At the end of July, Carter and Colin headed off to the Florida Keys for a once in a lifetime experience at the Boy Scouts High Adventure Sea Base in on Lower Matecumbe Key in Islamorada, Florida. Our crew included Carter and four of his buddies from the troop who have all been in boy scouts together since 5th Grade (and cub scouts before that).
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Boarded and ready to take off |
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Key West here we come! |
After landing, a bit of a drive up the Overseas Highway, and lunch, it was time for check-in. Being a High Adventure camp, the paperwork and verification of qualifications does take a moment, but we were able to get through it without issue and were swiftly admitted to camp, took a group photo, and were quickly in the thick of activities guided by our "Mate" Sean who is a camp employee assigned to us while one base.
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Flag parade ground outside the SCUBA dorms |
For three days and nights we were based on land in tents (luckily air-conditioned...somewhat). With the boys occupying one tent and the adults next door in another.
Camp consists of a tent ground (where we stayed), dorms for those doing SCUBA adventures, a commissary, a snack shake, a game area, support facilities for SCUBA and snorkeling, and a very large and busy marina 100% operated by the camp for scouts.
While at camp, our activities included two reef snorkeling trips, open water kayaking through a mangrove forest and to a ship wreck, multiple attempts at catching some Florida Spiney Lobsters (it was early seasons while we were there), and some sailing lessons both in the classroom and on the water in small Hunter 18 sailing boats.
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Lobsters are there, but we could not get a good drip |
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Learning to sail |
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Off to the Pillars Reef |
One tradition at camp is to wear Hawaiian shirts the day before embarking on your sail boat (or your last day if you are SCUBA) and to place your unit numbers on the commissary walls under your Council's patch. Lovett's Troop 304 is now and forever part of Sea Base for all.
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One good looking crew! |
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Large pontoon boat used for our land based snorkeling trips |
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Our boys and our "Mate" Sean |
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