the movie.

the trash pile

Another Trip to Lido

Last Saturday, my mom and I went for a walk on the beach. While we where walking, we saw a big school of fish that the laughing gulls were eating. The fish would jump out of the water every now and then. We walked for a while and then we saw a pod of Bottlenose dolphins. They were closer to shore than we usually saw them, but not close enough to get stranded. Two boats where coming near the dolphins, one turned off his motor and watched them a while before leaving away from them. The other boat just sped on through, it did not seem to be watching out for the dolphins. There where adult dolphins and dolphin calves. We walked down the beach some more, and we were keeping up with the dolphins until they left. My mom took a video of the dolphins and one jumped out of the water while she was filming. When we were leaving, we saw a young snowy plover limping on one leg. My mom said I should catch it and bring it to Save Our Seabirds, a bird hospital. But when I went to catch it, it ran away on two legs and flew off!

Red Tide

Last weekend, we were going out to a beach that we go to a lot because it has sharks teeth, and lots of fish that you can see very well with some goggles. When we got there, fish and eels where all over the shore and the water was reddish brown. The air smelled different than it usually does. So we tried to make the best of it. We would wade in a few steps from shore, and we walked around looking for shells. After a while, my mom said that the air was not very good. So we left to another beach up north where we have not been yet, it was Turtle Beach. We got there, and as usual my little sister Valerie, made friends almost instantly. The water was flat and the only animals we saw where one laughing gull, one crow, one egret, a few fish, and a lot of fighting conchs. The only one of us that enjoyed it there was Valerie. So we went home and maybe next time we can find a good beach to go to.

The Horse Conch

Last Sunday, I went in a walk down the beach with my mom again. We saw a school of fish that birds like laughing gulls, where waiting for them to come close to the surface of the water so they could get them easier. On the way back, we saw something big and dark brown in the water. We went over and found out that it was a horse conch. it's shell was dark brown, but itself was bright orange. I took it out deeper and let it go. As usual, I got some trash, but not as much as usual, and the trash cans where so full that trash from the trash cans fell out. The biggest piece of trash that I found was a brown bottle in the water. We could not walk all the way down the beach to the wall that we usually go to because my dad was going to a plant sale that day, or I probably would have found more trash that day. The picture is of a laughing gull. I did not take this picture at the beach, we did not bring a camera again.

The Lowery Park Zoo

A few days ago, we went to the Lowery Park Zoo. They had lots of animals, but my favorites where the stingrays. I even got to feed them. I fed them squid and shrimp, and you hold them between your fingers with your hand flat. When they get it, it feels a little bit like a vaccume. You can pet them with two fingers on their fins. They had cownose rays, yellow stingrays, Southern stingrays, and maybe some others that did not come to the edge. We also got to see a diver cleaning a manatee tank.

The Florida Aquarium

The other day we took a trip to The Florida Aquarium. They had lots of animals like cownose rays, leafy sea dragons, and sand tiger sharks. There is also a lot to do there. The video I took was of some leafy sea dragons, and the photo is of two pompanos.