Category: Environment

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Dining on the dock at historic seafood spot

Where can you dine on the east coast of Florida with lots of funky, kitschy appeal, scenic water views from every table, delicious seafood, and some of the best key lime pie in the state? That would be at the Old Key Lime House on Ocean Avenue in Lantana.

Located on a bustling street right near a drawbridge at the Intercoastal Waterway, Old Key Lime House is the oldest structure in the state to house a waterfront restaurant, and it claims to have the largest tiki bar in South Florida. It’s close to Route 1 and easy to find. Once you spot the historic, bright-green building, you know you’re there. From out front it looks much smaller than it really is. But behind this colorful house, overlooking the wide-open, picturesque Intercoastal, is the full sprawling property with a fun potpourri of dining and bar areas. You’ll be glad you found it.

With four bars (including one up a high staircase to a porch above the water with great views of the boats below), a central stage for live music, several large-screen TVs, and many areas for waterfront dining, Old Key Lime is popular for lunch, dinner, and nightlife. I’ve been there for all three, with various friends and family members. We always have a nice time and good food. People come for the locally caught seafood and the key lime pie—not to mention sunsets over the water. It’s always a party at the Old Key Lime House. As night falls, it’s usually rocking with great live music.

It started as a two-story home built in 1889 from sturdy heart of pine by Morris and Mary Lyman, who were among Lantana’s founders and who sold fish and oysters locally. Morris Lyman was a storekeeper and postmaster and named the town, incorporated in 1921. Their building eventually became the Old House Restaurant in 1989 and was renamed the Old Key Lime House in 2000. Owner Wayne Cordero was at the helm then, perfecting the restaurant’s famous cornbread as well as its even more famous item, the key lime pie. It came from the recipe of his grandmother, Agnes, and was part of his cherished memories from childhood summer visits to visit family in Key West.

This historic site has a storied past. “Originally a boarding house for travelers, it later became a speakeasy during the Prohibition era, attracting a colorful cast of characters and stories that still echo through its weathered walls,” according to the Dean Mitchell Group. “Today, the restaurant and bar preserve the charm of days gone by, with its original Dade County pine construction and nautical decor.”

Old Key Lime House is a colorful testament to the history and flavor of this coastal community. It’s usually packed with both locals and visitors who savor its laidback, Florida Keys–style atmosphere. Tourists often come to check it out, but with the numerous packed bars and live music on the property, it’s also a popular watering hole for the community. Everybody enjoys the lovely waterfront views as well as quirky décor inside and out.

To get out to the dining areas, you first go through the original house, which has a fireplace and vintage collection of memorabilia, photos, and documents on the walls throughout the foyers. You can read about the recipe for the key lime pie. There are lots of antiques around, such as a vintage cash register and an old gas pump. It’s like a little museum of the town’s history. You can watch aquatic life in two giant tanks in front of the check-in booth, as well as visit the gift shop and explore merchandise for sale, such as “Old Key Lime House” collectible T-shirts.

Outside, there are tables in several different covered sections, around the bars, on wooden decks, and even out on the docks. Kids can enjoy a large play area complete with giant skeletons for extra thrills.

There are plenty of spots for patrons to secure a boat for those who come by water. Signs pepper all the posts there, with messages such as the typical “No Shoes, Shirt, No Service” along with others like “Slow Please: Report Manatee Injuries,” “No Boat Boozing,” “Dock at Your Own Risk,” “No Sailboats, No Catamarans,” and, at the floating boat bar, “No High Heels.”

Old Key Lime House has weathered several hurricanes and tropical storms, and repairs always bring it back to life. Recent damage to a dock, in December 2023, happened after a storm swept through and two nearby sailboats came loose and slammed into the dock. Hopefully, nothing bad will close this place for long.

 

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Peacock fever

You are not seeing things, that’s a peacock on the road.

Like occasional gator sightings, or seeing a turtle cross the street, seeing a peacock on a Parkland side street is another reminder of how close we live to nature.

Peacock sightings are also a legacy of the fact that the Parkland and Coral Springs area used to be farm and ranch land. In the past few decades, new developments were added, but small farms are still thriving in our area.

These large pheasants are not native to Florida, or even the Americas. The most memorable peacock with blue and green plumage comes from the Indian subcontinent. They first arrived as pets or for specialty farms, and over time they were released or escaped into the wild. They are omnivorous, and will eat plants, flowers, seeds, insects, even reptiles, and amphibians. So South Florida is paradise for them.

Technically, peacocks are the male peafowls, whereas the peahens are the females. But the brilliant display exhibited by the males during mating season makes them a more iconic image for the species.

Throughout scientific history, there is much speculation about why peacocks have such a vibrant display. Darwin speculated that the peahens, through a long line of descent, must have “appreciated this superiority.” But scientists are not sure if the large tail plumage, or the train, is due to natural selection as Darwin postulated.

A multiyear study in Japan concluded that peahens did not show a preference for large trains. In fact, peacocks with more symmetrical, or elaborate train (more eyespots) affect the peahen’s choice of mate.

The eyespots, or ocelli, do seem to affect peahens. The angle at which they are displayed seems important to holding the peahen’s attention. The dance and rattling of the tail seem to be an attention-grabbing aspect of their ritual. For most human observers, it’s the eyespots that are most mesmerizing.

The eyespots are composed of intermeshed features held together by microhooks. The eyespot’s structure keeps the spots stable when the peacock vibrates his tail to attract the peahens. The vibration usually has a frequency of 25.6Hz, which is audible for the peahens, and able to keep the attention of most observers looking at it.

While scientists continue their research into this area, we can all enjoy these displays when we find them on the street or at a local farm. However, some in the neighborhood with a peafowl population may be more concerned about their noise. The typical peacock sound has been described as a cross between a bird call and a baby crying out.

Before you consider harming these gorgeous birds, keep in mind that even though peacocks are not native, they are protected under a Florida statute, which may result in a fine of $5,000 and/or up to a year in prison if you are found guilty of shooting a peacock. The penalty is even more if one tortures or intentionally harms a peacock—up to 10 years in prison.

You may see them mostly wobble or hop around. Peafowls can fly around a mile in a single flight, so with an abundance of food locally, they can quickly become wild and adapt to our southern Florida climate.

So you may find yourself face to face with a peafowl, even if you are not next door to a farm or do not park where these birds reside.

You may also find leucistic variants, which is a natural loss of pigmentation, similar to white lions and tigers you have seen. These are prized by some, and bred locally for pets.

This spring, hopefully you will be lucky enough to see them in person. If not, enjoy the pictures we have collected of local peacocks!

 

 

 

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Sawgrass Nature Center… Where wildlife is rescued, and people learn about nature

You can have a nice brush with wildlife and nature at a hidden gem within Sportsplex Park in Coral Springs. Sawgrass Nature Center & Wildlife Hospital is a nonprofit facility on 5 acres of land. It seems part farm, part zoo, part museum, part conservation park, part wetlands, and part animal hospital. You can see all kinds of wildlife being rehabilitated in their natural habitats here.

I went recently on a Saturday afternoon with family members, and we all enjoyed it. For only the cost of a $5 donation, we got to see a variety of wildlife up close, including owls, gopher tortoises, alligators, snakes, guinea hens, black vultures, fancy pigeons, Amazon parrots, red-tailed hawks, and a mix of reptiles. Many of them are orphaned, disabled, or nonreleasable, and there are informative signs on their enclosures telling us their names and brief stories.

There are two buildings at the site: (1) a multipurpose building with animals to view in cages, museum-style educational materials, a nature gift shop, a meeting room, and more; and (2) the wildlife hospital where wild native animals are treated, rehabilitated, and released back into the wild. The hospital was not open when we visited, but I understand they do great work there and provide medical care for all the animals and birds brought to them.

We did get to see all the wildlife in the nature center’s permanent exhibit area. Animals are housed in natural-looking habitats and birds in beautiful aviaries. We did the full self-tour (which doesn’t take too long), seeing all the creatures and learning about what brought them there, and we explored the shady grounds. One can also learn something about Florida wetlands while at Sawgrass Nature Center. “It’s a unique place where people of all ages can come to observe birds, mammals, reptiles, and native plants and learn to appreciate the beauty of nature in South Florida,” according to the center.

This place is especially known for its educational programs, which focus on Florida’s native wildlife and their natural habitats. They feature live animals in these programs, along with specimens, artifacts, and other presentation materials. There’s a large, airy outdoor classroom on the grounds to hold educational sessions, lectures, summer and holiday camps, parties, and other group activities. That day, a young girl’s birthday party was going on in there and at the animal habitats nearby, and the kids seemed to be having a great time.

The nature center has a strong environmental component in its programs, and it typically serves around 3,000 students annually, with field trips to the venue and outreach programs in the schools. Volunteers conduct programs on ecology, natural history, wildlife rehabilitation, and conservation. Field excursions provide opportunities to view, photograph, or sketch wildlife in their natural surroundings. And there are weekly preschool activities for the youngest learners. Virtual programs are another option where people can learn about Florida’s wildlife and ecosystems. A lot of education from this small place!

It also was interesting learning about why some of the animals were initially brought to the facility. Not all of the wildlife here are hurt, although we did learn about birds that couldn’t fly and residents with other impactful injuries. We read about a tortoise initially being gifted as a pet. Well, that tortoise grew to be huge, and it must have been too much to handle so was taken to the center, where it now has a good home and is obviously well cared for. Other animals are rehabbed and released.

The nature center provides a variety of educational programs to increase people’s awareness of the wildlife around them and to encourage the preservation of natural habitats. By stimulating curiosity about the natural world, providing some fascinating ecological insights, and caring for the creatures entrusted to them, Sawgrass Nature Center is doing a great thing. Funded chiefly by donations, it’s totally worth a visit and supporting their work. Check it out soon!

For more information and to sign up for an educational program or tour, go to sawgrassnaturecenter.org.

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Diving deeper with dolphins

Dolphins are known for their playful personalities. We love watching them leap into the air and swim alongside boats. Many of us even have swimming with these adorable mammals on our bucket lists. But dolphins aren’t all fun and games. Dolphins are highly intelligent creatures that can be aggressive, cunning, and remarkable, which explains why our NFL team is named after them!

Dolphins love to play games—sometimes at the expense of other animals. When it comes to game playing, dolphins are masters at having fun. In many instances, dolphins have been observed tossing fish or turtles to each other for sport. On an episode of BBC’s and PBS’s “Spy in the Wild,” a pod of dolphins is caught snatching a lone puffer fish and playing catch with it. The dolphins are careful not to bite the fish too hard, as they know the puffer fish are poisonous. But these cunning mammals also know that when they consume small amounts of puffer-fish poison, it acts as a narcotic, relaxing the dolphins and taking the game—and the dolphins—to new heights.

Male dolphins form gangs. A study published by the National Academy of Sciences found that young male dolphins form close bands of two to three dolphins to find females to mate with. These bands also work together to defend against other dolphins looking to take the females. In instances where backup is necessary, these small bands are linked to a larger network of male dolphins that serve as allies. These male gangs can form a network of up to 50 dolphins.

Dolphins are naval assets. According to the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, dolphins have an entire area of their brain dedicated to echolocation, meaning they can “see” with sonar, helping them navigate and hunt in deep and murky water. Considered one of the most sophisticated sonar systems known to nature, their echolocation skills have made bottlenose dolphins a naval asset. Since 1959, dolphins have been an important part of the Navy’s Marine Mammal Program, helping to identify and guard against mines and other underwater threats.

 Dolphins can stay awake for two weeks straight. Imagine going 14 days straight with no sleep and maintaining your health and mental acuity. Sounds completely impossible, right? For dolphins, it’s not a problem. The two halves of a dolphin’s brain can sleep in shifts so that dolphins are constantly half awake. This uncanny ability to literally sleep with one eye open helps dolphins guard against predators.

Dolphins are deep thinkers. Dolphin brains contain spindle neurons, which are associated with advanced abilities such as problem-solving, recognition, reasoning, communication, and even adapting to change. The presence of these neurons suggests that dolphins are actually deep thinkers. Many years ago, at the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Mississippi, a dolphin named Kelly astounded trainers with her cunning behavior. One day, when a gull flew into her pool, Kelly caught the gull and handed it over to her trainers, who rewarded her with lots of fish. Kelly quickly learned from this experience. The next time she was fed, she hid one of the fish at the bottom of her pool and later used it to lure more gulls to her pool. Then she would catch the birds and hand them over to her trainers, reaping the rewards of even more fish.

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Finding Peace: Practical Ways to Relieve Stress in Your Daily Life

In the hustle and bustle of everyday life, stress has become a constant for many. However, incorporating simple yet effective stress-relief strategies into your daily routine can make a significant difference in your overall physical and mental well-being. 

Here are some practical tips from the CDC, along with simple (and local) ways to relieve stress and make healthy choices in the new year:

Take breaks from news stories, including those on social media. It’s good to be informed, but constant information about negative events can be upsetting. Consider limiting news to just a couple times a day and disconnecting from phone, TV, and  computer screens for a while.

Take care of your body: Staying physically healthy can improve  your emotional well-being. Whether you’re already a gym rat or working towards developing a  sustainable exercise routine, Parkland/Coral Springs and the surrounding areas have plenty of options to help you stay active.

Eat healthy. Have fruits and vegetables, lean protein, whole grains, and low-fat or no-fat dairy. Limit foods with unhealthy fats, salt, and added sugars.  Luckily, living in South Florida makes it just a bit easier to eat well all year. From the many smoothie and juice shops to our nearby locally owned healthy eateries, our town is perfect for people who want food that doesn’t skimp on flavor or nutrition.

Get enough sleep. Go to bed and wake up at the same time each day to help you sleep better. Adults need 7 or more hours per night. 

Move more and sit less. Every little bit of physical activity helps. Start small and build up to 2 ½ hours a week. You can break it into smaller amounts such as 20 to 30 minutes a day. Many locals enjoy taking a brisk cool walk first thing in the morning or  an afternoon stroll to break up the day. Either way, spending time outdoors and connecting with nature is proven to have a calming effect on the mind. 

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Everglades restoration brings back wading birds

Florida is renowned for its striking wading birds. More than a dozen species make their home here, from the Snowy Egret to the pink-plumed Roseate Spoonbill to the Tricolored Heron. Beloved by locals, these birds also draw visitors from across the globe looking to get a glimpse of their colorful plumage.

Not only are these birds an important part of the economy, they’re also key indicators of ecological health. Wading birds depend on healthy wetlands, coastlines, and the Everglades for their survival.

“Wading birds tell us when the Everglades are healthy,” explains Kelly Cox, director of Everglades policy at Audubon Florida, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of birds. “When they’re in the right place at the right times of the year in the right numbers, we know that we’re getting the water right in the Everglades. If wading birds can successfully raise chicks, it’s likely that other species that depend on the Everglades are going to be healthy too.”

Wading bird populations have faced their fair share of challenges in Florida throughout history. In the 1800s, many species of wading birds were hunted almost to extinction for the sake of women’s fashion. The birds’ colorful feathers were collected and used as adornments for hats. “There was one point in U.S. history when feathers from wading birds were more valuable than gold per ounce,” says Cox. The decimation caused by the plume trade precipitated the creation of Audubon Florida.

In the 1900s, urban and agricultural development of the Everglades significantly impacted wading bird populations. Water control efforts drastically changed South Florida’s landscape, destroying their habitats. Dredging canals and plumbing out water from the Everglades eliminated floodplains and sloughs—foraging areas for wading birds—and interfered with the natural flow of water that the birds depended on for successful breeding conditions.

“Wading birds can’t wade in a 15-foot canal,” explains Cox. “They have no way to catch prey in that type of environment. As a result of that, we started to see their populations really decline.”

Everglades restoration projects, which began in full force around 2000, have helped many of Florida’s wading bird species recover. “We’ve already started to see measurable benefits from returning those water flows to as close to we can get to the way Mother Nature designed it,” affirms Cox.

A prime example of this success is the Kissimmee River Restoration Project. In the 1960s, the Kissimmee River was channelized by cutting and dredging a 30-foot-deep canal, which eliminated a floodplain and destroyed the ecosystem. Ninety percent of the area’s wading bird population disappeared. “We just wrapped up the restoration of that river, and the number of birds that have returned to that area is unbelievable,” enthuses Cox. “It confirms our theory that if you give the wading birds a chance, they will come back. But it has to be under the right ecological conditions.”

A recent initiative in Broward and Palm Beach counties will improve the habitat that these birds need while also safeguarding water quality for the people of South Florida.

In May of this year, the South Florida Water Management District and the Army Corps of Engineers broke ground on the North Phase of the Central Everglades Planning Project (CEPP), a restoration initiative that will restore water levels in the Central Everglades, bring more water south to replenish Everglades National Park, and send fresh water to Florida Bay.

“In general, we have really limited the ability of water to flow south into Everglades National Park, and subsequently Florida Bay,” explains Cox. “That water flow has been so stifled that in some parts of Florida Bay, we’ve seen hypersaline conditions because there’s not enough fresh water.” When water is hypersaline, it’s saltier than typical seawater, making it difficult for fish and seagrass—which wading birds feed on—to survive.

CEPP North will include the construction of seven new structures and one new canal as well as the improvement of 18 miles of canals already in operation. The North Phase is expected to be completed by 2029.

The other two phases of CEPP are the South and New Water phases, which are already underway. CEPP is a key part of the joint state-federal partnership to restore America’s Everglades, known as the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan. “Everglades restoration is the largest ecosystem restoration project in the entire world,” confirms Cox.

Wading birds are the measure of success for these projects. Every year, the South Florida Water Management District—the primary agency charged with overseeing Everglades restoration—puts out a Wading Bird Report in collaboration with Audubon Florida. The report includes data on the birds’ nesting behavior throughout the Everglades. The greater the number of nests and hatchlings, the better the birds are doing. In 2021, the Everglades experienced its second-highest nesting effort for many wading bird species in 80 years.

“Conditions are improving for wading birds across the Everglades, which suggests that Everglades restoration is helping,” says Cox. “It’s improving foraging conditions for wading birds, which leads to increased nesting, but there’s still a lot to do.”

Currently in the planning stage is the Biscayne Bay Southeastern Everglades Ecosystem Restoration Project, which focuses on Broward and Miami Dade counties with the goal of restoring habitats and increasing treatment capacity to help move more water south. “Biscayne Bay, which has been plagued by algae blooms and hypersaline conditions, has a big opportunity to benefit from this project,” says Cox.

For more information on South Florida’s wading birds and Everglades restoration, check out fl.audubon.org/conservation/everglades.

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El Niño is officially back. What will that mean?

El Niño describes a phenomenon in which eastern Pacific waters are warmer than average. It has wide-ranging impacts across the world, and it has started.

It may not be obvious why weather patterns in the Pacific should impact us here on the coast of the Atlantic. But years of data show a consistent relationship that Floridians should be aware of.

For June, the average temperature along the eastern Pacific has risen to an average of 0.8C above normal; this is a relatively quick change from the La Niña conditions that were dominant for the past few years, which coincides with very active tropical storm seasons. Whereas, El Niño is expected to deter the formation of Atlantic tropical storms.

So why is that?

Traditionally, the very warm waters off the western Pacific, near the Philippines, are where the water vapor rises, then falls on the eastern Pacific. This was first identified by Gilbert Walker in 1904.

When El Niño happens, the Pacific waters off South America are warmer than average. This causes stronger rising air, which inverts the typical trade-wind patterns in the Pacific.

This new center of air rising on the eastern portions of the Pacific means that air will fall down from high in the atmosphere near the western U.S., and the tropic Atlantic waters.

One early indication of this is that it is drier than normal in Canada, where the wildfires have been flaring up. The warm air that rises falls down near western Canada, causing warmer temperatures there. El Niño is also contributing to this due to a lower jet stream, and it’s causing more storms to travel along the southern states. This impacts Florida, and we will likely see above-average rainfall near us. This will also mean drier conditions in the states along the Great Lakes.

 

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New winter diet for the manatees

Lettuce is being stocked in the Indian River manatee buffet to feed the local population that migrates to the estuary during the colder months of the year. So far, the manatees are skipping the buffet, which does not bode well for the local manatee herd that is still weakened from 2021.

The supplemental feeding program established by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is in response to an Unusual Mortality Event that has seen 750 deaths (all causes) on the Florida Atlantic coast in the 12-month period ending in November 2021.

A healthy adult manatee is nearly 10 feet long and approximately 1,000 pounds. They require 4%-9% of their body weight (40-90 pounds) in food each day. In the wintertime, the favorite hangout for the Atlantic coast manatees is the Indian River Lagoon, which traditionally feeds the herd with the local seagrass.

According to FWC, “since 2011, persistence of algal blooms has resulted in reduced water clarity and light penetration” and a “dramatic reduction” in sunlight getting to the seagrass at the bottom of the lagoon. The seagrass “in this region and specifically in the Indian River Lagoon has declined significantly.”

Due to the shortage of their natural food, the region saw a significant number of emaciated manatees last year, and as more resources, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, have been brought in to help with the response, a joint unified command team was established.

According to a press conference held on Jan. 13 by the joint unified command team, so far this year, the temperature in the area had been warm and manatees had not yet started to congregate in the Indian River Lagoon. But as January temperatures were starting to drop, more and more manatees would start to migrate to what is described as their “capital” for wintering.

What the manatees are seeing when they enter the Indian River Lagoon is not the lush seagrass fields they are hoping for, but a “desert,” according to Martina de Wit, a research scientist with FWC. This is the cause of the starvation we saw last year and may recur when more manatees show up in their wintering grounds.

The state allocated an extra $8 million recently to help alleviate the dire situation, and a feeding program was born. In captivity, manatees do eat lettuce but require “a week or so” before accepting it as food. In the wild, no observed feeding has occurred, as of the Jan. 13 press conference. But the FWC expects “some adjustment period when switching to a different diet,” and when the realization of lack of natural seagrass sets in, the FWC “expected that manatees can adapt to [lettuce] without any major issues.”

When asked by a reporter, “Why lettuce?”, and not some other natural vegetation, the FWC is concerned with introducing invasive species or extra nutrients to an already fertilizer-rich ecosystem, which is causing clarity issues in the first place. The lettuce that is not eaten is removed. Given the quantity of food required (40-90 pounds of food per adult animal), it’s difficult to harvest that amount of food. This is the reason it’s still illegal for the public to feed manatees.

Feeding manatees is meant as a short-term bridge until longer-term habitat restoration and improvement projects get traction. According to Ron Mezich, the provisioning chief, the lack of local seagrass donor beds is a major hurdle for the nursery that is planned to help regrow the seagrass that has been lost.

Meanwhile, Joint Command Rescue Chief Andy Garrett said that efforts to bring up more rescue facilities are ongoing. His team gets alerts from the public about distressed animals, and in 2021, a record 159 manatees were rescued and 115 went to the rehab facility. So far in the past month, 23 manatees have been rescued, and the facilities are near capacity. More facilities are being brought up, and Garrett encourages the public to call the hotline when they see an animal in distress.

As the temperatures cool, more of the manatees are expected to require help. Let us all hope that the wild manatees take a liking to lettuce and that the seagrass nursery flourishes in the Indian River Lagoon.

To help with both the rescue and the feeding program, you can donate to the Manatee Rescue & Rehabilitation Partnership or the Fish & Wildlife Foundation of Florida. It will take a significant effort to save many of the gentle giants, as the FWC works to reverse the desertification of their winter capital.

 

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Falling for February skies

From the Heart Nebula in Cassiopeia to the Rosette Nebula in Monoceros, there is a lot to love about the night skies of February.

This month’s asterism challenge for beginners: the Winter Hexagon. An asterism is a picture in the sky that is not an official constellation — it might be a small “picture” within a constellation (Orion’s Belt within Orion, for example), or it might consist of stars from two or more constellations. The Winter Hexagon falls in the second category as it includes bright stars from several prominent constellations.

Starting with Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, move clockwise to the hexagon’s vertices at Procyon, Castor and Pollux (a single vertex), Capella, Aldebaran, and Rigel. Connecting Rigel and Sirius completes the hexagon. Good luck!

Celestial highlights this month:

  • 1 — New Moon. It’s the best time of the month to look for Deep Sky Objects. The temperatures should be comfortable, so take a telescope or binoculars and get out to a dark location.
  • 2. Just after sunset, Jupiter and a very thin crescent Moon should make a beautiful pair in the Western sky. This “conjunction” will place them within about 4 degrees of each other.
  • 9. Venus reaches its peak brightness, as seen in the morning sky just before daybreak.
  • 16 — Full Moon. It’s nicknamed the Snow Moon by some ancient Native American tribes.
  • 16 — Mercury Mornings. Little Mercury is hidden by the Sun’s glare most of the year, but in mid-February, it will be about 26 degrees above the horizon just before the Sun rises. This is one of your best chances to see it this year.
  • 27. There will be a conjunction of Venus, Mars, and the crescent Moon in the Eastern sky before dawn. They will appear in a straight line low on the horizon.

Not just love is in the air this February. Here are some interesting launches:

  • The United States Space Force is planning two launches this month using a powerful Falcon Heavy rocket from SpaceX and an Atlas V 551 rocket from United Launch Alliance. We haven’t seen a Falcon Heavy launch since June 2019, so it is a long-awaited treat! No specific launch date has been set as of this writing.
  • There is also a tourism mission planned by a private company called Axiom, which will use a Crew Dragon capsule on a Falcon 9 rocket. Again, no launch date has been set as of now.

Hope you love these winter nights, stargazers!

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Beautiful Japanese gardens right in our backyard

 

After I moved to South Florida last summer, I heard about the numerous wetlands walks, nature preserves, and wildlife parks in the area. I was planning to explore many of them, especially if they were all outdoors, as it was still the middle of the COVID pandemic. 

One place that was recommended to me often was Morikami Japanese Gardens in Delray Beach. So I decided to go there with relatives when they came to visit. And I liked it so much, I went back again a couple months later with other visiting family members.

The first time I went, I was floored by the beauty and tranquility of the park. I’ve been to many botanical gardens and similar lushly landscaped parks, but I hadn’t been to one like Morikami before. They call it “Roji-en: Garden of the Drops of Dew,” and it was designed by Hoichi Kurisu. The park comprises six distinct gardens that are inspired by significant gardens in Japan. 

After arriving, you go through a large building that houses the museum, gift shop, and café, and once outside, you descend down a wide staircase to a utopian setting below. There is a gorgeous pond in the center, with walkways that lead to the left and right of it, which make a large circle meandering through the different gardens around the pond. 

In addition to the abundant trees, topiaries, plants, flowers, stone structures, and bubbling brooks, we enjoyed peeking over bridges and seeing fish, turtles, and even an alligator sunning itself in the pond. In the various quiet oases we found, one highlight was the traditional bonsai garden. And we discovered other peaceful green corners where we could immerse ourselves in the serenity and zen of the place.

Being from out of state, I was surprised to learn about the century-old connection between Japan and South Florida, where “a group of young Japanese farmers created a community intended to revolutionize agriculture in Florida,” according to Morikami literature. My mom and I were fascinated to hear about the rest of its history:

“In 1904, Jo Sakai, a recent graduate of New York University, returned to his homeland of Miyazu, Japan, to organize a group of pioneering farmers and lead them to what is now northern Boca Raton. With the help of the Model Land Company, a subsidiary of Henry Flagler’s East Coast Railroad, they formed a farming colony, Yamato, an ancient name for Japan.

“Ultimately, the results of their crop experimentation were disappointing and the Yamato Colony fell far short of its goals. By the 1920s the community, which had never grown beyond 30 to 35 individuals, finally surrendered its dream. One by one, the families left for other parts of the United States or returned to Japan.

“In the mid-1970s, one of the last remaining settlers, George Sukeji Morikami, then in his 80s, donated his land to Palm Beach County with the wish for it to become a park to preserve the memory of the Yamato Colony.” Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens debuted in 1977, as a living monument and a bridge of cultural understanding between George Morikami’s two homelands.

After we learned about the history of the place and strolled through all its verdant gardens, my family and I walked over to the open-air terrace café and had delicious Bento Boxes for lunch. 

It was quite a day enjoying what are the most authentic Japanese-style gardens outside of Japan and then topping it off with an equally authentic Japanese lunch.

To visit, go to https://morikami.org.

Jennifer Merrill is a recent transplant to South Florida from northern states. 

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Now’s the time for dolphin fishing

Now’s the time for dolphin fishing

It used to be that May and June were the best months for dolphin fishing in South Florida, but that has changed. August and September are now the best times for catching the colorful, delectable fish from Palm Beach to the Florida Keys.

“I think the last few years, August is the peak,” Capt. Abie Raymond said. “September usually has some big ones, but not as many numbers.”

Raymond is a Miami Beach native whose Go Hard Fishing (gohardfishing.com, @abie_raymond) offers offshore and inshore charters as well as trips in Miami-Dade County’s freshwater canals for peacock bass, largemouth bass, and clown knifefish.

In addition to witnessing firsthand the transition from a springtime dolphin bite to a summertime bite, Raymond has come up with a couple new techniques for catching what is considered one of South Florida’s favorite saltwater fish to eat.

For starters, he uses minnow-sized pilchards that he nets before he heads offshore to attract dolphins to his boat around weed lines, weed patches, and floating debris, which he searches for from the tower of his 28-foot C-Hawk center console.

“It fires the dolphins up and it gives you more opportunities,” said Raymond of the inch-and-a-half-long baits. “They keep the dolphins around your boat. You don’t have to worry, ‘Oh, where’s my rod? Where’s my bait?’ while the dolphins are swimming by.

“You just grab a scoop and throw it overboard. The baits swim back to the boat for shelter and the dolphins bust them all over the place for 10 minutes while you’re taking your time, rigging your rod, tying a new plug on, a jig, whatever you want.”

Raymond said the idea came from seeing dolphins spit out little baitfish as they jumped or hit the deck of his boat. He also saw the baits after filleting dolphins.

“Their stomachs are packed with them. That’s the kind of stuff they’re picking out of the seaweed,” Raymond said. “So I figured they’ve got to eat the heck out of them and they’re not going to get full on them. That’s the beauty of it. You’re not going to overfeed them like you would with big bait. Even if the fish shut off, you throw a scoop and they start blowing up. It turns them on immediately.”

The tactic worked to perfection on a trip with Raymond and his father, David, out of Bill Bird Marina in North Miami Beach.

After Raymond spotted a couple of dolphins near a weed patch from his boat’s tower, he climbed down, dipped up about eight of the little baits, and flung them into the water. Those two dolphins and a bunch of their schoolmates quickly surrounded the boat. 

Raymond baited several lightweight spinning outfits with small pilchards as well as with some bigger pilchards.

At one point, David Raymond and I were both reeling dolphin to the boat and a third fish was on an outfit that Raymond had hooked while he was trying to reel up the bait to get the line out of our way. He stuck that rod in a rod-holder so he could gaff our fish.

Raymond’s dolphin outfits — a 10-pound Ugly Stick rod with a 3500 Penn Slammer reel spooled with 20-pound braided line with a 2/0 J hook — produced a fun, exciting fight with the schoolies, which weighed 5 to 10 pounds. 

“The braid is so strong and so durable,” Raymond said, “and those little reels now are so capable drag-wise, it eliminates the need for heavy tackle.”

Raymond does bring out heavier spinning outfits — 7-foot rods with Penn 7500 Spinfisher reels with 20-pound braid — for another new tactic for catching dolphins around weed lines.

He uses a fishing kite to put a skirted ballyhoo 50 feet behind his boat and another skirted ballyhoo 100 feet back. With his boat 100 to 150 feet away, Raymond trolls the baits along weed lines and across weed patches. The lure-ballyhoo combos look like flying fish, which dolphin love to eat, as they skip across the water.

Raymond wriggles a dead ballyhoo back and forth with his hands to break the entire spine, which gives the baitfish life-like movement when it’s in the water. He also breaks the tail to prevent the bait from spinning, squeezes out any intestinal matter, and breaks off the bill with an upward snap.

He inserts a 7/0 Mustad 3407 triple-strength J hook through both lips and through the front of the bait’s skull to keep the hook in place, and slides a weighted skirt or feather — a Jet Head, Billy Bait, or Sea Witch — on top of the ballyhoo. 

The lure’s weight helps keep the bait in the water instead of flying above it. Raymond uses a 1-ounce skirt on the far bait and a half-ounce skirt on the short bait.

The hook placement in the ballyhoo’s head instead of its belly, as in a trolling bait, is virtually weed-proof, especially positioned directly behind a skirt.

“If you have to go through patchy grass, it doesn’t matter because your hook is out of the water,” Raymond said. “We’ll drag the baits right over it, and that’s what makes it advantageous. You don’t have to worry about constantly picking grass off your baits.”

Now’s the time for dolphin fishing

And that means you can spend much more time enjoying the best dolphin fishing of the year.

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FWC putting a stop to S.T.O.P

and 2 other sea turtle rescue organizations in Broward County

In a ‘David and Goliath’-esque confrontation, Broward County sea turtle rescue organizations may soon have to turn in their night goggles.

Sea turtle

In a letter dated March 26, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) declared a “change to the Disoriented Hatchling Recovery Programs.” 

“While working to decrease impacts from one form of disturbance, lighting, Disoriented Hatchling Recovery Programs increase another form of disturbance, human presence on the beach at night,” states the letter. “We are notifying you that it is FWC’s intent to phase out these programs over the next few years.”

The Sea Turtle Oversight Protection (S.T.O.P.), Sea Turtle Awareness Rescue Stranding (STARS), and South Florida Audubon Society (SFAS) were all blindsided by the notice. 

“It came without warning,” says David Young, chief operating officer of SFAS. He and his colleagues wonder why the FWC would do something contraindicated and not justified. “We all have a passion for the species,” he says. 

Kristine Halager, the principal permit holder for STARS, says in a statement, “Our presence on the beach not only ensures the safety of hatchlings but also serves as eyes on nesting females that may come ashore while we are present.”

Halager has made suggestions to the FWC, including limiting volunteers, having them check nests every 30 minutes, and leaving the beach so they don’t draw attention to themselves. She also has suggested enforcing the current light ordinances. All suggestions were denied.

Florida beaches are key nesting areas for sea turtles. Almost 70% of the nation’s sea turtles nest on Florida’s beaches.

Almost 90% are loggerheads (Caretta caretta), a threatened species; green turtles (Chelonia mydas), endangered; and leatherbacks (Dermochelys coriacea), critically endangered.

As any visitor to the beaches in Pompano, Fort Lauderdale, or Hollywood can see, from March 1 to Oct. 31, volunteers rope off the nesting areas of sea turtles so the hatchlings may hatch undisturbed. 

Volunteers also come out at night to help guide the hatchlings to the ocean so they’re not distracted by the bright lights along A1A. Hatchlings are drawn to those lights and may end up dazed and confused, in storm drains or parking lots, unable to orient themselves to the ocean.

sea Turtle

According to the Broward County Sea Turtle Conservation Program and Nova Southeastern University, in 2020, there were 2,596 loggerhead nests on South Florida beaches, 246 green turtle nests, and 28 leatherback nests.

Sea turtles live mostly in the ocean, but females return to the beach to lay eggs. Once she lays her eggs, she digs a nest and covers it with sand. She returns to the sea, leaving the eggs unprotected — and this is where the volunteers step in.

Females nest every two or three years and lay several nests, containing approximately 100 eggs. The eggs incubate for 60 days, and when they hatch, volunteers are needed to prevent their disorientation.

While STARS currently holds one permit, SFAS holds two, and S.T.O.P., which originally had five, now has two permits, each allowing capacity for the permit holder and 24 volunteers.

Volunteers undergo specific training as part of the permitting requirements.

For this season, Young says, “it’s business as usual. Our current number of volunteers (49) are trying to get out on the beaches seven days a week so we can prevent disorientation.”

He continues, “We’re doing what we do and not worrying about next year.” 

Taking a different approach is S.T.O.P.’s director, Richard WhiteCloud, who calls his turtle family “Passionate. Coffee addicted. Probably crazy” on his website. In 2007, S.T.O.P. was the first program of its kind to rescue and release hatchlings disoriented by coastal lighting.

Volunteers have rescued approximately 250,000 hatchlings, according to S.T.O.P.’s figures. In 2019, its 121 trained volunteers spent thousands of hours patrolling 18 miles of beach from dusk till dawn, rescuing 29,650 hatchlings.

“I’m not sure where FWC derived their numbers,” WhiteCloud says, referring to the letter that cites the volunteer presence as a hazard to the turtles (e.g., “Human presence on the beach at night as a significant threat to nesting and hatchling sea turtles”).

“Our hearts are broken,” he says. “Now we will risk legal action to save the turtles. Under no circumstances should they die due to the inappropriate actions of the FWC, the agency entrusted with protecting them under the Endangered Species Act.

“People need to pay attention to what their governments are doing,” says WhiteCloud. “We provide a free service. We’ve donated hundreds of thousands of dollars in resources without receiving any federal or state monies.”

Unlike Young, who plans a “wait and see” approach, WhiteCloud says S.T.O.P. will seek legal action.

Carol Lyn Parrish, spokesperson for the FWC’s south region, said that her agency is proactive in working with local government lighting appropriate for the turtles. They believe that the Broward County rescue groups should “focus on activities that protect both mother turtles coming to lay their eggs as well as hatchlings trying to make their way to open water.”  

“The FWC must weigh monitoring activities for the greater good of the species and is doing so by attempting to minimize all forms of disturbance on the beach at night,” according to the agency. “This includes reducing volunteers sitting near the many nests on Broward County beaches for extended periods of time while still providing the ability to respond to and rescue disoriented hatchlings.”

Wilton Manor resident David Walker, a former biological scientist with FWC, is the Audubon Society’s urban conservation director and a volunteer since 2014. He spends many evenings on Pompano Beach and estimates he has helped tens of thousands of disoriented hatchlings get to the ocean.

“It’s very satisfying to save an endangered animal,” he says. In early June he watched 90 leatherback hatchlings come out of their nests and helped direct them toward the ocean.

“It’s unfortunate how the FWC and the other organizations tasked with their rescue can’t find a compromise,” says Walker.

Noting that only one out of 1,000 hatchlings makes it to adulthood and returns to the beach, Walker says, “When I release a hatchling, I could be assisting that one sea turtle that may have died if I wasn’t there. That’s a great feeling.”

To visit, go to browardaudubon.org or seaturtleop.com.

Note: Palm Beach County is not affected by this notice. Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton is open to the public for guided tours, and the Florida Atlantic University lab is raising turtle hatchlings for its studies. Also, Gumbo Limbo’s sea turtle rehabilitation department is busier than ever, and it constructed a new surgical room on-site last year to treat and rehabilitate sick turtles. To visit, go to gumbolimbo.org.

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