August Archives -

August 22, 2021August 3, 2021

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.

August 15, 2021August 3, 2021

The co$t of owning a horse

“A pony is a childhood dream; a horse is an adult treasure.”

—Rebecca Carroll

Many people dream of one day owning a horse. The allure is even greater in a place like Parkland, long known for its equestrian community. But before diving in headfirst, there are a number of factors to consider, especially given that the average lifespan of a horse hovers around 30 years, making them long-term companions.

Aside from the initial purchase investment, horses require costly ongoing care.

Tack and Grooming

According to Ellie Scofield, owner of Spectrum Saddle Shop in Coconut Creek, essential grooming supplies average $50, and tack (saddle, bridle, girth, and pad) can range from about $350 for the essentials to thousands for show-level equipment.

Boarding

If you don’t have property equipped for horses, then you’ll need to board yours at a nearby stable. The following facilities offer monthly rates that include a private stall, bedding, feed (both hay and grain), stall cleaning, water, and turnout.

Millpond Stables, Coconut Creek — $1,000 monthly
Wattland II, Coconut Creek — $900 monthly or $300 monthly for stall only
Jump On In INC, Parkland — $850 monthly
Galloways Farm, Parkland — call for a customized quote.

Lessons

To refine your horsemanship skills, you’ll want to continue training in the discipline of your choosing. Millpond Stables teaches English and Western at a rate of $75 per hour.

At Wattland II, lessons are $60 per hour and include instruction on grooming and tacking, a beneficial feature for new riders/owners.

Jump On In INC teaches Hunters, Jumpers, Equitation, and Western. All lessons include basic horsemanship skills and are $65 per hour. At Galloways Farm, dressage lessons run from $65 to $80.

Equine Vet and Farrier

Your horse will require annual vaccinations, dental care, deworming, and hoof trimming/shoeing. Treatment for medical emergencies can cost thousands, though there are insurance plans available to help offset some of these costs.

Even if you can afford the cost of upkeep, horses also require a significant time commitment. Boarding rates do not include grooming and exercising, which you’ll need to do regularly, not only to maintain your horse’s health and happiness, but to develop a bond as well.

For those unsure if they’re ready for horse ownership, there are alternate options available to see if ownership is right for you. Many barns have leasing opportunities, and horse rescue ranches offer sponsorship programs and riding privileges.

For those itching to jump in, here’s some takeaway advice from the experts:

“Make sure you get help. Watch and learn. Horses are very, very delicate.”
—Dawn Watt, owner of Wattland II

“You don’t become a rider in a day. Horsemanship takes time to learn. This is the only sport in the world where you are dealing with something that has its own mind.”
—Amanda Myman, owner of Jump On In INC

“Listen to your veterinarian, trusted trainer, and professionals, as well as good, experienced friends. Having horses is hard work, expensive, and one of the best experiences in a lifetime for both kids and adults!”
—Ellie Scofield, owner of Galloways Farm

August 15, 2021August 3, 2021

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.”

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

August 1, 2021July 19, 2021

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.

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.

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.