Week 1 – Shell Key Field Trips, June 12-14
Charli Schafer, Peer
Shell Key is an island that the OCG campers kayak out to for one of their three field trips. When they get to the island, all the girls get to participate in several activities. We had a shell race, where the campers gathered as many shells of the same species as they could. After the race, they each chose their favorite shell and had to distinguish it by touch from a pile of other shells. These games helped make learning about the different kinds of shells and where they were from interesting and interactive. The campers learned many things, from the difference between a bivalve and a gastropod, to what a shell egg sac looks like, and everything in between. During the trip over and back in the kayaks, we were accompanied by many scuba chickens (a.k.a. cormorants), who would playfully dive under and around our kayaks in search of a tasty fish dinner. Shell Key is an amazing place to explore, and all the campers had so much fun experiencing it.
Alana Smith, Peer
Our time at Shell Key was important for the OCG campers to get hands-on experience in handling equipment and becoming independent while enjoying themselves and exploring our Florida coast. For the campers who were less experienced, they learned how to kayak and were assisted while kayaking to the island. While traveling the short distance, we were surrounded by sea life and had the opportunity to see animals such as crabs, dolphins, manatees, sea slugs, birds, and much more. These animals are essential in showing the large species diversity in the area and how our presence impacts their life. At Shell Key we focused on the different types of shells and collected a variety of the different shells that we learned are what replenish the sand of the beach. The shells, which once belonged to living creatures, reveal the different species and habitats where the shells were found. This piece of land is less explored by people and therefore made it ideal for collecting data and finding whole samples of shells. This environment was also exciting as many girls had never seen a beach so preserved from the public.
Joleen Bessada, Peer
Shell key is a treasure that contains sea creatures and shells that you won't find up close on a local beach. Traveling to the island on kayaks is a great part of the experience, I find it so fun to kayak to and from. While some of the campers have never kayaked before they are paired with more experienced campers and they pick it up fairly well. We all travel as a group to the island meeting cute little cormorants. We counted up to sixteen on the way there! Even though all the kayaking is exhausting, the payoff is a dive in the water to cool off. After that, pairs of campers picked all different shells and we had a competition to see who had the most of that kind. While looking, everyone was asked to pick a favorite shell, mine was a Venus shell that had a hole so it could be made into a necklace but everyone had all different shapes and sizes of shells. The rest of the time we had an enjoyable time eating lunch and playing in the water before it was time to kayak back to campus.