Yesterday we went to Biscayne National Park to help remove trash from sea turtle nesting beaches. We started just a half hour away from the hostel at the Visitor's Center. We filled out a little paperwork and found out a little history on Biscayne and Elliot Key which is where we were working. We learned that the Florida Keys has the third largest reef in the world and that we were working on the northern most Key. We also learned that Biscayne National Park is actually 95% under water. We then jumped on the boat to headed 45 minutes away from the mainland. When we arrived to Elliot Key we docked on the Biscayne Bay side and immediately started working. There were students at this location earlier this week that picked up the trash but our job was to load it onto a small barge and get it back to shore. The piles of garbage were immense and almost unbelievable. They explained that all the garbage in the world washes up on shore here and that they rely on volunteers to help remove the trash only a couple weeks a year.
After we finished loading the barge, we got on the mules and drove to the other side of the Key. The road was called Spite Highway and was about the width of a four-wheeler. We got to a beach on the Atlantic Ocean and was amazed at what the beach looked like. In all honesty, it was almost impossible to walk without stepping onto garbage, ropes or broken glass. We ate lunch then headed back to work, this time picking up the garbage and recyclables ourselves. After a couple long hours of this we road the 20 minutes back to the other side of the Key and headed back to the mainland. When we arrived there we helped empty the barge onto a truck. When the truck was full and the barge wasn't quite empty, the rangers called it a day. We decided to be back early today.
When we got back to the hostel last night we all agreed that it had been a long day and decided to eat and just relax for the night.
No comments:
Post a Comment