Margo will be ending her journey this the culmination of Margo’s 1,200 mile journey from Miami to New Orleans to raise awareness about protecting the Gulf of Mexico and our oceans. Margo will end her journey with a celebration about her message of conservation of the Mexican Gulf. Come out and celebrate the end of Margo’s journey on the Lake Pontchartrain beach on Lakeshore Dr (directly across from the University of New Orleans).(The event will be held at the Lake Pontchartrain beach on Lakeshore Drive, directly across from the University of New Orleans. To get there take Elysian Fields approaching the lake and UNO. Go around the traffic circle and take a left (head west) on Lake Shore Drive. Go over the hump as you cross the lake levee and take your first right into a small parking lot. There’s a HUGE pothole on the right hand side of the entrance, so bear LEFT as you pull in. We will be in the grass on the beach in front of the old bandstand. Check it out on google maps!)We’re featuring some of Margo’s latest blog posts from her “healthy oceans blog” below.From Margo’s May 18th Posting”Joe Murphy, the Florida coordinator for the New Orleans based Gulf Restoration Network, told me about one of his buddies who had hiked the entire Appalachian Trail. According to his friend, there’s thing called “trail magic,” which basically is described as a serendipitous event that helps one along the way.”This has happened to me on all of my paddle journeys, and it is always the result of the kindness of strangers. That folks have been willing to host, feed, and support me, or simply store my boat on their property, is definitely part of the “trail magic.” Yesterday I paddled a 50 mile stretch from Perdido Key to about five and a half miles of my intended destination across the Mobile Bay Inlet. The currents were ripping.”My support team at Gulf Restoration Network was scouting out options for escort boats – from the Coast Guard and the State Police. They weren’t available because all of their assets were already engaged in search and rescue operations. That was a great indicator, right there, to pull ashore and wait for another day to continue my journey….”My unplanned stopover at Fort Morgan was made possible through Blanton Blankenship, who let this Yankee sleep in one of the old houses there. There was no food, but I could at least walk the mile and a half to a restaurant where, after dinner, a very, very nice couple drove me back so I wouldn’t have to walk all alone in the dark….”Let’s hear it for “trail magic!” This trip would not be possible without it. I might redefine it, though. I think trail magic is the goodness found in the hearts of all people as well as our own creative ability to latch on to a potentially positive occurrence or situation and make it an actual beneficial reality.” From Margo’s May 19th Posting”Today’s early paddle got me safely through the Mobile Inlet and into the cozy harbor at Billy Goat Hole here on Dauphin Island, where I’m staying in the student housing at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab….”The Estuarium was extremely interesting to me. Its entire focus is on wetlands and how their health directly impacts the health of our coastal waters and beyond. It brings home the land-sea connection, and our impact on this vital process, unlike any exhibit I’ve ever seen before. What is quite sobering, though, is a quote at the entrance from Dr. James Karr, the director of the Institute for Environmental Studies in Seattle. It reads-“The window of opportunity to reverse the trend in declining water resources is closing because of the extent of the loss of watershed processes upon which those resources depend.””I also got to meet Dr. John Dindo, the chairman of the Discovery Hall Programs and senior marine scientist, who told me about all the wonderful programs that the DISL has for all ages. Educational outreach is their goal, as well as research, and it does seem that every kid in Alabama will have an opportunity to learn something about marine science and the importance of wetlands.”We so need more of this!” (Margo gave an interview to WLOX news station in Biloxi, MS last night about her journey) Megan Morikawa is an intern at the Gulf Restoration Network, spending her community summer in New Orleans as a Robertson Scholar from Duke University.
