On Saturday, December 12th, the final day of Giving Bay Day + The 12 Days of Biscayne Bay, Blue Scholars Initiative and The International SeaKeepers Society partnered together to celebrate the beauty of Biscayne Bay with a full bay experience. 11 paddle enthusiasts and 51 cleanup volunteers participated, respectively, in a 7+ mile paddle around Virginia Key and a shoreline cleanup along Hobie Beach.
Launching just after sunrise, the 3.5 hour paddle flowed with the tide out Bear Cut and past Historic Virginia Key Beach. Along the way, paddlers observed a variety of marine life including rays, dolphins, manatees, jellies, seabirds and schooling fish. From a distance, thriving red mangrove and seagrass habitats in the Bill Sadowski Critical Wildlife Area of the island's NW coastline were also observed. Excited but exhausted, paddle participants expensed their remaining energy against the tide and turbulence under the Rickenbacker bridge to safely return to the sandy shoreline of Hobie Beach.
Special thanks to our support boat crew: Don Kerr, Scott Mullin and Tim Brigham
Photos courtesy of Scott Mullin, Doug Brown, Adam Steckley and Meredith Bass
To all of the volunteers who came out to celebrate and protect Biscayne Bay, including Boy Scout Troop 83, Blue Scholars and SeaKeepers thanks you from the bottom of our ocean. Your collective effort helped to remove a total of 107 pounds of debris from Hobie Beach. Way to go!
