Tide and weather conditions made for a challenging experience for fourteen girls sixth grade girls and two teachers from St. Benedicts Academy. The group arrived at the Island Beach Dock when the tide so low that Tony had to use the Jon boat to tow the pontoon boat across the sand bar near the island. Later that day their first kayaking experience was made especially challenging due to a strong southwest wind that blew several boat loads of girls away from our destination in the protected waters of the salt marsh.
The wind continued to howl on the second day and rather than going paddling again we began the day with a sunrise hike around the north end of the island. After breakfast the girls wanted to do a service project on the island so they agreed to help with aquaculture maintenance. Although they were a bit squeamish at first, most of the girls spent the next two hours scrubbing bio-fouling organisms off the bags of juvenile oysters and mussels that are part of our shellfish gardening project.
Assistant Program Director Jason Kelsey and intern Shang Jen had an exciting boat ride from the Island Beach State Park dock to Sedge as they encountered a brief but severe thunderstorm that brought heavy rain and intense lightening. Undaunted by their rigorous experience they took the girls kayaking again the following morning. With a lot less wind everyone had a wonderful paddling experience
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