Journal Entry 3

Today we visited Mantanzas Pass on Fort Myers Beach and it was fantastic. After our bus ride we all slowly but surely loaded into the small cottage where we found rows of chairs and our host, Mrs. Hughes. She was a fascinating woman who had countless unforgettable stories about the town of Fort Myers, her childhood growing up on the island, and the differences that she now sees on the island. It was refreshing to hear these amazing stories. Mostly, because the only stories I hear about Fort Myers Beach are the drunken Saturdays and spring break extravaganza.

Mrs. Hughes even offered us her very first batch of sea grape jelly that she homemade. I tried some and it was great! I even went back to West Palm Beach this weekend where I saw slews of sea grapes and I couldn't help but tell all my friends about my experience with Mrs. Hughes and her stories.

The Sacrifice Leaf

When I was walking the board walk on Mantanzas Pass I felt so privileged to be walking in the sunshine towards a beautiful bay, through red, white and black mangroves. I happened to pick a leaf off of one of the black mangroves so I could write about it in my journal. The leaf I picked was yellow, unlike all the other green leaves on the clustered branches. When I was in my marine biology class in high school we took a camping trip to Big Pine Key. This is a pretty prevalent Key among the Florida Keys, its home of state parks and tons of historic sights to see. Anyways, I learned that mangroves are submerged in salt water all their lives, and the salinity of the water can be harmful. The plant has learned to adapt over several thousand years by sacrificing one of its leaves (per cluster) to absorb all of the salt in the branch and die. Therefore we call these yellow leaves, sacrifice leaves. Pretty neat!

Picture of the Mangrove with a few Sacrifice leaves

I was intrigued to see the dolphins feeding along the mangroves across the bay. Also It was very interesting to learn what an estuary was! A combination of salt water and fresh water from rivers run together. Another fact I thought was interesting was the history of these swamp lands, where invasive plant species threaten the wild life and its environment. I believe that using our tax dollars towards preservation of beautiful areas like this is money well spent. Mantanzas Pass was really a fun experience for me. I also had to go to work directly after class, I thought it was going to be a dreadful day. However, I actually felt more energetic and lively regardless of the long day. Lets get a hoo-ra for nature! HOO RA!