Getting Below The Surface Of Biscayne National Park with Sandra Ramos

Ever since I was a kid, when I would rent Jaws from the local video store on a weekly basis, the ocean has simultaneously been the most captivating place for me, and also my worst fear. It’s a testament to the ocean, and the mystery of that watery wilderness that kept me coming back for more. This is a park where getting into the water is paramount. You can’t come here and not doing something at least on top of the water, if not under it. After all, 95% of this 172,000-acre park is water. We're excited to dive in, literally!

This episode, we'll also talk to Sandra Ramos, also known as the National Park Patch Lady, about leaving politics and finding a renewed sense of self in photography and the National Parks.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ever since I was a kid, when I would rent
Jaws from the local video store on a weekly basis,
the ocean has simultaneously been the most captivating place for
me and also my worst fear. That's true. I used
to rent Jaws in and practically every week, and I
don't know why your parents didn't just buy it. Yeah,
me neither. We probably wasted like hundreds and hundreds of

(00:21):
dollars in that rental video and I probably single handily
kept that video store on life support for for years.
Well that's really nice of you. Yeah, Well, I was
just doing my part, I guess. But really it's a
testament to the ocean and the mystery of that watery
wilderness that kept me coming back for more. And it's
part of the fact that it's always been my greatest fear.
It was something I always wanted to face an experience

(00:41):
for myself as well, and that's exactly what we did
in Biscayne National Park in South Florida, the largest aquatic
park in the National Park Service. Yeah, this is a
park where getting into the water is paramount. You can't
come here and not do something at least on top
of the water, if not under it. After all d
seventy two thousand acre park is water, and as excited

(01:03):
as I was to dive in, literally, I was also
facing a lifetime's worth of built up fear and anxiety.
But part of your love for national parks is about
facing fears, even if they're unrealistic as jaws. Yeah, I'm
gonna put on my snorkel flippers, sidestep that little bit
of shade you just tossed my way, and make the
plunge into this episode on Biscayne National Park, which also

(01:24):
features a very special guest, Santa Ramos. So stay tuned. Hi,
I'm Matt and I'm Brad. This is park Landia, a
production of I Heart Radio. We sold our loft in Chicago,
moved into an RV full time, and now we're chopping
the country with our dog Finn, exploring America's national parks.
And today we're talking about Biscayne National Park in South Florida.

(01:50):
As we mentioned, Biscayne National Park covers a little more
than a hundred and seventy thousand acres in South Florida
in the Biscayne Bay, just south of Miami. Literally you
can see the Miami sky line from this park and
it only takes about an hour to get here from
South Beach to which is crazy and really awesome. Obviously,
it's even less if you're in downtown Miami or South Miami,
so it's super accessible for city dwellers or visitors to

(02:12):
Miami who might be looking for a change of pace
from all the South Beach clubs or volleyball competitions he
might be participating in. Yeah, even though it's only about
forty miles from Miami, Biscayne National Park feels world's apart
and that's a great thing to have, such a like
great getaway so close to that. Yeah, And now I've
been to Biskey in a couple of times now, once

(02:32):
with you in RV as part of a Greater South
Florida Evergates trip which was epic and amazing, and recently
as well on a solo road trip which I was
driving through like Miami and the Keys. And on that
trip I was able to start my morning with coffee
and pastries in Windwood, this really awesome neighborhood in Miami,
and then literally like an hour later, I was at

(02:53):
Biskaying National Park with plenty of time to make my
voting reservation out to Bocachi to Key, so it's about
to both worlds. You can have it all. Yeah. Not
many national parks can claim this kind of convenient proximity
to major cities, which just goes to show that there's
always gems in your backyard. Yeah, and Biscayne is an
absolute gem. Not a lot of people are really aware

(03:14):
of this one, I think, especially in the context of
South Florida, where nearby Everglades gets all the attention. I
think not only is Biskain much smaller size wise convert
to Everglades, but it only gets about half a million visitors,
which is nothing to scoff out, of course, but still
you know. Yeah, it's actually a great thing though, since
this keeps the park less crowded and easier to explore,
which is important because a lot of the activities here

(03:36):
require advance reservations and tours for their tours. Plus, since
we're driving in our v it makes it easier for
us to get that little parking space. Yes, and that's
very important too, because the Dante Fascale Visitor Center parking
lot is really tiny. It is another thing that is
that Biscayne is a much younger than Everglades as well.
It was designated in National Park in six years after

(04:00):
Everglades is made a National Park. Yes, I feel like
Biscayan and Everglades really have a sibling type relationship going on,
and Biscayne obviously would be the younger sibling who too
often gets overshadowed about the popularity and accomplishments of the
older sibling. I feel that, Yeah, And I'm not just
saying that as someone who has two younger siblings and
happens to be very accomplished myself. So that's just a

(04:22):
coincidence that has nothing to do with this metaphor. I'm sure, Yeah,
what a coincidence, Um, But it is true enough Biscayne
does get overshadowed a little bit. It really deserves to
stand out more though, because it's an entirely different park
than the Everglades, which is right next doorm. It looks
and feels nothing like that park. Yes, and most importantly,

(04:43):
Everglades is absolutely not a park for swimming or snarkling
or going into the water in any capacity for a
very good reason. But a Biscayne it's the opposite. It's
all about literally immersing yourself in the ocean. Sure, there
are a lot of wild animals here, but you can't
go swimming or snarkling in areas where there are a
crocodile else. Um, and definitely aren't any like great white

(05:03):
sharks here, you know either. Jaws was not filmed here,
that's for sure. Yes, But do you remember when we're
out here on our story going trip and after we're
all back in the boat. I remember there was some
kids on the tour who asked he like, asked the
guys if there are any sharks in the area, and
they said yes, which was pretty or if I'm not
the answer I expected nor wanted. I was like, wow,

(05:24):
I'm glad you didn't bring that up beforehand. I mean,
that's not really surprising though. Um. I think in any
open ocean water there's at least a possibility of sharks,
but still nothing too dangerous. Is scary? Sure, I just
I would rather not think about it. You know. The
most common sharks here, fortunately, are more docile sharks like
lemon sharks and the sharks, both of which actually sound

(05:46):
kind of sweet and even like maternally even. But then
there have also been sighting some other sharks like hammer
heads and black tip sharks in bull sharks in Biscayne Bay,
which are all sharks from my nightmares, but really you're
more likely to see manatees here than sharks, and worst
case is crocodiles which live among the shores. But like

(06:06):
we learned at Everglades, American crocodiles only eat things that
can swallow things in one bite. Um, so they have
no interest in people. Great. I'm actually happy to see
crocodiles from a safe distance, and I would love to
see more of them, but I definitely do not want
to be in the water when I do, so, of course,
I'd like to see them from a boat or from
the land when I'm on the land. But anyway, let's

(06:27):
talk more about my nightmares and our storcle trip here
at Biscayne Trails. So our trip to Biscaine was after
we spent a few days at Everglades in January. Uh
this was a great time of year to visit Florida's
national parks since the weather is most comfortable and you're
more likely to see wildlife. Yeah, for better or worse.
But we had planned to drive our r V to

(06:48):
Biscayne for the day, and we had prebuked a snorkel
excursion hosted by the Biscayne National Park Institute. They do
a fantastic job, by the way they do, They absolutely do,
And this was during the government shutdown, and so there
was they were just doing such a great job of
keeping things afloat. Yeah, literally they were, I mean, we're

(07:09):
floating the boat. And they were also keeping the park
accessible and safe for visitors like us. So the main
visitor center when we were here was closed because of
the shutdown, but the Biscayan National Park Institute made sure
that people who did make trip reservations like us were
able to keep them and enjoy their time at the park.
And we had a we had a great time. I'm

(07:31):
I was so relieved because I didn't know what to expect.
Everything was kind of up in the air and all
the parks were handling it differently. So yeah, so it
was nice. So when we got first got to that park,
we walked along the boardwalk trail as we waited for
our tour to start, which was a really great way.
That was really nice to start it. Yeah, since this
park is almost entirely ocean, there really is not a
ton of hiking. I mean there's no hiking. There wasn't

(07:55):
even a ton of like walking or land activities here,
but this one trail is awesome and totally worthwhile. It's
called the Jetty Trail, and altogether it's a little less
than a mile out and back along this main grove
line coast and on a boardwalk to this long, narrow
jetty out to a birding area where you're likely to
see lots of pelicans and herons and frigate birds and

(08:16):
morganzas and a whole bunch of others. But that's only
if the tide isn't too high that it washes out
the trail, of course, because first time we were here
it was open and accessible in great last time I
was there, most of the trails underwater, so it's still beautiful.
But yeah, I remember the water being royal blue and
the mangrove forests were just bright green. The colors were

(08:38):
so vivid, and the trail had several benches lined up
along the shore, perfect place to sit and just dream. Um.
It was literally picture perfect, um. And it was just
beautiful lookout over Biscayne Blay, especially in the morning. Yeah,
also a picture perfect place to for me to sit
and contemplate my worst fears looking out for all of it.

(09:00):
It's right there. Like the mere notion of jumping into
deep water in the open ocean. It was filling me
with anxiety and excitement though too, I was kind of
going back and forth there. Yeah, I'm really glad we
got to do that snorkel trip though, Um, this is
our first time doing something like this together. Especially cool
to do here because not only did we learn a lot,

(09:20):
but we got to snorkel by the third largest coral
reef in the world. That's right, amazing, like a fact
I had no idea about. I didn't know there was
a coral reef of this size anywhere off the shore
of the U. S that's for sure. So the Florida
reef here is the largest of its kind in North America.
So if I'm going to plunge into my aquatic nightmares,
I'm glad it was here in a very pretty setting ocean.

(09:45):
So for that snorkeling trip, we made advance reservations online
with the Skiing National Park Institute, which works with the
park to provide great guided trips um to its like
park islands and into the open waters for things like kayaking, swimming, shipwrecks,
and of course snorkeling, yes, of course. So our snorkel
chip took about three hours in total, and it left

(10:06):
in the morning with a pretty moderate group size, probably
about twenty of us, all situated on this speedy boat,
which got us out several miles into the ocean and
the national park, the Biscayan National Park Institute. They provide
all the gear, so it's pretty pretty easy and open
for everyone. So you just make sure to bring water

(10:27):
and sunscreen, like the basic necessities like that, and plenty
of adrenaline. Of course you're gonna you're probably gonna need that.
The guides base their snorkeling location for the day based
on weather conditions, and for ours, they took us out
past the keys to the open ocean where the coral
reef was, and I was so nervous to actually suit

(10:49):
up and jump off the side of the boat. It
this is like something that really goes against everything my
mind is telling me to do. All my instincts and
like a lifetime's worth of, you know, obsessive watching Jaws,
because I've been so conditioned from movies like that and
others like open water and deep blue Sea and White Placid,
Giant crocodile. So you know, this is not something that

(11:11):
I'm inclined to do necessarily, but honestly, as soon as
you jump in and open your eyes underwater, all of
these ideas, all my fears of Jaws were immediately replaced
by movies like Finding Nemo. It was suddenly super colorful
and tranquil and relaxing, and Finding Nemo was obviously much
less terrifying than Jaws. Really, um, the only fish we

(11:32):
saw here were small and harmless and beautiful too. It
was just a rainbow of color. It was a rainbow
of color. And the fish that you're going to see
potentially out by the reef for our fish like queen
angelfish and blue neon gobies and purple sea fans, all
zipping around between floral shaped coral polyps and sponges, which
all of this is like swaying and billowing beautifully back

(11:54):
and forth and the gentle tide, and it's captivating to
watch and super relaxing. Actually, yeah, And they give you
like an hour out there to sim around and look
at it all. But I could have just floated out
here for much longer. There's just so much to look
at from the sea grass and algae gardens to all
these beautiful schools of fish. Literally hundreds of different like

(12:14):
fish species at Biscayne, more than two hundreds of which
live in those reefs. Yeah, and a lot of them
have adorable sounding names, which really helps, like parrot fish
and squirrel fish and even things like Christmas tree worms,
so precious is beautiful. But even though they all sound cuddly,
make sure and keep your distance and not touch any animals,
including coral. Coral reefs are incredibly fragile. It's very vulnerable

(12:37):
to human touch as well as just the oils that
come off human skin too, So keep your distance and
be mindful of that now. And these ecosystems are super important.
Um there's some of the most biologically diverse and important
ecosystems on the planet, and the reefs here account for
more than half of Biscayne National Parks protected waters. Yes,
that's absolutely true. So the snorkeling trip just all together

(13:00):
and our experience in the water, I thought was really amazing.
Not only was it reassuring and relaxing for me, kind
of immediately erasing all my anxiety and replacing it with
the serenity, but we saw a lot and we're able
to capture a lot on camera because you brought a
go crow. Yeah, and it was just one of those
moments where you just realize that you are in the

(13:23):
ocean and you're being able to watch this this beautiful
school of fish and all these fish come by and
the algae and everything is just waving back and forth,
and you just forget about the world and you realize
where you're at, what you're doing, and just how immersive
that experience was. I remember I just literally chased fish,

(13:45):
like I found one, and I like tried to follow
up for like ten minutes, and that's all I did.
And I went from that one. When I got distracted
like Dory and finding Nemo, I just went another fish
and I just so I was literally Dory and this
experience because I just loved just watching it. And you know, now,
I think I understand why Dory it was such a

(14:07):
great character as because that's all of us when we
visit national parks and we get into wildlife, because you
just you're inspired by the world. So it's not that
she forgot everything, it's that she saw everything. Yeah, and
she just has so much pure excitement and there's an
Innocence Store too. Unfortunately, you have more better memory than Dorry,
So we're here talking about it. I don't know, sometimes forgetful,

(14:31):
but I agree with the sentiment, like when you're underwater
at a place like Biscayan National Park by the coral,
we kind of washes away, like all your kind of
day to day mundane stresses and stuff. Like when I
was out there storm, when I certainly wasn't thinking about
like oh I have a deadline later, or like oh
taxis is in three months, you know whatever, like all
that stuff didn't matter. It didn't I was out there.

(14:52):
I was just thinking like, oh, I'm here in this
moment in an environment that is very unusual and foreign
to me and to most humans. It really is. And Ellen,
if you ever want to just talk to us about
fish and wildlife, just let us know. We'll be here.
We'll be here. And we also were ready to drive
back into because this trip is so inspiring for us

(15:12):
that we actually got our own circle gear and went
so absolutely and I realized I have to shave my
beard whenever I want to go Snorkeling's for it's a nightmare.
Talking about nightmares, like that's worse than getting eaten by
jaws for me, But I'll do it because snorkeling is amazing. Yes,
it is history, but it's not all reefs here at Biscayne.

(15:35):
The park is actually divided into four different categories of
protected ecosystems, including the reef. There's also the shoreline, mangrove forests,
the shallow waters of the bay, and the keys like
Elliott Key and Boca Cheeta Key. And keys, by the way,
different from islands because they are formed in the surface
of coral reefs, while islands are landmasses that get surrounded
by water or they're formed by volcanic events. Keys look

(15:59):
a lot like islands, so easily confused, kind of like
how alligators and crocodiles can look like at first, But
when you examine the details and just the geography of
keys and islands, they difference has become more clear. Yeah,
and those different like ecosystems are where you're more likely
to see more of the park's famous wildlife, like manatees

(16:21):
and crocodiles and sea turtles. Yeah, there's a lot here.
And there are even a few alligators too that have
been known to to dabble in Biscayne, but they prefer freshwater,
which is why you'll primarily see them at Everglades next
door or most any other waterway in Florida, which is
kind of chilling. Yeah, So let's back it up and
talk more about the history here a Biscayne as well,

(16:44):
because even though there's keys look small, they're actually have
a surprising amount of human history as well. They do,
and very surprising. So it all started with Native peoples
of the Glades culture who first inhabited President Day Biscayne
a like ten thousand years ago before it was entirely
filled with water, and then some four thousand years ago

(17:06):
the quest of people lived on the keys and along
the shore. They did this until Spanish explorers moved into
Florida and took over the area. Jokes on them, though,
because the coral reef here is responsible for lots of
Spanish shipwrecks, uh, some of which you can explore on
those snorkeling tours. All in all, they are about more
than forty shipwrecks within the parks waters. It's a lot,

(17:27):
and that would be so cool to go back here
and do like a shipwreck snorkel touring. I've never done
anything like that, but the keys were eventually used for
farming things like pineapples and tomatoes weirdly enough into the
nineteen hundreds, but the areas, hurricanes and Rocky Train just
made it too difficult to keep doing that, right. My
favorite thing is what happened next though. Once the keys

(17:50):
were largely abandoned for farming purposes, they were transformed into
the next big thing, party mansions. It's kind of crazy.
We learned about this on the boat ride past uh
Bocacia Key actually about how in the early rich Miami
residents started building mansions on the keys as their vacation
home and party pads. Yes, as one does. And it's

(18:12):
just so laughably absurd and decadent, which I think is
why it's so like intriguing and hilarious, which it's just
like par for the course for humanity. Right. So you
have people like Mark C. Honey Well who had a
mansion on Bocacia Key, and he gave this mansion its
own lighthouse, which you can see today if you go

(18:34):
to Bocacia Key and it's one of the most photographed
sites in the park. It's gotten pretty iconic. And then
there was also the Coco Lobo k Club, which was
owned by rich party animals like Garfield Wood and b. B. Roboso,
who was actually close friends with President Nixon. And then
there's this whole another part of the park called Stiltsville,

(18:56):
the series of buildings that were built on stilts jutting
out of northern Biscayne Bay, and this served as a
gambling mecca and drinking den during Prohibition for a while. Yeah.
At its height, there were twenty seven different structures only
accessible by boat, but like most most things in this
part of the country, hurricanes made it very difficult destroyed
several of them. Once the remnants of Stiltsville was added

(19:17):
to the National Park in Night five, there were only
seven structures standing, and today you can visit them by permit. Yeah.
And as crazy and ridiculous as all of this lavishness
and for volity sounds, it didn't stop there. Some people
in South Florida weren't content with simply having island party mansions.
They also wanted to string all these keys together to
form a continuous driveable route from Miami out to q

(19:40):
West to capitalize more and more on tourism to the area. Yeah.
Since Key Largo was the first reachable by car, a
lot of people saw these similar keys and Biscayne Bay
as neglected or wasted, like they had no value of
their own, so they wanted to connect them all and
build homes on them too. And not only that, they
wanted to dredge up acreage from the bay to create
a jet port and a seaport, and then even established

(20:03):
this larger island city called Islandia, which is nuts. And
even though park Landian Islandia share of suffix, I do
not approve that, you know. No. Unfortunately, neither did a
lot of other advocates who wanted to protect the area
as a national park, including Juanita Green, a newspaper writer
for the Miami Herald, and even vacuum titan Herbert W.

(20:26):
Hoover Jr. Who visited the area as a young boy
and became obsessed with it and really appreciated and valued
it's you know, natural features, And so because of this
he tried to persuade government legislators to protect it by
taking them on blimp tours over the bay and showing
off how beautiful it was, like, I can't make the

(20:47):
stuff up blimp tours. No, you really can't. Uh. And
with the support for National Parks protection rising, these greeted
developers were getting angry and spiteful, so they decided to
bulldoze a six Lillon Highway and Eliott Key and hopes
that if they messed it up enough, no one would
want to protect it, after all, selfish monsters. It's just
it's so immature, right, It's like, oh, well, if we

(21:08):
can have it, then we're just going to mess it
all up and no one can have it. Horrible, you know,
the intent which is like such a sore loser mentality.
But despite all of this, in this ridiculous behavior, Biscayne
National Monument was first established in thanks to advocates like
Representative Dante Fascal, who the visitor center is now named after.

(21:29):
And then even better, that Spite Highway as it's called now,
which was they tore up to with the intent tarnished.
The land that's grown over naturally become the park's only
main hiking trail, and it's this miles long track through
tropical hardwood forest on Elliott Key, you know. So between
the party mansions and the gambling shacks and the coral
reef and spite, I think it's safe to say that

(21:51):
Biscayne National Park has some of the most colorful history
of any national park. Yeah, that history is definitely as
colorful as the reef itself, i'd say. And after this
quick break, we're gonna talk with our guests for this episode,
Sandra Ramos. Hi, I'm Matt and I'm Brad. This is

(22:24):
Park Glandia and today we're talking about Biscayne National Park
in Florida. Yes, and we are bringing on our special guest,
Sandra Ramos, also known as at National Park patch Lady
on an Instagram. And Um, we're so excited to talk
to Sandra because of her deep love and history of
Biscayne National Park. I mean, she's loves it so much

(22:47):
that she even has an art exhibit that was featured there,
her photography exhibit, and she's just such a wonderful resource
to our community of National Parks travelers. Yeah, she has
a real kinship with with bis gay now on park
its teams, and she's friends with the park rangers there.
She's been several times, so this is like one of
her spirit parks. It seems like, you know, we all

(23:07):
have these connections to different to different places, and this
is a place that she's not only super familiar with,
but and very experienced with, but a place that she
is just super passionate about. So we know that she'll
have a lot of great things to talk about with Biscayne,
and we're excited to learn more from her and also
just get more inspired because she's the most inspiring person

(23:30):
that I think we follow on Instagram, so and we
can't wait to dive into this. Yeah, we're huge Instagram
fans and now Instagram friends, and we're so excited to
have her on this week. So, Sandra, where were you
before National Parks became part of your life? Oh? Wow?

(23:54):
So I am. I grew up in New Orleans and
um moved to Los Angeles and uh my junior of
high school and I got really involved in politics. And
so I had spent the last twenty years running political
campaigns from Oregon State to Virginia. UM, and it was
a lot of fun. And so I sort of bounced
back between working for government officials and running political campaigns

(24:19):
and just sort of reached a point where, um, I
had I had just had enough, and I was just
exhausted because a lot of people don't realize that it's
a seven job and you don't really have a life.
And I really became burned out by it. So um yeah,
so before national parks sort of took over everything in anything,
including my house. Um, I was. I was, you know,

(24:42):
in the trenches, fighting the good fight. That's wonderful. When
I was in Illinois, I fought for marriage equality. Um.
And it was one of those things I was telling
my story of like serving during Don't Ask, Don't Tell
and it's a battle, and just being an extra person,
Like I mean, I knocked on seven thousand doors, talk
to twenty six different state representatives, the government villain at

(25:05):
two different times, like different things like that, and that
was enough. Like that was exhausting. I couldn't imagine actually
running these campaigns and working within the like interweb of them,
because like you're saying, it's seven, it's exhausting. Yeah, and
seven goes on for like a year and a half.
It's not like it's seven for a month or two.

(25:27):
It's a year and a half. And even when you're
on the government side doing policy, it's still your phone
is never turned off, your life is never your own,
and um, and it can take a toll on you,
for sure. Yeah. But you know, I never didn't believe
in what I was doing, and I think that that's
really what drove me for as long as I did.
Absolutely right. So nowadays you actually we see on your

(25:48):
Instagram that you hang out National park rangers all the time.
It's like you're a rock star. It's like they're the
rock stars. Really, I'm just sort of the groupie. I
love it because I just love seeing you traveling. You're
actually talking, You're having conversations with park rangers, and it's
a lot of people just don't do that, Like we
haven't really we've done that on tours, um and different things,

(26:09):
but just it's really beautiful to see you just really
digging in there and finding out the important parts of
National parks. Thanks you know for me. Um, you know,
I've spent time, money, money, and energy to get there.
And um. One of the things I learned really early
on in my National Parks travels is the park rangers

(26:31):
are immense resources. And one of the things that I
sort of developed and in the process was the first
thing I do is go to a visitor center, find
a friendly park ranger, and ask one question, which is
what is your favorite part of the park. Yes, And

(26:51):
because I'm now getting firsthand from a person whose job
it is as a steward of that land and knows
it better than anyone. It. Not only am I engaging
them personally and wanting to learn about them, which I'm
sure they don't get very often, but I get to
learn about the best parts of the park that most
people don't ask about. Absolutely so, so it's become a

(27:12):
ritual of mine. And it's really how I've formed bonds
with um, really amazing people with a wealth of knowledge
that I couldn't even scratch the surface on. And and
these folks are just so enthusiastic and wonderful um and
so it's really been a pleasure to meet them and
become friends. And I'm just honored that did I get

(27:34):
to hang out with them? Yeah, you just actually change
the way I think we visit national parks because when
you go up, we asked like the normal questions, and
you know, we don't. I think there's a there's an
art art of conversation really is like it's kind of
like when you're sitting down at a restaurant and you
can either just order your food and not look at

(27:56):
the waitress, or you can turn your whole body to
that waitress and ask her different questions about our life
and just simple things like how's your like, how's your
day going, but like that true eye contact to where
they actually feel like you're talking to them versus it's like,
you know, we've made that mistake where we're just like
we go into a National park and we're like, where's
the map? Like where can I collect this? You know,

(28:19):
where can I collect my patches? Right? Right? But you
can really just change that conversation by like, you know,
the way that you approach a park ranger. And I
think that that's probably what you're really great at. I
can see that within you. It shows through in your
Instagram at National Park patch lady, and so I just
really really love that. And where did actually that come from?

(28:40):
Where did National Parks patches? Good question? Oh, it's so
it's it's sort of embarrassing. Um. So when I started
this journey, part of so, I have a really weird
o c D where I just you know, collect things,
and and so my house is sort of a hodgepodge
of collections. And one of the things in National Parks

(29:01):
that I really dug where the patches, you know, you
see them on people's backpacks and whatnot. So I just
started this collection and throwing me in a box. And
a friend of mine had come over and we were
talking about it one day and and he decided to
create a meme of a photograph that a friend took
of me and sort of a dark bar and a
dark leather chair with just sort of like a spotlight
sliver of light coming through the window, and and he

(29:24):
the meme said National Park Patch Lady on the History Channel,
and he posted it and my friends were like, oh
my god, we would totally watch that. And because I,
you know, I sort of became this nerd of history
because of my love of politics and sociology, and it's
one of the things that I that really drew me
to the parks, right, was was all of the things

(29:45):
that I missed about being in politics once I retired. Um,
but I didn't know how to sort of have that outlet,
and so so they just sort of laughed at me
because I always get these weird you know, oh my god,
this is my new obsession. Only the only this one
has carried on for seven years now, so there's sort
of like, oh, I guess she's in for the long haul. Um.

(30:05):
So yeah, So it started as a meme um of
a friend of mine trying to mock me. Well, thank you,
thank your friend for us, because well, yeah, so it's
sort of funny. So yeah, so I sort of adopted it,
and then a really beautiful friend of mine in Denver
created a logo and then it just sort of took off.
So it's um yeah, wow, I love that. Thank you. Well.

(30:30):
I have a question for you, and this one before
we kind of talked about Biscayne in that park, was
I know that you have a special connection with Getty's
very in particular. I remember when we were talking about
on an Instagram when Gettysburg episode came out, and then
I saw a mention of it when I was at Biscayne,
and I saw your photography exhibit, which we'll talk about

(30:51):
later too. So I know you how it seems like
you had a pretty formative experience there, is that, right?
I did? Um? So about nine years ago I retired
from my political career for a variety of reasons including, um,
it just battered me physically and emotionally. UM. I ended

(31:13):
up on the verge of of manic depression and bipolar disorder. UM,
and so I had to leave a situation I also
developed an alcoholic problem and um, and so I knew
that I needed to get out and get healthy, and
I didn't know how to do that. UM. And at
the time, I had just moved back to Washington, d C.

(31:35):
Which is sort of the epicenter of politics, and trying
to retire from politics and being in the epicenter of
it is you know, not exactly a healthy environment. But
I really had no choice at that point. Um. And so, UM,
trying to navigate Washington, d C. While not being in
politics is really really difficult and sort of didn't help

(31:56):
my my mental state. And a friend of mine who
I had worked with on the Hill was going to
go out to Gettysburg and Antietam and invited me to
sort of tag along, and you know, and and I
didn't really think anything of it, And honestly, I didn't
really even want to go. But I will tell you
that I arrived, and um, it was everything that I
didn't know I needed in my life. Is really the

(32:19):
only way to explain it. Um. It was nature, it
was open space, it was history. It was the love
of our country. It was being a patriot. It was
the everything that I wanted. UM. And I started crying,
and we spent twenty four hours in Gettysburg and we
went on to Antietam, and again it was this powerful

(32:41):
emotional connection for me. And I was really embarrassed because
having been a congressional staffer, I had never really paid
attention to the National Park Service. And I sort of
beat myself up over it now, thinking there was so
much I could have done in that position to help
the parks, but I just didn't. I just didn't have
the awareness. Um. And so when I got back home

(33:01):
to d C, I researched the National Park Service and
realized at the time, I think there were four d
eight National Park sites, and realized that that was an
amazing mission to sort of give myself. And it's sort
of filled a void of of a lot of things

(33:22):
that I needed in my life. And I will tell
you that the parks have really saved me it. Um.
Nature is a place for us to relax. Nature is
a place for us to connect with our humanity and ourselves,
and um had I don't think if I had connected
and found the National Parks when I did, UM, I

(33:46):
would not be where I am today. I would not
be in a healthy emotional space where I feel like
not only am I learning and growing as a person,
but I am able to to be in nature. I'm
literally cry because because that's it, Like what what these

(34:07):
national parks bring us? I mean, I swear that you know,
for for us, it didn't just bring us close together.
I believe it truly just saved relationship, uh and our
marriage and everything, you know, And it's just beautiful to
see how these national parks save us from ourselves from depression, anxiety,

(34:29):
from relationship issues too, being just like swamped in everyday
life and everything you just said was just so spot on.
It was, yeah, I mean yeah, and there's so much
stigma around mental health issues, right, but when you're when
you're in nature and when you're in the parks, you
don't have that, and all of a sudden, all of

(34:50):
those panic attacks you have and all the anxiety just disappears,
and for for a brief moment, you can just be
who you are and you know, every I don't know
anyone who's never felt magical in a park? Have you?
Have you all ever met anybody amazing in a park?
And so it just I think it just brings out

(35:10):
the best in us. And I really want to believe that. Um,
And so you know, for me, the parks are everything,
and and all of this is not about anything other
than I want more people to enjoy the parks, particularly
the smaller parks that that don't get as much attention.
Absolutely yes, And that's one of our biggest goals is
to introduce all these different parts outside of the big

(35:32):
national parks. The sea shores, the monuments. Oh yeah, all
of those are just so gorgeous. And that's why we
brought Season two to be a national park, a national
sea shore National park, to mix it up and just
really show people that there's nature in their backyard. They
just have to look right. Yeah, and I think this
is actually perfect seas. The thing I was proferencing earlier

(35:55):
was you had a photography exhibit at Biscayne National Park
and I saw it. I was. I went down there
and I saw it. Luckily, I think I was there
like the last week. I think you mentioned that I
was running and that was the topic of this exhibit
where these last renowned national parks, and I thought that
was so wonderful to see them highlighted, and not only
were the photos gorgeous, but like so much fascinating information

(36:18):
helpful information, incredible insight. So I would love to hear
more about that exhibit and how you compiled it and
what kind of you know, led to that happening in
at Biscay National Park in particular to please sure well,
thank well, I appreciate you visiting and thank you so
much for the kind runes about it. Um, it was
really a labor of love. You know. I've been traveling

(36:38):
to national parks for seven years now, and UM, it's
you know, I've always sort of had a camera in
my hand, but I never took it seriously until I
retired from politics and didn't know what I wanted to
do with my life and so UM, so I just
had this collection of photos and three issue years ago

(36:59):
got up enough nerve to start an Instagram account, um
and start putting them online and have made tremendous friends.
I mean, that's how we met, which I'm extraordinarily grateful for. Um.
You know, and in that process, you know, had conversations
with people about, um, the stories of these parks and
and what direction I wanted to do, and that was

(37:19):
really important for me. Is a history geek and a
sociology geek, and all of those things at the park
that I really love about the parks. I wanted to
share those stories, and so that's sort of my goal
is to to talk about those and so UM a
few years ago, when I was down in Biscay National Park,
I had met ranger Gary Bremen, who has since become

(37:42):
a very dear close friend of mine, and he um
graciously asked if I wanted to exhibit my work at Biscayne,
and I think I started crying and then I went
into denials, like no, you don't really want my work,
and it was like um, and then UM then sort
of really thought about it. And one of the passions

(38:04):
that he and I both share is the passions for
the smaller parks, right the historical parks, the national landmarks,
the national monuments, the national sea shores, because those to
me really represent America. I mean the big sixty one.
You can you can ask anyone in America and they
can probably name three or four big national parks. But
if you ask them about a monument, a military park,

(38:26):
a battlefield, you're that number is going to get significantly smaller.
But there's so much more to me, Um, what the
real national park is to me, That's what really. I mean,
they have the nature and the sweeping landscapes, but they
also have so much more UM and so I sort

(38:49):
of decided on beyond the icons and really focus on
parks that are maybe some some of them were big
sixty one parks for sure, but are lesser known like
Guadalipe Mountains, like Big bend Um, but also talked about
you know, places like New Orleans Jazz. Who knew that
the entire city of New Orleans was a National historical

(39:10):
site to in fact, if you cautage on Lafitte National
Historical Park right UM. You know places like Maggie L.
Walker National Historical Park in UM Richmond, Virginia, which is
my favorite national historical park. UM. It's about a woman
who was the first president of a bank in the
United States shortly after the Civil War, African American woman

(39:30):
in the seat of the Confederacy, who fought for for education,
who fought for financial freedoms for these folks who didn't
have that access. Who was you know, who was a
a a peer of people like W. E. B. Du
Boys who but you never hear her name, and the
keep and the park keeps her story alive and keeps
her family alive um and so those kind of places

(39:53):
just really fascinate me. And so that's what the exhibit
was about, was really highlighting smaller parks that have amazing
stories that we should all know. Yes, I think the
wildlife and ecology of the sixty one are huge, but
then there's so much more of the history of who
we are as human beings in America that really are
highlighted in outside of that sixty one. And that's exactly

(40:16):
what you know, we found. Um we recently we just
went to um I'm gonna slaughter this name Oak McGhee, yeah,
ok Malgi sorry, Okamogie, which is a National monument and
it was about the Native American history and heritage before
you know, these lands were taken and then afterwards the

(40:38):
digging of it, in the archaeology behind it, and it's
it's been inhabited by people for seventeen thousand years, and
it's like it's just this beautiful piece of history that's like,
we need to shine more lights on those. Um and
when we find our parks and realize that there's like
four nineteen now right, yeah, I mean and and and

(41:01):
the folks who you know, the caretakers the park rangers.
One of one of my favorite experiences was going down
to Cane River Creole in um Nacodish Louisiana and talking
with um and oh God, I'm gonna I'm gonna totally
mess this up. He isn't and throw e throw wait
and throw Ethno archaeologist UM ranger Dusty fou Quad down

(41:24):
in Cane River and he took me through the collection
and it was just amazing. And I grew up in
New Orleans and so I thought I knew Louisiana history. Man.
Learning about that kind of stuff was just just soul shaking.
I mean, it was just beautiful because you know, they
have they've excavated parts of the old plantation and they
really keep those stories of of the locals and and

(41:45):
the settlers alive, and it's just really beautiful and so
so yeah, I mean, the small parks just can have
so much if you just take the time and open
your eyes and slow down and really learn and and
be open to it. Absolutely and for sure it there
in a couple of weeks, so now we know definitely
where we're going. Give range your Dusty ring, Hey Dusty, Hey, Dusty, Yeah,

(42:08):
you got a friend around me? Sounds great. Make make
him buy you nakadish meat pies. That's where it's nakadish
meat pies. You just won Matt's heart over because oh,
I know, I know what I'm doing. I just want
to learn a little bit more about you. So tell
us a little bit about yourself. Yeah. So I'm currently

(42:31):
based in Fort Worth, Texas. I just moved here this
past year from spending fifteen years in Austin, and I
am the education director at Fort Worth Camera, where I
create and put together and teach classes on photography of
all sorts um and also including workshops in the National parks.
We're going to Big Bend in Washington, d C. And

(42:51):
a couple of other great spots next year. So, um,
if you happen to want to join us, fort Worth
Camera dot Com is the place to find us. Um,
you know. And and I've got lots of friends. I
was just gonna say briefly, I've got lots of friends
in other parts of national park stuff. And so if
y'all are really interested in photography, I would also suggest
y'all look at um National parks at night. They do

(43:11):
some really great astro photography stuff, and so that's kind
of how I learned my astro photography. So, um, yeah, well,
I just think that National parks are just so beautiful
and Biscayne there's so much to unpack their. Um, what
what are some of your favorite parks National Park? Oh, Biscayne. Um.
I had the beautiful experience of camping out on Elliott

(43:35):
Key one night. Um, but you don't get to do
very often, and so that was really great. Um. I
love going out to Jones Lagoon. So my friend ranger
Gary got married there with his beautiful husband Roger um
and um, and so Jones Lagoon, paddling out there is

(43:55):
always one of the one of the highlights. But you know,
even just the boat trip out to Boccaci h. I was.
I was going through my photos the other day, and
I think that I have nineteen different ways that I
have photographed the Hallowell Ornamental Lighthouse on Boca Cheetah and so,
you know, So for folks who go to a park

(44:16):
and say, Okay, I've checked the box, I would like
to argue that there is something to be said for
going back to a park again and again and really
experiencing it in different ways, in different times of the year,
in different days of part of part of the day,
whatever it is, um, and just really enjoy the park
as opposed to sort of checking the box absolutely as
a flag. It's not about the box. It's about the experience.

(44:39):
And you know, Um, I'm fortunate to have made friends
with a park ranger down there who was just amazing
and um, but I think I would go back again
and again regardless. Yes, as soon as you go. Once
you learn a surface level, right, you go back, you
get another layer, and then you realize, oh my gosh,
there's more there, and then it just keeps on going

(45:03):
and going and going because there's just there's so much
history and culture there that you can dedicate your whole
life to a single National park and still not know everything.
Oh absolutely, I've been. I've been to Biscayne. I think
I counted seven times, and I still haven't snorkeled the
Maritime Historical Trail. I still haven't been on Adam's Key.

(45:25):
I still haven't you know, done a lot of things
that I would love to do. And so I know
that Biscayne is going to be one of those places
that I'm going to continue to go to, particularly in
January when there's a lot less bugs and um, I
highly recommend South Florida Parks in January February. Um less people,

(45:46):
you your bugs hands down, um bis water and you're
telling me that there's still more to learn. There's still
more to learn. Yeah, uh and that's just one one
of are beautiful national parks. Yes, I'm ago. How many

(46:07):
have y'all been to? Oh? We actually we're talking about
this that we needed to sit down. We have an
Excel sheet that we go through. We haven't updated it
in a year. So embarrassed. It's going to be real bad.
I'm disappointed. Right, you know what, we don't collect parks.
We experienced them totally burned. Fair enough, fair enough. I'll

(46:37):
just say that, Oh that's amazing. Yes, I mean yeah,
because I am that nerd. That's good. No, that is
really good because we've been talking about it, but we're
just like, you know, there's just so much like I
just love it because when we get home, we just
research more, um and more, and then we go back.

(46:58):
I mean, you've been to Carl's bad four well cars,
but I think for yeah, it's like my most visited
and yeah, it's one of those things where I totally
agree with you, Like I could go back time and again.
And even if I am doing some things that I've
done before, it's not like I'm tired of it by
any means I could. You're still learning happily. Yeah, I'm
just as excited as my first visit. I love it there.
It's endlessly inspiring and just like kind of floods me

(47:21):
with happiness and delight. It's it's great. Yeah, even even
just the thought of going to a park will do that, right,
even endorphin rush. Next week, I'm gonna be able to
spend a day in Glacier National Park, which I've never
done in winter, and so I'm really excited and looking
forward to experiencing that. So, yeah, we haven't really done
any like winter national parks. We've been to some in winter,

(47:46):
but they're done in the South, Like you're saying Biscayne
and ever Glacier or something like that. But like going
to Glacier nothing snow. That is a goal, Like Yellowstone
visiting that in the winter is that. But right now
because the r V and like its freezing, and you know,
there's just so many things. So we're just like, you know,
when we're done with the r V lifestyle, Well, you

(48:06):
will then jump into like going during the winters and
actually experiencing these these beautiful parts of nature, um sometimes
like how they're intended to be, like it just revisiting,
relearning and learning new survival techniques, what the wildlife and
ecology is in the winter versus the summer, and how
the everything changes and it all works together. So right,

(48:30):
I mean, if if I had like a big outside goal,
it would be to go to every park in all
four seasons, right, But you know that's just that's a
little much. So I'm just gonna say I'm gonna do
what I can on that. Yeah, all right, right, we
just endless resources. Well exactly exactly right, Hello lottery. Um.

(48:51):
So yeah, So I mean for me, traveling to a
national park is good any time of the year. Um,
I really prefer this smaller parks in the summer when
the larger parks get super crowded. Yes, you know, it's
sort of a tip for people traveling. Um And but
you know, big parks in winter are just heavenly, you know,

(49:13):
because it's the silence, and it's the you know, it's everything.
It's it's everything. It's the pristineness, it's the the wind,
it's you know the light. Oh yeah, it's stunning. I
cannot wait. So sound your where, um, where can people

(49:34):
find you? Like your social media websites things like that. Yeah,
so you can find me at National Park patch Lady
dot com. Or you can find me on Instagram at
National Park patch Lady, or you can find me on
Twitter at NP patch Lady. I'm also on Facebook, and

(49:57):
I don't think. I don't think I do anything else
that the kids do these days. That's probably about all
the places you can find me. You're not on TikTok,
and I think you're gonna have a great trip when
you go to Glacier. And I can't wait to follow
you at National Park Patch Lady because it's just there's
just so many beautiful things that you bring, and there's

(50:17):
so much value bring to the National Parks and the
community of National park goers. And that's what this really
is to me, is like like getting the chance to
actually talk to you in person versus just like I
g direct Instagram messages or you know, things like that.
It's it's really beautiful to just learn more about our
community of National park lovers and all these people are

(50:38):
passionate about our parks. Um, the stories that the stories
that you've shared today are going to go beyond helping
and inspiring others. Um. It inspired me, and I know
by looking in Matt's eyes that inspired him. But I
really really appreciate you coming in sharing your story, your
love for national parks, your tips. Uh, they've all been

(51:02):
so beautiful. Thank you. I mean, I'm now I'm crying.
Um wow. I mean you guys, you guys are at
such an inspiration and I really appreciate the opportunity. I mean,
I'm extraordinarily grateful to to sort of share what I
can and hopefully, you know, inspire others to just get
out there and you know, experience America. Thank yeah, that

(51:24):
Oh my gosh, yeah, thank you so much. We were
both like geeking out with excitement to talk to you today.
So you've been listening to park Landing podcast. We'll be
right back after a quick break. Hi. I'm Matt and

(51:58):
I'm Brad. This is park land in. Today's episode is
on Biscayne National Park in Florida, Key. Speaking of Biscayne,
you got to do a solo trip down there, which
I was jealous. Why don't you tell us a little
bit more about that. Yes, I did. That was more

(52:20):
recently than our trip to Biscayne together when we first went,
and this was part of a trip that I did,
just the road trip to like Everglades, Miami and the Keys,
and I definitely wanted to go back to Bisken and
explore more of it because obviously there's a lot more
to do and see here. So what I did was
I booked another tour this time instead of doing a

(52:42):
snorkel trip, I booked a island trip to Bocacheta Key
again with the Yeah again with Biscayn National Park Institute,
because they do so many amazing tours and they're phenomenal,
phenomenal from our snorkel trip there, so I knew I
wanted to go out with them again and Bocachi Ta

(53:02):
Key was something that I really want to do. And
initially when you and I were bucking the snorkel trip,
I was considering like between snorkeling and Bocacia Key because
it's so iconic. This is the one with that lighthouse
that Mark I knew well built in the thirties, iconic
and it just looks spectacular and really unique and it's

(53:23):
the most visited key in the National Park, so it
was way up there for me on my list of
two dudes. Yeah, I remember seeing that a lot of
like private boaters in that area as well, So you
don't even have to have a tour if you have
your own boat, you can go out there by yourself. Yeah,
it's anyone. Anyone who you know has a boat can
go out there. And the day I was there, it

(53:45):
was a weekend. It was a Sunday, so there's lots
of private boaters out there at the marina seemed like
it was pretty full and it was a beautiful day.
It was sunny and quite warm, so lots of people
out there just kind of lounge you on their boats,
cooking out relock saying. It wasn't too like loud or
like a party scene or anything like that. It wasn't
like South Beach, but it was definitely like filled and bustling.

(54:09):
So that was definitely different to see and experience that
aspect of the park and that scene. You know, there's
many different ways to visit our park, yeah, right, and
I think some people out there were also camping. You
are welcome to camp out here in Bocutio Key if
you can, you know, get yourself there again. And that's
an intriguing option. That would be cool too, because I'm

(54:31):
sure at night, obviously most of the voters go back
to the mainland to go back home. Really awesome if
you could, like you know, have your own boat, go
camp there, then go to your own snorkeling with our
own equipment, and you know, that sounds like a little
dream trip to But right, I mean, we just got
to get our own boat. That's the main Yeah, that's

(54:52):
not a big deal, right, No, not at all. That's
you know, that's the drive. I would be open and
driving a boat. It's it's like open ocean out here,
so I'm less word, there's no I'm not afraid I'm
gonna like run into something necessarily like that'd be pretty
hard to do if you did, that'd be embarrassing. Yeah,
So the key was really fun. We're only out there,

(55:12):
like wandering around for like an hour. It's a really
small key, so an hour it seems like it's plenty.
But the first thing we did was go to the
lighthouse and the our guide let us up. So normally
whenever when there's no tour happening on the key, the
lighthouse is shut and locked to preserve it from you know,
random people who might want a party in it, which

(55:34):
which makes sense, I guess. But we got to go
up the lighthouse, up this series of like winding narrow stairs,
and then from the very top, it's such an amazing
view looking out over the Key and the ocean, and
you get a really nice panorama of the Miami skyline
in the distance too, a little a little hazy, but
it's clearly there and kind of kind of wild because like,

(55:57):
it only took me an hour to get from South
Beak to Biscayne, and it looked like it's way off
in the distance, looks like it would be a longer drive.
But oh yeah, that was great. So after the lighthouse,
there's no rare like hiking trails or anything like that.
But like I kind of wandered around the perimeter of
the of the Key along some of the there's like

(56:19):
beaches on the north side of it, or the east
side of it rather, and those were some of the
prettiest beaches I've ever seen. The waters like turquoise and
like white sand, and there's like patches of mangrove mangrove
trees kind of spurting out of the water along the shore,
so nice. I had my bathing suit on, so like

(56:40):
I was ready to go swimming, but the water was
surprisingly on the chili side, so I didn't really want
to do. I also didn't have a towel, so was
it clear water? It was really clear, So if I
had snorkel equipment, I probably would have been more inclined
in a wet suit too. Definitely the wet suit. So

(57:01):
just a gorgeous, gorgeous little key out here and some forests,
some really bright green forest to wander through, and yeah,
that was wonderful. And I also learned about there's not
obviously a limited amount of wildlife out here, but the
guide told us shockingly though there are raccoons, which I

(57:22):
don't understand how they got there, but he's like, oh,
they're everywhere, and I'm like it's kind of true though, Yeah.
And then also animals called wood rats, which get water
from coconuts. They get fresh they need like obviously they
can't drink salt water, so their water source in the island.
They kind of like not their way into coconuts and

(57:43):
drink coconut water. So when we were initially there, like
we mentioned. It was during government shutdowns, so the visitor
center was closed. There was no exhibits we could see,
there was no park movie, so I was eager to
check that out for the first time. And it was great,
Like did not disappoint a huge visitor center. It never
does so much to see and learn about, especially pertaining

(58:06):
to the copious amounts of wildlife here and the different ecosystems,
and the animals that live where, how long they've lived
here just and then the changing geography of the of
the park over the past several thousand years. Lots to
discovery and read about. And then I saw the park movie,
which was in the same room where Sandra's photography exhibit was,

(58:28):
So around the like perimeter of the room and then
like the hallway outside of it were her beautiful photographs
and you could read all about those and look at them,
and then sit down and watch this excellent park movie
hosted by a ranger who's kind of guiding you through
the different keys and showing you and pointing out the
different wildlife and plant species and talking more about the history,

(58:51):
especially like Spite Highway and how it's a hiking chill now.
So that was cool. To see and learn more about
from that direct perspective. Yeah, I really feel that Biscayne
is mostly about the wildlife and the ecology because there's
just so many layers, from the ocean to the keys,
um even to the mainlands. There's so much too really

(59:14):
dive into their yeah, you're yeah, I mean literally dive
into it. And even if you're just walking around, if
you're in one of the keys like I was, it's
you're you're still immersed in it, and it's incredible in
a very inspiring place and the type of place where
I could totally see and I agree with Sandra like
I could come back time and again and never ever

(59:35):
get tired of it, certainly, and always have something new
to new to see, new to do. It's just one
of those very special places, my favorite. All right, now,
it's that time of the episode where we share with
each other our favorite parts of Biscayne National Park. We

(59:56):
haven't told each other our answers, so it's all a surprise. Matt,
what was your favorite thing to do here? Well? I
think it is pretty hard to be snarkling, especially for
someone like me who's terrified of that type of thing,
or who was terrified my entire left of that type
of thing in this setting. So it was not only

(01:00:17):
really fun, but it had that another level of meaning
to me being able to do that and jump off
a boat and how I was just so pleasantly surprised
by how quickly everything kind of clicked into place, and
I instantly felt calm and excited and just like, yes,

(01:00:38):
this is wonderful, and I could just do this all day.
I could do this time and again, and it was mesmerizing.
So I would say that was my favorite thing absolutely
times a million agree, because when you just jump in
that water and you get into it for your first time,

(01:00:59):
you're just in it. You're it's like you're in a movie.
It's like you're in in this beautiful, beautiful experience of
like experiencing wildlife for the first time, and you can
see it all happening in front of you. It's like
it basically goes into a fish eye lens where you're

(01:01:19):
like you're just seeing everything happening, and like I was
saying earlier about chasing different fish and then all of
a sudden, distracted and there's another one. Um. It was
just such a fun experience because there was no other
worries in the world. Now you're so focused on one fish,
Like that's what I was focused on and what was

(01:01:39):
happening around it and just seeing how this uh wildlife
is wild. Yeah, I remember that that's an important part
to the the intense focus. And I felt that with
very specific things like all of a sudden, the only
things I'm concentrating on our breathing correctly, you know, like
you need to remind myself okay, and then making sure

(01:02:02):
water is not going into my snorkel, my mask and stuff.
And then just aside from that, looking at everything and
experiencing it and being you know, completely captivated. So it's
just from like my normal life as as a creature
who lives on land like this is completely different and

(01:02:24):
forces you to just recalibrate and focus entirely on different things.
And for days like literally there was just like therapy.
Yeah it is. It is therapy. Um kind of like
Sando saying, you know, National Parks, when you're in it
and you're you're really in it, it just relieves all anxiety,

(01:02:45):
all fears, all depression, all everything, and all you get
to do is focus. Yeah. Yes, so let's talk about
things that you should bring into biscayde National Park if
you're planning on visiting reservations. Yeah, that's the number one
because unless you're lucky enough to have a yacht or

(01:03:05):
a boat or something, you you absolutely need that. Even then,
even then, take get a reservation and go on one
of these tours because you're gonna learn so much. The
guides are really well educated, they know what they're talking about,
and they're going to know the best places to go. Yeah,
this is one of those parks where there isn't a
lot you can do unless you have a reservation to

(01:03:27):
do something an activity, a tour, because there's very limited
things on on the mainland. There's that jetty trail and
excellent visitors center, but you're really missing out if you
don't go out, and you need to go out, you know,
cute away. It's like miles out to get to the
keys and then beyond that to go Snorkeley. So reservations
are important and as far in advance as possible. They

(01:03:49):
weren't difficult that we made ours like a week in
advance or whatever, and it was it seems totally fine,
but still obviously I can't hurt And then bringing us
sunscreen but like waterproof sunscreen is huge. Um. And then
learning how to apply water um, waterproof like sunscreen, because um,
I've made a mistake where I like, you know, I'll

(01:04:10):
put it on and then I'll jump right in the
ocean and you have to let it like basically cure
for a couple of minutes to really actually just sink
into you so that we're not getting burnt. Yeah, for sure.
And then if you have any wet suit stuff, by
all means bring that. It would save you some money
so you don't have to rent those in addition or
be like us, And we bought our own Now after that,

(01:04:32):
I never ready. Yes, we have our own fins which
are really cute choofin I know, I want to wear them,
walk around with them. They're so cool wet suits. And
we even have the snorkeling life fests with a whistle
just in case, because it's always better to be prepared, um,
And that whistle is more you know, anything goes wrong
and you might need it, and most of the times

(01:04:54):
we're in a very safe environment, but it's always better
to be prepared. So yeah, and then this isn't so
much a thing to bring but something to bear in mind,
and you touched on this a little bit. But if
you're going snarkling and you're like you and you have
facial hair, then yes, you might not be expecting this.
But like, what what did you wind up having to do? Oh?
I had to put vaseline like all over my face,

(01:05:15):
all around the eyes and everything, and it still didn't
even work that great. So when you want to go snorkeling,
you definitely want to um shape. You want to have
as bare face as you can so that way you
can the mask can properly seal to your face. Yeah,
and the vassilin helps with that. So basically, if you're

(01:05:35):
if you look at Dumbledore, you probably should not go
snarkeling because you need a lot of vassaline. If you're
like a wizard, yes, yeah, wizards beware. Yeah right, probably
not the activity for you, but good, good to know.
So I think it's safe to say that, in addition
to having some of my favorite slash most ridiculous history

(01:05:56):
of all the National parks, this gain holds a very
special place in my heart for helping me overcome my
irrational fears. All my fears are irrational. You've come a
long way from your Jaws fearing days. I mean to
be clear, I'm still terrified of Jos, but this game
is basically the emotional training wheels I needed to help
me take this new leap, both literally and figuratively. And

(01:06:19):
we've barely even scratched the surface here, because truly it's
of this enormous and beautiful place is below the surface.
You've been listening to park Landia, a show about national parks.
PARKLANDI is the production of My Heart Radio, created by
Matt Carouac, Brad Caro Wak and Christopher hasiotis produced and

(01:06:40):
edited by Mike John's. Our executive producer is Christopher hasiotis
our researcher. It's Jecelyn Shields. A special things goes out
to Gabrielle Collins, Christal Waters and the rest of the
park Landia crew. And Hey listeners, If you're enjoying the show,
leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps other
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(01:07:03):
join in on the conversation and our Facebook group Parklandia Rangers.
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