something for my mind...

Have I mentioned that Savannah again has a branch of One Hundred Miles?

Oh, I have?

Truly, I am so thankful we do!

While I may yet make it to Brunswick to a lecture at some point during these evenings with daylight going on to 8 PM and later, I'd really rather not make that 90-minute drive on I-95.

Right?

Tonight, I didn't have to, as the Naturalist 101 Lecture was held right here!

(That's an inside joke for the bfe, though I have learned that these talks about nature and the ocean are not the physicist's thing.)

 

Stephanie Chewning lined up some specialists to provide "A Study Of Gray's Reef", with the talk being simulcast on fb.

That, no doubt, accounted for the low turnout at this office, as almost 700 people opted to watch it on the social media site instead of hunt for parking.

I'm glad to have been there in person!

 

Sarah Porter - the older woman on the right - is the National Marine Sanctuary Chapter Director at Gray's Reef, the NMS site just 20 miles offshore of the Georgia coast.

So what does that title mean?

She's in charge of fundraising and community awareness.

After all, if you want people to save something, you have to get them to care about it, and that is her goal.

 

She and Danielle Oxman took turns giving us the tour of the Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary, including showing a short movie of the wonders to behold there at that live bottom reef that exists about 65 feet below the Atlantic Ocean's surface.

They postulated that the rich nutrients coming into the Georgia Bight, which is the indented are of the coast, from the five rivers is believed to be responsible for that live bottom reef being there.

Those rivers are the Savannah, the Ogeechee, the Altamaha, the Satilla, and the St. Mary's.

I should have asked about the effect of the Gulf Stream, too.

The Gray's Reef area was discovered in 1961 and became a NMS in 1981, thanks to then-President Jimmy Carter's actions to protect it.

Amazingly, it's a 22-acre tract, roughly, with other pockets of live bottom reef which have been found nearby on the ocean floor.

Both of the speakers brought up the Ocean Discovery Center.

It's right on MLK, it's been there a couple of years, and it's free.

But had anyone in the audience, myself included, ever been there?

Sadly, no.

That sounds like a nice day trip next week for me and the great-nieces.

They're on spring break.

(smile!)