Coming home from middle school with so many things on my mind, I would often take the family canoe out on the Banana River in Cocoa Beach. Our backyard was a canal that led out to the river. One Saturday, I packed a lunch and head out to check out the islands that inundated the river. Halfway to my destination, I stopped to grab a bite to eat. I unpacked my bologna sandwich with everything on it, and decided I didn’t want the lettuce so I took it off and threw it overboard. What happened next would change my life forever. A huge swirl came from directly under my canoe causing my canoe to turn in a different direction. I had thought the world was coming to an end and thought I was caught in a whirlpool. Then as quickly as the swirl came, it left. I was looking in the water around my canoe when a huge monster surfaced and grabbed the lettuce I had thrown in the water. I grabbed my paddle to try to get away as I thought “It was a Loch Ness”, (as a teen, you wouldn’t be surprised due to the stories being told). Before I could put my paddle in the water, a face appeared. Yup. It was a Florida Manatee.
I never expected to actually see one so close. As I sat watching this Manatee swim around my canoe, I begin to see it was the most docile creature I had ever encountered. Well, I had a new pet and I knew my Mom was gonna freak when I told her about it.
I paddled home and my new friend followed me.
Before the day was up, I would pat my hand on top of the water and this giant would roll over on his back for a belly rub. He would get under my canoe and lift me and the canoe up out of the water and take me around the canal.
I made it a point to see him everyday by heading out to my canoe as soon as I got home. He would often bring his family by and before I knew it, there were 7 of them.
The canal became much smaller so I would lead them out into the open river. By the summers end, the water was getting cooler and the waves became unmanageable in a canoe. My new friends eventually stopped coming by and we eventually moved out of the house.
Years later, I started to witness the deaths of these docile giants. Either from boat strikes or from trash being thrown in the river. Old fishing line wrapped up on a fin would often cut into it causing severe damage.
Now, I am old enough to do something about it. I can’t change the world, but I can make it a little nicer than how I found it.
All proceeds go to help me on a project of cleaning our shorelines of trash using Scuba Diving. Stepping on a glass bottle while enjoying time on vacation isn’t fun. So I have decided to take action to help clean up our beaches just around the reaches of the breaking waves and onto the beaches anywhere from the East coast of N.C. to the southern tip of Fl to shores in the Gulf of Mexico as far as Alabama. We will continue this tradition for as long as we can every year. Each year we will have a new time capsule. We originally started this project with a focus on just 2nd through 6th grades but we didn’t want to limit it to just them. So we have opened it up to all grade levels. Perhaps you own a business and want to sponsor a school? Talk to the school and get their opinion and authorization before committing.
Our timelines are tight but we have set them within very reachable time frames.