By Zenaida Kamine
Fourteen members of Crew 380, four adults and 10 Venturers, began our adventure on Friday, July 22nd, 2011 with a 7:15pm flight out of Sacramento and arriving in Orlando, Florida bright and early the next morning at 5:11 am. Not being able to check in to the hotel until 3pm found our crew with lots of time to Page | 6
explore the surrounding area of International Drive in Orlando. We had breakfast at Golden Corral and really got to know the local Wal-Mart well. The kind people of the Floridian Hotel allowed us to check in early (12:30) after we all fell asleep in their lobby waiting for our rooms.
During the first of our 2 days of touring before the high adventure camp, we visited the Kennedy Space Center where we had an up close view of the shuttle launch pad from the observatory as well as a great tour of the visitor’s complex. We were even able to watch Transformer’s 3 in IMAX 3D, which was filmed right there at the Space Center. The next day we visited Universal Studio’s Island of Adventure, where we were able to enjoy nice cold Butter Beers at The Three Broomsticks right there in Hogsmeade after taking the tour of Hogwarts.
Day three of our adventure found us taking the 7 hour drive to the Brinton Environmental Center on Summerland Keys in Key West, Florida. We settled in, met our island mates: Marine Lt. Dan Timler and Eagle Scout Cody Wilson, did our swim review, had dinner, and packed for our Out Island Adventure the next morning. After paddling in our Polynesian war canoes for 5.5 miles, we found ourselves on the remote Big Munson Island where we had to wade in with our belongings, food and water. We spent the next three days island exploring, shark fishing, snorkeling, fishing, performing a service project on the island, and getting a chance to see baby sea turtles hatch right there in our own camp. We enjoyed sleeping under the stars either on the beach or in hammocks; it was just too hot to sleep in the tents! After spending 4 days on the island, we returned to base camp and wowed everyone with Jon Traum’s CPR rap during our final night luau dinner. All in all, it was a great adventure and we all had a great and memorable experience.
Our last two days of touring took us to Ft. Lauderdale as well as an unexpected overnight stay in Denver. We all returned to Sacramento sporting great tans and retelling lots of stories as well as having great memories of our High Adventure at the Florida Sea Base.
