The 2024 education and summer camp season for Pigeon Key has come to an end! It’s been another amazing year on the island filled with tidepooling, snorkeling, learning about Florida Keys marine life, and much more. Over the course of our busy education season, we had 19 groups visit us, including a few new schools! We had schools from all over visit us this season, from not only different parts of Florida but other states further away such as Ohio. With the end of the season, it’s time to reflect on all the fun we had!
Throughout the education season, Pigeon Key’s staff educated students through a variety of programs, ranging from shark biology and invertebrate biodiversity to the history of Pigeon Key! Of course, we can’t forget about the variety of hands-on activities we offer, like shark and squid dissections, snorkeling and tidepooling to find sea stars and the like, or taking a trip to Sombrero Reef Lighthouse to explore the beautiful coral reef!
Summer camp is always an action-packed week, filled with SO many activities! From Fun Friday competitions to our underwater obstacle course, where campers had the chance to show off their snorkeling skills, there’s never a dull moment on Pigeon Key. The campers and Pigeon Key staff always loved bonfire night; making s’mores and watching the sunset, telling ghost stories under the night sky… it’s the best way to end the last night on the island! We were lucky to catch some fireworks from the bridge for the Fourth of July, and very lucky to go out and catch lobster for mini-season with some of our overnight campers! One of the all-time favorite activities campers always enjoy was snorkeling at Sombrero Reef Lighthouse, where they could see hundreds of fish and coral species and see all of the vibrant life!
Our 2024 interns Alaina, Dezi, Megan, and Savanna had an absolute blast during their time here. From education students and summer campers on marine life, to tidepooling and snorkeling, they shared their knowledge and experiences with everyone! Alaina especially enjoyed all of the programs we have to offer, and loved teaching them to students and campers even more. She also loved to get her daily run in on the old seven mile bridge, occasionally catching a sunset or two up there. One of her favorite activities to lead was our invertebrate touch tank session, where the students got a chance to handle the invertebrate species we find in the waters around the island! Alaina is now a preschool teacher in South Carolina, where she is sharing her knowledge by teaching marine biology! Dezi’s favorite part of being a marine science education intern was getting to know all of the students/campers while they stayed with us on Pigeon Key. Some of her favorite times with her fellow interns were spent going to Paradise Flavors for ice cream! She is now waitressing in the Big Apple… NYC! Megan loved to be in the water snorkeling at the reef or catching a sunset on the dock; she also had a passion for finding beautiful sea biscuits and queen conchs! She is now attending graduate school at Stony Brook University. Savanna’s most memorable times on the island were spent with our summer campers; from karaoke parties in the bunkhouse to sharing her love of pokemon to other campers, she made the most of it! She is now working at Starbucks and finishing her her Bachelor Degree at ASU. She also recently started an internship with the Shell Museum and Aquarium!
The staff at Pigeon Key would like to thank everyone who helped us with yet another successful and rewarding education/summer camp season. With the winter approaching, we look forward to having a busy island again with our 2025 intern class arriving in January! We can’t wait for next season!
