Alex and I went to BSA’s Florida Sea Base — a high adventure camp in the Florida Keys. We and our crew (five scouts and three adults in total) took the “Out Island Adventure,” where we paddled five-and-a-half miles into the ocean to reach Big Munson Island, a deserted isle with no electricity, no cell phones and no fresh water. We lived there for five days, cooking our own food, kayaking, fishing, snorkeling and basically just surviving. It was an incredible experience. We dined on fish we caught and cooked ourselves, swam with sharks at night and snorkeled in crystal clear water surrounded by thousands of fish. Here’s a link to our troop’s photo gallery where you can see some of what we did. (We’ve got film from our underwater cameras out for processing as I write this.)

By the end of the week, we were exhausted, smelly and eager for a drink of water that wasn’t hot. But one of my first thoughts on stepping back onto the dock at our base camp was that I hope James wants to do this when he’s old enough so I can go back.