Memorial Day and First Crew

Today was my first full day on base and also the day I picked up my first crew of the summer, a triple from Nebraska. I believe there is one other KA/FA (Keys Adventure/Fishing Adventure) rotation, five crews total, out and about along with two OI (Out Island) rotations on the island. Lots of staff are still on pforce, our name for routine base maintenance tasks like weedwhacking, washing boats and vans, and other repair jobs. A few mates are on the island finishing the construction of campsites, composting toilet systems, and floating docks to make sure the participants have a successful and interruption free time when they get here. It was great finally getting to see just about all of the returning mates and captains from last year and I can't wait to meet the rest of the new staff members this summer.
Tomorrow my KA rotation will be heading into Key West after doing some early morning swim checks and we'll be back later that night after visiting the Sunset Festival.

The weather has been quite windy lately from what I hear and today was no exception. The offshore bite seemed to be there from the fishing reports I heard, but it was a chore getting out there for our Dusky captains. Several war canoes swamped near Big Munson Island but were able to safely shove anchor and there was a Dusky or two near to lend assistance in towing them to the beach of Little Palm where all were able to bail themselves, relash a hull if needed, and make their way to Munson safe and sound. This is high adventure, and some crews are sure getting their money's worth this week.

First Post

Every blog has got to have one. A first post. I just wanted to introduce myself as the sole author of the blog and set the tone for what a reader such as yourself could expect to find here. First, the Brinton Environmental Center (Brinton Center, BEC, Summerland Base) is a high-adventure base run by the Boy Scouts of America as part of the Florida National High Adventure Sea Base. I am an employee of said organization, but this blog is entirely not officially affiliated with the Boy Scouts. Although I will only post information that is accurate to the best of my knowledge, your best course of action is to call the Florida Sea Base directly if you have any questions. Second, by reading this blog you can expect to be hear interesting going-ons at the BEC and more detailed accounts of crews that I am running and possibly pictures. I'll try to throw in some stories about the Keys history, ecology, community events and the like at times as well. Third, you can expect semi-regular updates! Obviously I have a job to do down here, but there is an utter lack of information regarding the programs run out of the BEC, official or otherwise. We do a lot of good, hard work changing the lives of Scouts and adults alike down at the Brinton Center and I want to shed some light on what a typical (if you can call anything we do typical) program entails.

I'm traveling to the Galapagos for school and will be arriving at the BEC on the 29th, so don't expect any posts until then unless I decide to write another one later today while I wait for paperwork to go through.

IP (Island Pride)