July 5, 2024 • 46 mins
Looking for fun, outdoor activities to enjoy quality family time away from devices? Trudy hosts this episode offering the perfect solution for locals and visitors alike.
Join us for a fun conversation with Chris Lener, the Marine Biologist and Educator behind Funky Fins: Eco Education for Curious Minds. Chris shares her journey from the Jersey Shore to North Carolina, detailing the education and teaching experiences that led to the engaging adventures she now offers in the Topsail area. From shark tooth hunting and marsh and beach exploration to fish printing and kayak tours, Chris's programs foster a deep connection to the ocean, promote environmental awareness, and create impactful experiences for families and future generations.
Email Chris: funkyfinsonti@gmail.com
Find and Follow Funky Fins on Facebook and Instagram!
Buy Tickets at www.tickettailer.com/events/funkyfins
Text/Call: (203) 512-4936
Topsail Insider is Sponsored by Saltwater Suites & Resort - Topsail Island’s premier luxury hospitality experience! Book your beach getaway today at SaltwaterTopsail.com or call (910) 886-4818!
Topsail Insider is also Sponsored by Surf City Line! Come out for Beachin’ Bowls, Margaritas, and Live Music, and enjoy your meal on their top deck with Ocean Views!
Visit SurfCityLineNC.com for their full food, bar, and brunch menus!
Topsail Insider is edited by Jim Mendes-Pouget.
jimpouget@gmail.com | http://bit.ly/PodcastsByJim.
Send Christa a message! Please leave your contact information if you’d like a response.
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Thanks - I’ll see you around Topsail!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Topsail Insider where you can hear all
about the businesses and eventsin the beautiful coastal towns
in the greater Topsail area ofNorth Carolina.
Coming up today, we have Trudyhosting Ms Chris Leonard, marine
biologist and owner of andeducator at Funky Fans Eco
(00:21):
Education for Curious Minds.
She offers outdoor classes onthe beach and in the marsh,
teaching kids, tweens, teens andadults all about the sea life
you find right here in thegreater Topsail area.
Whether you're a local or avisitor, you're going to want to
hear about the fun andinformative classes she offers
Today on Topsail Insider.
(00:42):
She offers today on TopsailInsider Experience a new level
of luxury on Topsail Island atSaltwater Suites in Surf City,
north Carolina.
With no nightly minimum, you canenjoy short getaways or an
extended stay.
Each suite features luxurybedding, full kitchens with
(01:05):
dining tables and dishwashers,and all suites other than the
three ADA suites have full-sizewashers and dryers.
And don't forget about thosebeautiful ocean views.
24-7 self-check-in provides ahassle-free and seamless
experience.
Saltwater Suites is the perfectchoice for your next beach
getaway.
Book your next Topsail visit atsaltwatertopsailcom or call
(01:28):
910-886-4818.
Saltwater Sweets TopsailIsland's premier luxury
hospitality experience.
Come on out to Surf City Linefor the best made-from-scratch
beach and bowls on TopsailIsland.
Treat yourself to theirdelicious bowls with shrimp
(01:51):
steak, fish, chicken or pork, orenjoy their peel-and-eat shrimp
beach break salads and more.
They offer a full bar servinghandcrafted cocktails,
incredible margaritas and theyproudly serve North Carolina
craft beer.
The line boasts the biggestdeck on the island with three
levels for listening to livemusic, relaxing in the sun or
(02:13):
head on up to the top deck toenjoy your meal with ocean views
.
Visit Surf City Line NCcom fortheir full menus.
The best service and beachvibes on the island await you at
2112 North New River Drive.
Whether you're a local orvisiting from out of town,
celebrating a special occasionor just soaking up the sun with
(02:35):
family and friends, it's alwaysa great time at Surf City Line.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Welcome to Topsail Insider.
My name is Trudy and I am yourhost.
Let's get to our guest today.
Today, we are talking withChris Leonard, and she is the
creator of Funky Fins.
Welcome, chris.
Thank you so much for joiningus.
Thanks for having me.
Yeah, we have been having a lotof fun exploring so many cool
things to do in the summer hereon Topsail Island, and I've
recently found out about thisadventurous and educational
(03:06):
activities provided by FunkyFins.
So, chris, I want you to telleveryone what kinds of
adventures you're providing forour community.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
I'm providing adventures for the family when
they come to Topsail Island, sowhat I'm interested in doing is
sharing all the differentcoastal environments with them,
helping them to become moreenvironmentally aware and
conservation conscious, and Iwork with ages from two to 102,
(03:35):
all kinds Anybody who wants tocome out and learn something
about the island.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
You've opened my eyes to a lot of different
opportunities, not just beingout on the beach, but the
marshes and everything too.
So you've got several locationsright.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Yes, Right now this summer I'm rotating through five
different programs.
I'm teaching a treasure hunters, which is shark tooth
collecting and other treasureson North Topsail Beach.
I'm teaching explore the shore,which is for three to nine year
olds and the parents can comeand play for free.
That's on Topsail Beach.
I also do a fish printingprogram.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
So I love that you're using all different parts of
the island too.
You don't just have one spotyou're going to and you're
really maximizing on thedifferent pieces of the island,
and the different lay of thebeaches are different, you know.
Yes.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
So I'm also teaching a learning with loggerheads
program and that is on TopsailBeach, and then I teach off the
island as well, because I wantpeople to see more than just
Topsail Island, because it's allabout the ocean environment and
not specifically just the coastthere.
So we're also going over toStump Sound and Morris Landing
and we do a family marsh madnessprogram there.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
So these are all programs that you dreamed up.
I mean based on your knowledgeor based on what families and
people are wanting to know.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
As a marine biologist I have a lot of knowledge about
the ocean, but I've also spentmany years teaching school.
So I've taught in school forover 20 years and I wrote a lot
of curriculum, so that kind ofthing comes real easy to me.
All right, we're going to getto that because I want to hear
your background.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
But what was your goal in creating this business?
Speaker 3 (05:13):
So in creating this business, my goal was to make a
connection between people thatare coming to visit the ocean
and the ocean with the peopleand the ocean with the people.
So I think it's reallyimportant that people understand
that what they do directlyaffects the ocean and that the
health of our ocean directlyaffects us.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
I do want to talk about you personally and where
you've come from, because I havea lot of respect for the
background you have.
You're not from North Carolina.
I'm not from North Carolina.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Let's talk.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
You can't tell by my accent I know, I know, so share
with us where you're from andhow you came here.
How'd you come here?
Yeah, how you got here.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
Well, I grew up on the Jersey Shore, so I've always
had a love for the ocean.
I spent a little bit of timeliving in Chicago, not near the
ocean, and then gotre-transplanted back to the
Connecticut coast, so the reasonwhy I'm here is because it's
warm, quite honestly, yes we'veheard, our weather is better
than Connecticut.
There's no snow here, but whatbrought me to North Carolina, to
(06:14):
this specific area, was I had afriend which many people know,
jean Beasley, who was thedirector of the Sea Turtle
Hospital for many, many years,and we had met at an
international symposium because,aside from being a teacher and
a marine biologist, my specialtyhappens to be sea turtle
(06:35):
migrations.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
I was going to ask you how did you meet the great
Jean Beasley?
That's wonderful, yeah, so youmet her.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
How many years ago it was probably 15, 20 years ago,
when I met Jean.
Wow, okay, yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
But you ended up being a teacher because I know
you also.
You do have funky fins as yourbusiness, and that was what
we're talking about today, butyou're an excellent tutor and
you help a lot of students, soyou have a teaching background.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
I do have a teaching background.
I worked mostly in independentschool systems so, like Cape
Fear Academy is one that's closeto us, I worked in the
independent school system foralmost 20 years teaching math
and science.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
You have a love of the ocean.
You ended up being a teacher,but there's lots of other parts
too.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
There are a lot of other parts.
So I went to school for marinescience and then, when I
graduated, I worked as abiologist at the Maritime
Aquarium in South Norwalk,Connecticut, and I was one of
the original biologists there.
And during my time as abiologist I happened to get
pregnant.
One of my jobs was to feed theseals, which you would climb
(07:44):
like Spider-Man across thewindowsill to get out to the
rookery where the seals wereWell at six months pregnant.
My belly didn't fit, so I fellinto the pool in front of about
300 people and they quicklypulled me out.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
How did the seals feel about this.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
That's what everybody says to me.
How were the seals?
Were they friendly?
Did you pet them?
I was just worried aboutgetting out of the pool, and
that followed me for many, many,many years.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
When I would come into the aquarium, people would
say are you the lady that fellin the pool?
Yes, they remember that.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
Well, when I left there, I was pretty young, I was
24.
Well, when I left there, I waspretty young, I was 24.
And so I had just got out ofcollege.
This was my first job and Ireally wanted to make a mark in
marine science and I felt like,oh no, now I'm going to be home
and I mean, it's the greatestjob in the world being a mom
right, let's just say that.
(08:41):
But I was just starting mycareer and I didn't want to just
be labeled as not having theexperience and being a
stay-at-home mom.
So I created a business thereand it was called Traveling Sea
Squirts and I traveled allaround Connecticut and many
counties in New York and I hadlittle igloo coolers with
animals that I got from myfriends that were oystermen.
(09:02):
I would call the boats and theywould keep their bycatch and
save it for me and then I wouldgo down and pick what I wanted
and I would travel around to theschools and I would teach
marine science, and I did thatwhile my kids were little for
about 10 years.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
That's a long time it was.
And then I got tired of drivingand that was a lot of distance.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Right, it was a lot of distance.
It was a lot of distance, it wasa lot of distance.
And then, after about 10 yearsof doing it, I decided that I
really wanted to stay put andnot be driving so much.
So a friend of mine said youknow, you can teach in a private
school without a teachingcertification.
So I went in and I covered asabbatical at a school in Lower
(09:45):
Fairfield County in Connecticutand when my year was done they
said we really want you to stay,so we've created this job for
you.
And I thought, well, that'spretty cool.
So I built this lower schoolscience curriculum there and
then quickly graduated and theywere moving me to do some middle
school classes.
(10:06):
Well, a school in UpperFairfield County found out about
my sea turtle program becausethe school had a large budget
for professional development.
And they said to me we want tosend you somewhere to study
marine life.
If you could pick anything thatyou want to do, what would you
want to study?
And I said, well, I don'treally know a lot about sea
turtles to study marine life.
If you could pick anything thatyou want to do, what would you
(10:27):
want to study?
And I said well, I don't reallyknow a lot about sea turtles.
So they said okay, we'll findsomeone, a PhD or somebody to
work with and we'll send you tostudy with them.
Wow, so I did an Earthwatchprogram and I met Dr Tony Tucker
and he was amazing and we had agreat time.
I was down there for 10 days inFlorida studying sea turtles
and when I came home we kind ofhit it off.
(10:48):
So he called me up and he saidhey, do you think you could
scoop up some money at yourschool and maybe you could come
down and we'll try to put somesatellite tags on sea turtles,
because he was very interestedin doing research on migration
patterns in the Gulf of Mexico.
So I was very blessed and verylucky for a very long time.
(11:09):
But it started out at New CanaanCountry School, the first
school that I worked at, andthey funded a sea turtle for me,
a satellite.
Actually they funded five thefirst year and it was really
cool because the kids got toname them and then I went down
there and put the transmitterson them and then I thought about
well, how can I get the kids tolearn about them in the
classroom?
So I published a curriculum forteachers and it's still online.
(11:35):
It's on cturtleorg and it'sabout how do you use scientific
data live scientific data inyour classroom and it teaches
you all about.
You can go on cturtleorg, youcan take all of the longitude
and latitude points and then youcan bring them into the
classroom and the kids can mapthem and it teaches them so many
(11:56):
different kinds of skills.
But it's all live science.
So I did that for 15 years.
But I had another school thatwas up county where I lived, and
they kind of stole me away fromthe other school.
They said we want you to comeup.
We're building a sciencecurriculum.
We hear what you did down thereis fantastic, and we want you
(12:17):
to come up and consult becausewe want to start a science
program in our elementary school.
We don't have one.
And I said, sure, a scienceprogram in our elementary school
, we don't have one.
And I said, sure.
So I went up and I met with theheadmaster there and we sat and
went over what they were lookingfor their program to look like
and so I developed the programfor them and I tried to get them
(12:37):
started in contacts with theMoat Marine Lab, which is who I
worked with as a visitingscientist for 15 years Marine
Lab, which is who I worked withas a visiting scientist for 15
years and I thought about it andI said, well, why would I not
work here, which is closer to mykids, instead of doing all that
driving?
So I wound up switching schoolsand I worked at Worcester School
(12:59):
in Danbury, connecticut, for 15years and I was just really
lucky and blessed that they wereexcited about what I was doing
and I had a field studiesprogram where I could take high
school kids with me during thetime that I was putting the
transmitters on and they couldactually do the turtle work with
me and we would go aroundMemorial Day weekend.
(13:20):
We'd stay for about a week andthey would do all of the work
and then we would come home andthen we'd use my curriculum in
the lower school and the middleschool classrooms to track the
turtles.
How exciting for them it wasreally fun.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Yeah, so seriously, you went from working in an
aquarium to taking your coolers,dragging your coolers around,
and then you went to privateschools or independent schools,
and then you ended up inresearch and you've published
(13:53):
curriculum and then you ended upfiguring out how to combine the
school system and the research.
I mean, that's the way I see it, am I?
Speaker 3 (14:01):
missing something.
No, I mean it was funny becausewhen I was working down there
in Florida, we were on the beachone night and we were just
waiting for turtles to come up,which you know in Florida they
come up a lot more than they doin North Carolina.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
True, very true.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
But Tony said to me why don't you go back to school
and get your master's oh?
And I thought, oh gosh, becauseat this point I was probably in
my early 40s.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Well, the other thing you've done so well, too, is
keep your kids prevalent ineverything you were doing too.
You're making decisions careerdecisions around them too.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
Right, because now you're talking about Because I
was a mom first, right yeah?
Speaker 2 (14:37):
And now you're talking about going back to
school.
I can imagine that's like Iknow.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
And so I was like oh, I don't know if I want to do
this, it was.
So I started scraping the backsof loggerhead sea turtles,
because they travel around likelittle islands and so wherever
they migrate from, things arefalling and floating on their
backs and landing on their backs, and so they would come up on
the beaches to nest, and then Iwould collect everything on
their backs.
And I would put it in littletiny jars and I would send it up
to Yale and then I would goback up to Connecticut and then
I would spend hours in the lablooking at little, tiny,
(15:09):
microscopic things, trying toidentify them and counting them,
which was very tedious.
Did you publish or do anythingwith that information?
That information went to Tony'sstudy when he was doing
migrations, because what we werelooking for to see if there was
an indicator species on thebacks of the sea turtles where
other countries.
It's very pricey to have asatellite transmitter on the
(15:32):
back of a sea turtle.
So not only do you have to payfor that, but you have to pay
for the airtime, for the Argosairtime.
So we're trying to find a moreaffordable way for other
countries and other places thatdidn't have that kind of money.
And so we did find that thereare indicator species and there
are things on the backs of seaturtles that tell the story of
where they're coming and goingfrom, and there was a lot of
(15:54):
work being done on that rightnow.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
All right.
Well, your son is a teacher too, so as you're being a mom and
you're dragging my kids toturtle beaches, so what does he
do?
Is he in the same field?
Speaker 3 (16:06):
He is in the same field.
He is a marine biologist.
He also studied sea turtlesalongside of me for quite a few
years and he is presently goingto Mexico on Saturday to study
whale sharks.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
I'm a little jealous, I bet you are.
Yeah, well, he'll share hisinformation with you.
I hope so.
So obviously your son wasinspired by all the things you
were showing him and he wasseeing mom do, and he got
involved, and you involved a lotof kids along the way, which is
fabulous, but it had to startsomewhere.
So how did you get inspired?
Speaker 3 (16:36):
I just always really was fascinated by the ocean, and
as a kid, growing up and beingon the Jersey Shore all the time
, one of my favorite things todo is just walk the beach or
pick around in the tide pools.
I thought that was the coolestthing, and even as an adult, I
can spend hours out there doingit.
As I get older.
I do recall talking to myparents and asking them about
(16:59):
studying whales because I thinkthat that's a common animal that
people connect with whenthey're young and my dad said
you go to college and you canjust study whales and I thought,
wow, that's really cool, butyour parents weren't in this
field or anything.
No, my parents were in the fieldat all, but they both grew up
in New Jersey and we just spenta lot of time at the beach and
(17:20):
now you're helping otherfamilies really appreciate the
beach and see stuff that I don'tknow, that they would all stop
and recognize with your programs.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
I like that it's really interesting.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
So when they're out on the beach with me even, you
know, sometimes you look at thebeach and you think, oh, there's
nothing out there.
But once I get people out thereand they start looking around
and digging around and they'repaying more attention because
they're really looking.
They're like, wow, I didn'tknow this lived here.
Wow, I didn't know that thishad this on its body.
You know, they start todiscover new things and that's
(17:49):
really cool for me because, likefor me to go on the beach and
someone see like a horseshoecrab for the first time is like
better than going to Disney,frankly.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
And cheaper, so that's good.
And it's in our backyard, Ithink that's good.
So you mentioned earlier aboutgetting the visitors to come and
see and learn, but there's alot of our locals who really
need that information too.
Yeah, and.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
I find that there are a lot of locals that take my
programs, but one of the mostamazing experiences that I had
was two years ago in February.
I had a family from Ohiocontact me and they wanted to go
out on the marsh and I thought,okay, february, that's the
coldest month for us right, so Itook them out on the marsh.
(18:35):
The kids had never seen theocean.
Oh wow, it was so amazing.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
They even swam.
But see, don't you enjoy it somuch more when you have a new
person.
Yes, like you live through themand their excitement, and then
you're just brought back to yourearly days of when you were
discovering things too.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
It just keeps it all so fresh, and I think that's why
I've been a teacher for so longand I continue to you know work
with kids Because the amazementand the exploration and the
discovery and just the awe ofeverything when they find
something new yeah, it gets meso excited.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
That's awesome.
I love it Thinking about youreducation too.
So you went to school twodifferent times.
You did college, but you wentlater.
Someone mentions go get yourmaster's.
Did you do it?
Speaker 3 (19:19):
I did.
I went back to get my master's.
The school that I was attending, western Connecticut State at
the time, had done away withtheir oceanography master's.
So I thought, well, where am Igoing to go?
Because the college was reallyclose to me and they kind of
just created this environmentalscience focusing on sea turtle
ecology masters for me so that Icould, with a graduating class
(19:40):
of one Basically no.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
That's great.
Yeah, I just see a lot of greatopportunities that opened up a
lot of people who weresupporting you and helping you
find this crazy awesome path.
I love it.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
Yeah, I mean, marine science is something that you
really have to go after.
I think there's so manydifferent fields in marine
science to study and I wouldlove to go back to school at UNC
Wilmington.
Every time I go there to hear alecture I'm just like, oh, I
want to go back to collegebecause it's so great there.
But I think it's something thatthere are jobs and things out
there.
I just was in a position whereI was young and I was having a
(20:21):
family and I was trying to goingback to school, so I had to
create things as I went along.
It was kind of like being amagician.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Well, now your kids are grown, you can go do other
things.
Now I can do whatever I want.
That's great, all right, I wantto get back to you.
Said you got connected toTopsil because of meeting Jean
Beasley.
Yes, we just celebrated the25th anniversary of the Karen
Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue andRehabilitation Center last year
and that is always a mouthfulwhen I say it.
So what ties do you have withthat group?
(20:49):
Do you do anything?
Speaker 3 (20:49):
with the hospital.
I had a very short stintworking in the sea turtle
hospital and then I decided thatI would work on my big thing
was the night patrol.
So I was really attracted tothe night patrol, and what I
like about here is how it's usedfor education, because working
in places like Florida, I workedin Costa Rica, I worked in
(21:11):
Bermuda, I worked in Mexico theydon't sit by sea turtle nests.
They don't, they don't, and wemake such a big deal about it,
of sitting at the nests andwaiting, and every time I sit
there I think about how specialthat is, because in Florida,
with our 100,000 nests a year,you know the mamas come up, we
(21:32):
study them and do what we needto do and then they go back into
the ocean and the nests areleft and we make sure that
they're safe and they're alltucked in and we do all of the
things that you folks do herewith the stakes and putting up
the tape and protecting them.
But I never saw in the 15 yearsthat I did sea turtle research.
I never saw a hatchling until Icame to Topsil.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Beach.
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
Really, I never saw one.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
You think it's the quantity, though?
Florida has a hundred thousandnests and north carolina has a
thousand.
Was it just they just too muchto keep up with?
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
That's interesting but I also think that in north
carolina, because you're so farnorth that you're producing most
of the males, because it's theweather is cooler, yeah, explain
that I think it's well.
The sea turtle eggs aretemperature dependent, sex
determination and so, becausewe're so far north, some of the
(22:24):
sand does not get as warm as itdoes down in Florida.
So that gives these sea turtleeggs an advantage of incubating
at a cooler temperature, whichproduces male sea turtles.
So what I think is really coolis when you're sitting there and
you're protecting their nestand you have that experience of
watching them go into the ocean.
Many of those sea turtles maybe males.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Yeah, which we need?
If you've got 100,000 nestsdown in Florida and you feel
like they're predominantlyfemale, then it's important for
North Carolina to have it.
I mean that sand is very warm,it's hot.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
I mean that sand is very warm, it's hot, I mean
there are some places inside ofthe nest that are cooler than
others, so is there a chance?
That some males could bepopping out of there.
Sure, yeah, but I thinkpredominantly in North Carolina
we're probably producing moremales because the temperatures
and the conditions are differentand much cooler.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
I love that.
Our listeners can learn thatlittle tidbit.
So you're always sharinginformation.
Chris, you're just full ofinformation and I love that.
I love hearing all the history,how you got here, your wealth
of knowledge.
You truly know what you'redoing and I think that's super
because I can see you're pullingfrom so much information that
(23:33):
you've gathered over the yearswith your research, with your
classes.
But you've been here at Topsailfor a while and our beaches are
going to be a little differentthan Florida.
So, you're very familiar withwhat species we have living here
, what things you can introducepeople to and really make it
Topsail-focused.
Yes, yeah, that's awesome.
All right, let's talk aboutyour classes.
You created Funky Fins.
(23:54):
How long has it been around?
So this is my third summer, sowhat makes you different from
anybody else who might be tryingto do classes like this?
Speaker 3 (24:01):
Well, I started Funky Fins working just with kids,
and that changed over the yearsbecause parents started emailing
me saying, well, we want toplay in the marsh, well, we want
to fish print, we want to doscavenger hunts on the beach.
And I thought really so myprograms are primarily family
(24:21):
focused.
Great, so, anyone can come?
Speaker 2 (24:23):
But you could do a birthday party or something too.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
I do do birthday parties on occasion.
I do a lot of private programs.
So if you don't find a classthat works into your schedule
while you're on vacation, if youhave at least five people and
you're looking to do any ofthose five programs but you want
to do it on a different day andtime, all you have to do is
email me and I'm happy to comeout and do it with you.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
You don't have a building or anything, you're out
.
I do not.
My office is the beach, youroffice is the beach.
I love it.
So you found that everybodywants to learn.
You will set up some stuff forkids, but you've involved a lot
of parents and grandparents.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
Yeah, I try to have something for everybody.
As a matter of fact, my newestclass is treasure hunters, and
that was developed becausepeople were asking me last year,
where do we find these sharktooth sifters?
And I couldn't believe thatthey were hard to find in a
beach community.
So over the winter, I thought,wow, people are really looking
for that stuff, so can I do aclass with that?
So I created a STEM program.
(25:22):
It's 90 minutes long and youbuild your own shark sifter to
take home with you and then wego shark tooth hunting.
That's fabulous.
The funniest thing is the lastclass that I taught.
I had 15 people come and I hada waiting list, because I like
to keep my classes small,because I really like to have
personalized classes so thatthis way, I can answer the
(25:45):
questions that you're interestedin, and I just like working
with smaller groups.
And when I showed up, I had myinflatable shark with me and all
of my gadgets, and there were11 grownups and four kids.
Yeah, it was awesome.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
It was really awesome .
You're kind of dialed into akid's world and you show up with
all the adults.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
Yeah, now in my head I'm going, okay, how do I change
this around?
But we had a lot of fun, I bet.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
So we do have some other learning opportunities
here in Topsail.
We have different camps.
We certainly have surf schools,all kinds of things, and we
have ecological marineadventures and they have a camp
and do some of the probably somesimilar things.
But yours is different, I feellike, because you don't have a
building.
So, you're going to tell peoplewhere to meet you Right
(26:35):
Different locations on theisland, sometimes at Morris
Landing and Holly Ridge, andthen you involve all ages and
make it a true learningexperience for a family
adventure, even for, like I said, locals.
Sometimes we don't knoweverything we should know, but a
family on vacation could have areally cool morning or
afternoon out with you, huh.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
Yeah, it's really fun because I have the kids, the
parents and the grandparents andthat's always so much fun.
That's neat.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
I love that, and we did talk a lot about sea turtles
, but we're talking about a lotof other animals.
What other subjects do?
Speaker 3 (27:05):
you cover?
You do the shark tooth.
Do you also do birds andgrasses and things?
So I do do a little bit ofbirds and grasses when we're out
on the marsh, because at MorrisLanding there's so many
different ecosystems out there.
We have the tidal flats and wehave the maritime forest and we
have the sandy beach and we havethe salt marsh.
So there's so many differentthings to talk about.
So we talk a little bit aboutthe history of stump sound, we
talk a little bit about thegrasses, about the birds, about
(27:27):
all of those things.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Because they're all relying upon each other.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
Right and.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
I'm glad you emphasize that.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
And we fish.
We do a little bit of fishseining, which is really, really
fun.
I try to make everythingdifferent.
I actually have a family thathas taken every one of my
classes this summer so farexcept for fish printing.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
That's cute.
Is the fish printing more likean art class kind of?
Speaker 3 (27:44):
thing.
So the fish printing is part ofa bony fish class.
We talk a little bit about bonyfish and we talk about form and
function of their fins andtheir body parts.
So that's how the programbegins.
And then we talk about thedifference between bony fish and
cartilaginous fish.
And then I have some bony fishand some cartilaginous fish.
They're rubber.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
I was asking wait, are you bringing anything out of
the ocean?
Speaker 3 (28:08):
and painting live fish and throwing them back or
eating them for supper oranything like that.
They're rubber fish and thekids and the parents and the
grandparents, everybody'swelcome to bring a t-shirt.
They bring their own t-shirtsand we print fish.
I have tote bags that areavailable, because sometimes
people want to make beach bagsand sometimes we just practice
printing.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
Oh, and then they get a nice souvenir.
Yeah, I like that Well.
So how many classes?
Speaker 3 (28:32):
I have five different classes right now.
Fish printing, learning withloggerheads, marsh madness,
treasure hunters and explore theshore.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Okay, so you have those five classes.
Are you teaching all five ofthose each week, or how?
Speaker 3 (28:46):
do you work that out?
I teach three to four classes aweek and I have to set my
schedule up according to thetides, and I also focus on the
morning because it is hot onthat beach.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
That's good for the older people.
Speaker 3 (28:58):
Thank you Especially me, so my classes usually start
at 9 o'clock, and a couple ofthem run for an hour, and
there's a couple of them thatrun for 90 minutes.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
So when someone books a class, they know where to
find you.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
When they sign up for it.
They get everything.
They get all the directions,they get what they need to bring
.
They get all the directions,they get what they need to bring
.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
They get a little blurb of the class and what
they're going to be doing.
They get all of that.
Okay, good, I like that.
And we talked about it's allages.
And then you do keep theclasses small.
But you said, if I had a groupof five people, I can have my
own class.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
Yeah, you just have to contact me through email and
then we'll pick a day and a timeand let me know if any of those
topics that I've been teachingthis summer is something that
you're interested in.
And if it's not and you'reinterested in something else, or
you want to do some talk ondolphins and whales or learn
about jellyfish, then that'swhat we'll do.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
What's the youngest age of children?
You usually have come?
Speaker 3 (29:48):
I have young toddlers come, but I don't expect anyone
below the age of three to buy aticket.
So I had a little girl outthere today.
She was so cute and she boughther little bag and collected her
seashells, and so I'm justhappy for everybody to be there.
I think it's really important.
Number one family time.
I don't think that we haveenough family time off of the
(30:10):
technology for sure.
So getting the kids outsidedoing things with their hands
and exploring and discovering isway high on my list.
So I love working with thefamilies, especially the kids.
And then my other love is, ofcourse, the ocean.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
And I can imagine the memories last a long time for
some adventure like that for thekids.
They're going to reallyremember that.
I hope so.
How long is a class?
Speaker 3 (30:33):
So I have three classes that are 60 minutes,
that are an hour, and then Ihave two classes that are 90
minutes that are a little bitlonger, but I do have to warn
you if we're out on the beachand we're having like a super,
really fun time like I washaving this morning.
I don't rush off the beachafter an hour.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
So like if you're good to hang out and keep
exploring and discovering, thenI'm good for that too, and
that's good, because if theweather's cooperating and you're
finding stuff, I mean, whowants to cut short?
Speaker 3 (31:01):
the fun.
I don't want to.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
Yeah, so do people need to bring anything to class?
I mean, you provide me.
I've heard you bring your ownfish, I do bring my own fish.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
I always tell everybody.
I send an email the nightbefore when you sign up for the
class, just reminding you aboutwhere we're going to meet and
what time and all of that.
But I also always tell youtowel, because the kids always
wind up wet one way or another.
Sunscreen because that sun isblasting out there, and a
reusable water bottle.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
Yeah, so how do people figure out the cost and
how?
Speaker 3 (31:33):
to pay.
So they would go on to theticket website that I use and
the address for that istickettaylorcom.
Slash events, slash funkyfens.
If they don't go there.
I'm really, really active onsocial media.
Every time I find somethinginteresting or I love to take
(31:54):
pictures of things, I'm alwaysposting them.
We're on Facebook and alsoInstagram.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
What happens when the weather doesn't cooperate
Because everything's outside.
I mean, you don't do anythinginside.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
You're right, and I had a lady last night that had
contacted me and she saidthey're looking for
thunderstorms tomorrow.
Are you going to cancel theclass?
So I went to the radar and youcross your fingers that the
meteorologists are correct.
Right, I saw there was a 12%chance of rain this morning,
starting at 10, and I said I gota window from nine to 10, 12%.
You know, living at the beach.
(32:27):
It does change, yeah, and itblows over.
So I've only had to cancelthree classes in three years
because of weather.
I just think it's cloudy, it'ssunny, just get out there.
If there's thunder or lightningor it's pouring rain, then I'm
not going out there either.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
No, that's only scary .
Yeah, I want to make sureeverybody knows how to find you.
Speaker 3 (32:47):
So it's important if you Google funky fins, it does
come up.
If, for some reason, it doesn't, you want to Google Funky Fins,
eco Education for Curious Minds, right, because there is
another company out there in theworld called Funky Fins and
they make scuba gear.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
So if you Google Funky Fins, we're aiming to find
your Facebook page.
Is that correct?
Yes, okay.
Speaker 3 (33:12):
And the events are all posted for the summer right
now on Facebook, so all theevents are posted.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
So the tickets are directly linked from your
Facebook page.
Yes, so.
Speaker 3 (33:22):
I post many.
Like I said, I'm on socialmedia a lot posting, so whenever
I have new classes coming up, Ipost it so that you can find
what's coming up.
But I also post on Facebookevery single day what's coming
up.
But I also post on Facebookevery single day, like today I
did explore the shore.
So yesterday I posted differentpictures of different
experiences of people.
(33:43):
From your past classes yes, andthen I always have the link.
So whenever I make a post onFacebook or on Instagram, I
always put the ticket link inMost of the feed on my Facebook
page is the classes, but I alsostarted putting some information
about different critters thatwe've been finding too, because
people have been asking for that.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
Yeah, how far in advance do people need to think
about your classes and put thaton their calendar?
Speaker 3 (34:06):
That's hard to say because when I post my summer
classes in March, people startto buy tickets already and then
sometimes people will wait tolook at the weather.
But if you buy a ticket aheadof time and something happens
like weather happens, or therehas been a couple incidents
(34:29):
where I don't have five peoplesign up this has happened twice
in three years I don't haveenough people sign up so I
canceled the class.
You can either have a refund oryou can use that money and be
pushed into another program, sothat's totally up to you.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
So, when you book your tickets through
TicketTailor, are the classesall the same prices or are there
different prices associatedwith each class?
Speaker 3 (34:54):
So, as far as pricing is concerned, it's different
and it varies, but I try to makeit very affordable so that
families can come.
So with the treasure huntersthere's a lot of equipment for
building and things involved.
So that class is 90 minutes andthat's probably the priciest
class I have.
It's $35 for 90 minutes, butusually we're out there for
(35:17):
almost two hours because wecan't stop picking up shark
teeth.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
It's really fun, yeah , and you're supplying all of
the equipment for them to maketheir devices.
Speaker 3 (35:22):
That's great, and it's time-consuming to put those
kits together.
The fish printing class is $20,and you bring your own T-shirt
if you want to print.
And then I also have availabletote bags.
I sell tote bags for a very lowprice so that if people want to
make beach bags, they can dothat too.
Marsh Madness is $25 for 90minutes, but if you have a
(35:43):
family of four you get a 10%discount, so it's $90 for your
family to come out to do MarshMadness.
And then Learning withLoggerheads is an hour, so
that's a $20 class.
My last class is explore theshore and that's targeting three
through nine year olds, but theparents all come and play for
free, or the grandparents.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
Outside of what classes you have listed with
TicketTailor, what otheropportunities are there that
people might not know about?
Speaker 3 (36:08):
So I do offer paddle tours, eco tours, and I work
alongside of Onshore Surf Shopand collaborate with them.
And I work alongside of OnshoreSurf Shop and collaborate with
them, and you can email me toreserve your kayaks or your sups
, however you'd like to see thewater, and we go out for about
two hours and that runs around$65.
And we do all kinds ofexploration on the water.
(36:29):
Wow, what ages.
I think the youngest that I'veever taken out on the kayak was
probably in the vicinity of 10.
Wow, sometimes I also run pizzapaddles for the teens.
I mean, I was trying to think ofthings that I could get the
teenagers involved in when theywere coming to visit, because I
didn't want them to be at thebeach and be like, oh, such a
drag, there's nothing for us todo.
(36:50):
So I thought, well, they liketo paddle, so I do pizza paddles
.
So the kids come and I givethem a little lesson in the park
that's Soundside Park, we meet,they take a little lesson and
then we kayak out around themarsh and I drag a seine net
with me so that we can collectfish and other critters while
we're out there and then when wecome back we get pizza from
Max's Pizza.
(37:10):
I bet they love that.
It's so much fun actually.
Yeah, yeah, there's a lot oflittle kid stuff going on, but I
thought you know, and parentshad mentioned to me, there's
really not a lot of stuff forthe teens when we come here.
Do you know anything aboutteens?
And so there went my brain againtrying to think of, like, what
can I do for teenagers thatwould get them excited about
coming to visit here, and Ithought, well, we could do pizza
(37:30):
paddles.
Speaker 2 (37:31):
Yeah, I like that because there's some
independence in that.
Speaker 3 (37:34):
Yeah no-transcript them.
A little lesson in the parkbefore we go out.
(37:54):
It's very different when you'rekayaking or paddling on the
ocean waters than it is ifyou're on a lake or a river.
Speaker 2 (37:59):
So you've been doing this Funky Fins for three years.
I'm sure you've learned a lot.
You've tailored your classes alot to what's happening here at
Topsail.
You figured out that all ageswant to learn.
Speaker 1 (38:08):
And I love that.
Speaker 2 (38:10):
I love that.
Tell me some feedback.
You've heard from some of yourguests, some of your students.
Speaker 3 (38:14):
So a lot of people say that, oh my gosh, we learn
so much in an hour andeverybody's always saying I
didn't know that and I've livedhere forever.
So, that's really fun.
They also say that we reallyprovide educational activities
for kids and families that arereally fun to attend.
Speaker 2 (38:28):
And.
Speaker 3 (38:28):
I like that and, like I said, they keep coming back
like that family that's come tofour different classes.
They say that it's reallyawesome to have experienced
marine biologists that providethe information, because there's
a lot of kids that are veryinterested in marine sciences.
So I get a lot of the olderkids that will come and then we
talk about they're getting readyto go to college and that's
something that they're reallyinterested in.
(38:50):
And what kind of advice do Igive and what kind of
experiences did I have when Iwas going to college with the
dinosaurs, of course, but I justreally enjoy teaching the
classes.
I don't think I would ever doanything else besides what I do
out on that beach.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
Is this what retirement life is?
So this is what we're.
Speaker 3 (39:10):
So retirement life.
My husband and I retired fairlyearly and we're really enjoying
the not working part of it.
Speaker 1 (39:17):
Well, he's really enjoying the not working part of
the show, but I'm still working.
Speaker 3 (39:22):
Actually, I had him cutting all the little shark
screens.
Today, when I left, he wassitting on the driveway sweating
.
Yeah, he did road constructionin New York City for almost 35
years.
So he's like I'm going tocollect my pension and I'm not
doing nothing.
Speaker 2 (39:35):
Yeah, You're juggling learning, You're juggling jobs,
kids, and this is yourretirement life and you're
scheduling all these classes andyou're still creating
curriculum.
You're still you're fitting aneed and I think that's
wonderful.
Speaker 3 (39:49):
I think I'm always going to be a lifelong learner
and because I enjoy the oceanand I enjoy people so much that
it is totally impossible, nomatter where I am in my life, to
not do this.
Well, you're meeting greatpeople.
Speaker 2 (40:01):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and it's totally fun yeah.
Speaker 3 (40:03):
And people from all over come here to visit, so it's
really awesome.
Speaker 2 (40:13):
Well, I love all the education opportunities that
you're providing for locals andtourists and young and old and
all of that.
So, with all the people who arelistening right now, you've got
an audience.
So what would you like them toknow?
What do you want to share aboutour environment here at Topsail
?
Speaker 3 (40:30):
What I want them to know is that there is a wealth
of things in the ocean that wedon't know about, that needs to
be discovered about.
That needs to be discovered andin order to be able to come here
to visit and to just enjoy thebeauty of our island, it's super
important to sit back andreflect and just think about
(40:54):
what am I doing, what are mybehaviors while I'm visiting
this environment, and so howdoes the ocean affect my life?
Even if I live in Ohio, how doesthe ocean affect my life?
And I think it's reallyimportant for people to think
about those things, because thisis an ecosystem that we need to
(41:16):
sustain and all the little kidsthat are coming out here and
enjoying the classes andenjoying the beach.
We want them to be able toenjoy that with their families.
So how we act and our behaviorsdirectly affect the ocean.
We need to conserve it and weneed to work together to do that
(41:37):
.
We can't expect and sit backand wait for other people to do
it for us.
It's really important for us tobe accountable and to stand up
and do our part, even if it'sjust having your lunch in a
Ziploc bag and taking it backhome with you and not leaving it
on the beach.
Speaker 2 (41:53):
You're also involved in the community and you're
learning and giving in otherways, and I want to highlight
that.
What groups are you connectedwith that are also working to
protect and preserve our island?
Speaker 3 (42:05):
Well, I'm connected with the Chamber of Commerce, of
course, of Topsail, which is afantastic group to be a part of.
I'm also connected withEcoTopsail.
The Topsopsil is a nonprofitthat is working to do basically
(42:28):
what I'm looking to do.
I mean, these are my people outhere.
Speaker 2 (42:31):
okay, these are your people, these are my people.
Speaker 3 (42:33):
So we're all kind of working together to conserve the
environment and make itsustainable.
Speaker 2 (42:38):
And it starts with education.
It does, yeah, it really reallydoes.
You don't know.
Speaker 3 (42:42):
Yeah, and a lot of people are surprised by some of
the things I tell them too.
I try to get involved with asmany groups as I can, and even
if I can make a little dent inhelping them get their message
out and accomplish what they'relooking to do.
I also belong to the NorthCarolina Coastal Federation.
Speaker 1 (42:59):
I mean.
Speaker 3 (42:59):
I'm kind of like you really when you think about it
Well.
I wear a lot of hats.
Speaker 2 (43:04):
Yeah, I wear a lot of hats too, so tell me Topsail
Island Longboard Associationwhat's that group about?
Speaker 3 (43:09):
So Topsail Island Longboard Association is a
really great group.
It was really funny becausewhen I joined I don't surf much
anymore but I paddleboard, so Ithought, well, I kind of fit
into that.
So you don't have to be asurfer to be part of the group,
you just have to have a love forthe ocean.
They do a lot of fundraising totry to raise money for kids to
(43:32):
get their start in college, andI think that that's really cool.
They have a scholarship fundand we raise money to help kids
get started in college fund andwe raise money to help kids get
started in college.
Speaker 2 (43:46):
So the kind of love that you had for the ocean, you
can target those kids and helpthem pursue education.
Yeah, exactly, and then theocean friendly establishments.
Speaker 3 (43:53):
So the ocean friendly establishments is a group of
people in an organization wherewe try to talk to the business
owners in our area to kind ofmove away from plastics.
So we're looking to move awayfrom plastics and styrofoam and
think of alternative ideas.
And it can be a little rockysometimes because I understand
(44:13):
that that costs money to do, butI think that it's really
important if you can findanother way to carry your things
out of a store or take yourleftovers home.
Speaker 2 (44:26):
I've learned so much and I love all the opportunities
.
You've really adaptedeverything to the people we have
here, to the environment.
You've just meshed it so well.
So I want to make sure everyoneknows how to find you and plan
their own adventure.
So we have the Facebook pageFunky Fins Eco Education for
Curious Minds Right, that's thespecific name for that.
(44:46):
Yes, but you have an emailaddress.
Speaker 3 (44:48):
I do, it's funkyfinsonti at gmailcom.
So TI for Topswell Island.
Speaker 2 (44:53):
Right, Right.
Is that the best way foreverybody to find you?
Either Facebook or email.
Yeah, I'm also on.
Speaker 3 (44:57):
Instagram oh you can find me on Instagram the same
way that you find me on Facebook.
Okay, but you can also.
You can text me or call me at203-512-4936.
Wonderful.
Speaker 2 (45:08):
So thank you everyone .
Listeners, thank you forjoining us today and thank you
again, Chris, for being here onTopsel Insider and telling us
all about Funky Fins.
Thanks for having me, it wassuper fun.
Speaker 1 (45:23):
Hey, if you enjoyed today's episode of Top Soul
Insider, please show yoursupport by clicking the follow
or subscribe button on yourfavorite podcast listening
platform.
You can also follow us onFacebook, Instagram, Twitter and
YouTube.
Please also go totopsoulinsidercom and join our
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While you're there, you canclick the send Me a Voicemail
button and let me know exactlywhat you're thinking.
(45:44):
Your message just might be onan episode of Topsail Insider.
You can email me at Krista atTopsailInsidercom, or call or
text me at 910-800-0111.
Thank you for listening andsupporting Topsail Insider and
our local businesses andnonprofits.
These are our neighbors and ourfriends, and together we build
(46:06):
a mighty and a beautifulcommunity I'm super proud to be
a part of.
I'll see you around Topsail.
Welcome to Topsail Insider where you can hear all
about the businesses and eventsin the beautiful coastal towns
in the greater Topsail area ofNorth Carolina.
Coming up today, we have Trudyhosting Ms Chris Leonard, marine
biologist and owner of andeducator at Funky Fans Eco
(00:21):
Education for Curious Minds.
She offers outdoor classes onthe beach and in the marsh,
teaching kids, tweens, teens andadults all about the sea life
you find right here in thegreater Topsail area.
Whether you're a local or avisitor, you're going to want to
hear about the fun andinformative classes she offers
Today on Topsail Insider.
(00:42):
She offers today on TopsailInsider Experience a new level
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With no nightly minimum, you canenjoy short getaways or an
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Each suite features luxurybedding, full kitchens with
(01:05):
dining tables and dishwashers,and all suites other than the
three ADA suites have full-sizewashers and dryers.
And don't forget about thosebeautiful ocean views.
24-7 self-check-in provides ahassle-free and seamless
experience.
Saltwater Suites is the perfectchoice for your next beach
getaway.
Book your next Topsail visit atsaltwatertopsailcom or call
(01:28):
910-886-4818.
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Come on out to Surf City Linefor the best made-from-scratch
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Treat yourself to theirdelicious bowls with shrimp
(01:51):
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They offer a full bar servinghandcrafted cocktails,
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The line boasts the biggestdeck on the island with three
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(02:13):
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.
Visit Surf City Line NCcom fortheir full menus.
The best service and beachvibes on the island await you at
2112 North New River Drive.
Whether you're a local orvisiting from out of town,
celebrating a special occasionor just soaking up the sun with
(02:35):
family and friends, it's alwaysa great time at Surf City Line.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Welcome to Topsail Insider.
My name is Trudy and I am yourhost.
Let's get to our guest today.
Today, we are talking withChris Leonard, and she is the
creator of Funky Fins.
Welcome, chris.
Thank you so much for joiningus.
Thanks for having me.
Yeah, we have been having a lotof fun exploring so many cool
things to do in the summer hereon Topsail Island, and I've
recently found out about thisadventurous and educational
(03:06):
activities provided by FunkyFins.
So, chris, I want you to telleveryone what kinds of
adventures you're providing forour community.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
I'm providing adventures for the family when
they come to Topsail Island, sowhat I'm interested in doing is
sharing all the differentcoastal environments with them,
helping them to become moreenvironmentally aware and
conservation conscious, and Iwork with ages from two to 102,
(03:35):
all kinds Anybody who wants tocome out and learn something
about the island.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
You've opened my eyes to a lot of different
opportunities, not just beingout on the beach, but the
marshes and everything too.
So you've got several locationsright.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Yes, Right now this summer I'm rotating through five
different programs.
I'm teaching a treasure hunters, which is shark tooth
collecting and other treasureson North Topsail Beach.
I'm teaching explore the shore,which is for three to nine year
olds and the parents can comeand play for free.
That's on Topsail Beach.
I also do a fish printingprogram.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
So I love that you're using all different parts of
the island too.
You don't just have one spotyou're going to and you're
really maximizing on thedifferent pieces of the island,
and the different lay of thebeaches are different, you know.
Yes.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
So I'm also teaching a learning with loggerheads
program and that is on TopsailBeach, and then I teach off the
island as well, because I wantpeople to see more than just
Topsail Island, because it's allabout the ocean environment and
not specifically just the coastthere.
So we're also going over toStump Sound and Morris Landing
and we do a family marsh madnessprogram there.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
So these are all programs that you dreamed up.
I mean based on your knowledgeor based on what families and
people are wanting to know.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
As a marine biologist I have a lot of knowledge about
the ocean, but I've also spentmany years teaching school.
So I've taught in school forover 20 years and I wrote a lot
of curriculum, so that kind ofthing comes real easy to me.
All right, we're going to getto that because I want to hear
your background.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
But what was your goal in creating this business?
Speaker 3 (05:13):
So in creating this business, my goal was to make a
connection between people thatare coming to visit the ocean
and the ocean with the peopleand the ocean with the people.
So I think it's reallyimportant that people understand
that what they do directlyaffects the ocean and that the
health of our ocean directlyaffects us.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
I do want to talk about you personally and where
you've come from, because I havea lot of respect for the
background you have.
You're not from North Carolina.
I'm not from North Carolina.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Let's talk.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
You can't tell by my accent I know, I know, so share
with us where you're from andhow you came here.
How'd you come here?
Yeah, how you got here.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
Well, I grew up on the Jersey Shore, so I've always
had a love for the ocean.
I spent a little bit of timeliving in Chicago, not near the
ocean, and then gotre-transplanted back to the
Connecticut coast, so the reasonwhy I'm here is because it's
warm, quite honestly, yes we'veheard, our weather is better
than Connecticut.
There's no snow here, but whatbrought me to North Carolina, to
(06:14):
this specific area, was I had afriend which many people know,
jean Beasley, who was thedirector of the Sea Turtle
Hospital for many, many years,and we had met at an
international symposium because,aside from being a teacher and
a marine biologist, my specialtyhappens to be sea turtle
(06:35):
migrations.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
I was going to ask you how did you meet the great
Jean Beasley?
That's wonderful, yeah, so youmet her.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
How many years ago it was probably 15, 20 years ago,
when I met Jean.
Wow, okay, yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
But you ended up being a teacher because I know
you also.
You do have funky fins as yourbusiness, and that was what
we're talking about today, butyou're an excellent tutor and
you help a lot of students, soyou have a teaching background.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
I do have a teaching background.
I worked mostly in independentschool systems so, like Cape
Fear Academy is one that's closeto us, I worked in the
independent school system foralmost 20 years teaching math
and science.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
You have a love of the ocean.
You ended up being a teacher,but there's lots of other parts
too.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
There are a lot of other parts.
So I went to school for marinescience and then, when I
graduated, I worked as abiologist at the Maritime
Aquarium in South Norwalk,Connecticut, and I was one of
the original biologists there.
And during my time as abiologist I happened to get
pregnant.
One of my jobs was to feed theseals, which you would climb
(07:44):
like Spider-Man across thewindowsill to get out to the
rookery where the seals wereWell at six months pregnant.
My belly didn't fit, so I fellinto the pool in front of about
300 people and they quicklypulled me out.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
How did the seals feel about this.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
That's what everybody says to me.
How were the seals?
Were they friendly?
Did you pet them?
I was just worried aboutgetting out of the pool, and
that followed me for many, many,many years.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
When I would come into the aquarium, people would
say are you the lady that fellin the pool?
Yes, they remember that.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
Well, when I left there, I was pretty young, I was
24.
Well, when I left there, I waspretty young, I was 24.
And so I had just got out ofcollege.
This was my first job and Ireally wanted to make a mark in
marine science and I felt like,oh no, now I'm going to be home
and I mean, it's the greatestjob in the world being a mom
right, let's just say that.
(08:41):
But I was just starting mycareer and I didn't want to just
be labeled as not having theexperience and being a
stay-at-home mom.
So I created a business thereand it was called Traveling Sea
Squirts and I traveled allaround Connecticut and many
counties in New York and I hadlittle igloo coolers with
animals that I got from myfriends that were oystermen.
(09:02):
I would call the boats and theywould keep their bycatch and
save it for me and then I wouldgo down and pick what I wanted
and I would travel around to theschools and I would teach
marine science, and I did thatwhile my kids were little for
about 10 years.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
That's a long time it was.
And then I got tired of drivingand that was a lot of distance.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Right, it was a lot of distance.
It was a lot of distance, it wasa lot of distance.
And then, after about 10 yearsof doing it, I decided that I
really wanted to stay put andnot be driving so much.
So a friend of mine said youknow, you can teach in a private
school without a teachingcertification.
So I went in and I covered asabbatical at a school in Lower
(09:45):
Fairfield County in Connecticutand when my year was done they
said we really want you to stay,so we've created this job for
you.
And I thought, well, that'spretty cool.
So I built this lower schoolscience curriculum there and
then quickly graduated and theywere moving me to do some middle
school classes.
(10:06):
Well, a school in UpperFairfield County found out about
my sea turtle program becausethe school had a large budget
for professional development.
And they said to me we want tosend you somewhere to study
marine life.
If you could pick anything thatyou want to do, what would you
want to study?
And I said, well, I don'treally know a lot about sea
turtles to study marine life.
If you could pick anything thatyou want to do, what would you
(10:27):
want to study?
And I said well, I don't reallyknow a lot about sea turtles.
So they said okay, we'll findsomeone, a PhD or somebody to
work with and we'll send you tostudy with them.
Wow, so I did an Earthwatchprogram and I met Dr Tony Tucker
and he was amazing and we had agreat time.
I was down there for 10 days inFlorida studying sea turtles
and when I came home we kind ofhit it off.
(10:48):
So he called me up and he saidhey, do you think you could
scoop up some money at yourschool and maybe you could come
down and we'll try to put somesatellite tags on sea turtles,
because he was very interestedin doing research on migration
patterns in the Gulf of Mexico.
So I was very blessed and verylucky for a very long time.
(11:09):
But it started out at New CanaanCountry School, the first
school that I worked at, andthey funded a sea turtle for me,
a satellite.
Actually they funded five thefirst year and it was really
cool because the kids got toname them and then I went down
there and put the transmitterson them and then I thought about
well, how can I get the kids tolearn about them in the
classroom?
So I published a curriculum forteachers and it's still online.
(11:35):
It's on cturtleorg and it'sabout how do you use scientific
data live scientific data inyour classroom and it teaches
you all about.
You can go on cturtleorg, youcan take all of the longitude
and latitude points and then youcan bring them into the
classroom and the kids can mapthem and it teaches them so many
(11:56):
different kinds of skills.
But it's all live science.
So I did that for 15 years.
But I had another school thatwas up county where I lived, and
they kind of stole me away fromthe other school.
They said we want you to comeup.
We're building a sciencecurriculum.
We hear what you did down thereis fantastic, and we want you
(12:17):
to come up and consult becausewe want to start a science
program in our elementary school.
We don't have one.
And I said, sure, a scienceprogram in our elementary school
, we don't have one.
And I said, sure.
So I went up and I met with theheadmaster there and we sat and
went over what they were lookingfor their program to look like
and so I developed the programfor them and I tried to get them
(12:37):
started in contacts with theMoat Marine Lab, which is who I
worked with as a visitingscientist for 15 years Marine
Lab, which is who I worked withas a visiting scientist for 15
years and I thought about it andI said, well, why would I not
work here, which is closer to mykids, instead of doing all that
driving?
So I wound up switching schoolsand I worked at Worcester School
(12:59):
in Danbury, connecticut, for 15years and I was just really
lucky and blessed that they wereexcited about what I was doing
and I had a field studiesprogram where I could take high
school kids with me during thetime that I was putting the
transmitters on and they couldactually do the turtle work with
me and we would go aroundMemorial Day weekend.
(13:20):
We'd stay for about a week andthey would do all of the work
and then we would come home andthen we'd use my curriculum in
the lower school and the middleschool classrooms to track the
turtles.
How exciting for them it wasreally fun.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Yeah, so seriously, you went from working in an
aquarium to taking your coolers,dragging your coolers around,
and then you went to privateschools or independent schools,
and then you ended up inresearch and you've published
(13:53):
curriculum and then you ended upfiguring out how to combine the
school system and the research.
I mean, that's the way I see it, am I?
Speaker 3 (14:01):
missing something.
No, I mean it was funny becausewhen I was working down there
in Florida, we were on the beachone night and we were just
waiting for turtles to come up,which you know in Florida they
come up a lot more than they doin North Carolina.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
True, very true.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
But Tony said to me why don't you go back to school
and get your master's oh?
And I thought, oh gosh, becauseat this point I was probably in
my early 40s.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Well, the other thing you've done so well, too, is
keep your kids prevalent ineverything you were doing too.
You're making decisions careerdecisions around them too.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
Right, because now you're talking about Because I
was a mom first, right yeah?
Speaker 2 (14:37):
And now you're talking about going back to
school.
I can imagine that's like Iknow.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
And so I was like oh, I don't know if I want to do
this, it was.
So I started scraping the backsof loggerhead sea turtles,
because they travel around likelittle islands and so wherever
they migrate from, things arefalling and floating on their
backs and landing on their backs, and so they would come up on
the beaches to nest, and then Iwould collect everything on
their backs.
And I would put it in littletiny jars and I would send it up
to Yale and then I would goback up to Connecticut and then
I would spend hours in the lablooking at little, tiny,
(15:09):
microscopic things, trying toidentify them and counting them,
which was very tedious.
Did you publish or do anythingwith that information?
That information went to Tony'sstudy when he was doing
migrations, because what we werelooking for to see if there was
an indicator species on thebacks of the sea turtles where
other countries.
It's very pricey to have asatellite transmitter on the
(15:32):
back of a sea turtle.
So not only do you have to payfor that, but you have to pay
for the airtime, for the Argosairtime.
So we're trying to find a moreaffordable way for other
countries and other places thatdidn't have that kind of money.
And so we did find that thereare indicator species and there
are things on the backs of seaturtles that tell the story of
where they're coming and goingfrom, and there was a lot of
(15:54):
work being done on that rightnow.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
All right.
Well, your son is a teacher too, so as you're being a mom and
you're dragging my kids toturtle beaches, so what does he
do?
Is he in the same field?
Speaker 3 (16:06):
He is in the same field.
He is a marine biologist.
He also studied sea turtlesalongside of me for quite a few
years and he is presently goingto Mexico on Saturday to study
whale sharks.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
I'm a little jealous, I bet you are.
Yeah, well, he'll share hisinformation with you.
I hope so.
So obviously your son wasinspired by all the things you
were showing him and he wasseeing mom do, and he got
involved, and you involved a lotof kids along the way, which is
fabulous, but it had to startsomewhere.
So how did you get inspired?
Speaker 3 (16:36):
I just always really was fascinated by the ocean, and
as a kid, growing up and beingon the Jersey Shore all the time
, one of my favorite things todo is just walk the beach or
pick around in the tide pools.
I thought that was the coolestthing, and even as an adult, I
can spend hours out there doingit.
As I get older.
I do recall talking to myparents and asking them about
(16:59):
studying whales because I thinkthat that's a common animal that
people connect with whenthey're young and my dad said
you go to college and you canjust study whales and I thought,
wow, that's really cool, butyour parents weren't in this
field or anything.
No, my parents were in the fieldat all, but they both grew up
in New Jersey and we just spenta lot of time at the beach and
(17:20):
now you're helping otherfamilies really appreciate the
beach and see stuff that I don'tknow, that they would all stop
and recognize with your programs.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
I like that it's really interesting.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
So when they're out on the beach with me even, you
know, sometimes you look at thebeach and you think, oh, there's
nothing out there.
But once I get people out thereand they start looking around
and digging around and they'repaying more attention because
they're really looking.
They're like, wow, I didn'tknow this lived here.
Wow, I didn't know that thishad this on its body.
You know, they start todiscover new things and that's
(17:49):
really cool for me because, likefor me to go on the beach and
someone see like a horseshoecrab for the first time is like
better than going to Disney,frankly.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
And cheaper, so that's good.
And it's in our backyard, Ithink that's good.
So you mentioned earlier aboutgetting the visitors to come and
see and learn, but there's alot of our locals who really
need that information too.
Yeah, and.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
I find that there are a lot of locals that take my
programs, but one of the mostamazing experiences that I had
was two years ago in February.
I had a family from Ohiocontact me and they wanted to go
out on the marsh and I thought,okay, february, that's the
coldest month for us right, so Itook them out on the marsh.
(18:35):
The kids had never seen theocean.
Oh wow, it was so amazing.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
They even swam.
But see, don't you enjoy it somuch more when you have a new
person.
Yes, like you live through themand their excitement, and then
you're just brought back to yourearly days of when you were
discovering things too.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
It just keeps it all so fresh, and I think that's why
I've been a teacher for so longand I continue to you know work
with kids Because the amazementand the exploration and the
discovery and just the awe ofeverything when they find
something new yeah, it gets meso excited.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
That's awesome.
I love it Thinking about youreducation too.
So you went to school twodifferent times.
You did college, but you wentlater.
Someone mentions go get yourmaster's.
Did you do it?
Speaker 3 (19:19):
I did.
I went back to get my master's.
The school that I was attending, western Connecticut State at
the time, had done away withtheir oceanography master's.
So I thought, well, where am Igoing to go?
Because the college was reallyclose to me and they kind of
just created this environmentalscience focusing on sea turtle
ecology masters for me so that Icould, with a graduating class
(19:40):
of one Basically no.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
That's great.
Yeah, I just see a lot of greatopportunities that opened up a
lot of people who weresupporting you and helping you
find this crazy awesome path.
I love it.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
Yeah, I mean, marine science is something that you
really have to go after.
I think there's so manydifferent fields in marine
science to study and I wouldlove to go back to school at UNC
Wilmington.
Every time I go there to hear alecture I'm just like, oh, I
want to go back to collegebecause it's so great there.
But I think it's something thatthere are jobs and things out
there.
I just was in a position whereI was young and I was having a
(20:21):
family and I was trying to goingback to school, so I had to
create things as I went along.
It was kind of like being amagician.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Well, now your kids are grown, you can go do other
things.
Now I can do whatever I want.
That's great, all right, I wantto get back to you.
Said you got connected toTopsil because of meeting Jean
Beasley.
Yes, we just celebrated the25th anniversary of the Karen
Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue andRehabilitation Center last year
and that is always a mouthfulwhen I say it.
So what ties do you have withthat group?
(20:49):
Do you do anything?
Speaker 3 (20:49):
with the hospital.
I had a very short stintworking in the sea turtle
hospital and then I decided thatI would work on my big thing
was the night patrol.
So I was really attracted tothe night patrol, and what I
like about here is how it's usedfor education, because working
in places like Florida, I workedin Costa Rica, I worked in
(21:11):
Bermuda, I worked in Mexico theydon't sit by sea turtle nests.
They don't, they don't, and wemake such a big deal about it,
of sitting at the nests andwaiting, and every time I sit
there I think about how specialthat is, because in Florida,
with our 100,000 nests a year,you know the mamas come up, we
(21:32):
study them and do what we needto do and then they go back into
the ocean and the nests areleft and we make sure that
they're safe and they're alltucked in and we do all of the
things that you folks do herewith the stakes and putting up
the tape and protecting them.
But I never saw in the 15 yearsthat I did sea turtle research.
I never saw a hatchling until Icame to Topsil.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Beach.
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
Really, I never saw one.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
You think it's the quantity, though?
Florida has a hundred thousandnests and north carolina has a
thousand.
Was it just they just too muchto keep up with?
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
That's interesting but I also think that in north
carolina, because you're so farnorth that you're producing most
of the males, because it's theweather is cooler, yeah, explain
that I think it's well.
The sea turtle eggs aretemperature dependent, sex
determination and so, becausewe're so far north, some of the
(22:24):
sand does not get as warm as itdoes down in Florida.
So that gives these sea turtleeggs an advantage of incubating
at a cooler temperature, whichproduces male sea turtles.
So what I think is really coolis when you're sitting there and
you're protecting their nestand you have that experience of
watching them go into the ocean.
Many of those sea turtles maybe males.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Yeah, which we need?
If you've got 100,000 nestsdown in Florida and you feel
like they're predominantlyfemale, then it's important for
North Carolina to have it.
I mean that sand is very warm,it's hot.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
I mean that sand is very warm, it's hot, I mean
there are some places inside ofthe nest that are cooler than
others, so is there a chance?
That some males could bepopping out of there.
Sure, yeah, but I thinkpredominantly in North Carolina
we're probably producing moremales because the temperatures
and the conditions are differentand much cooler.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
I love that.
Our listeners can learn thatlittle tidbit.
So you're always sharinginformation.
Chris, you're just full ofinformation and I love that.
I love hearing all the history,how you got here, your wealth
of knowledge.
You truly know what you'redoing and I think that's super
because I can see you're pullingfrom so much information that
(23:33):
you've gathered over the yearswith your research, with your
classes.
But you've been here at Topsailfor a while and our beaches are
going to be a little differentthan Florida.
So, you're very familiar withwhat species we have living here
, what things you can introducepeople to and really make it
Topsail-focused.
Yes, yeah, that's awesome.
All right, let's talk aboutyour classes.
You created Funky Fins.
(23:54):
How long has it been around?
So this is my third summer, sowhat makes you different from
anybody else who might be tryingto do classes like this?
Speaker 3 (24:01):
Well, I started Funky Fins working just with kids,
and that changed over the yearsbecause parents started emailing
me saying, well, we want toplay in the marsh, well, we want
to fish print, we want to doscavenger hunts on the beach.
And I thought really so myprograms are primarily family
(24:21):
focused.
Great, so, anyone can come?
Speaker 2 (24:23):
But you could do a birthday party or something too.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
I do do birthday parties on occasion.
I do a lot of private programs.
So if you don't find a classthat works into your schedule
while you're on vacation, if youhave at least five people and
you're looking to do any ofthose five programs but you want
to do it on a different day andtime, all you have to do is
email me and I'm happy to comeout and do it with you.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
You don't have a building or anything, you're out
.
I do not.
My office is the beach, youroffice is the beach.
I love it.
So you found that everybodywants to learn.
You will set up some stuff forkids, but you've involved a lot
of parents and grandparents.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
Yeah, I try to have something for everybody.
As a matter of fact, my newestclass is treasure hunters, and
that was developed becausepeople were asking me last year,
where do we find these sharktooth sifters?
And I couldn't believe thatthey were hard to find in a
beach community.
So over the winter, I thought,wow, people are really looking
for that stuff, so can I do aclass with that?
So I created a STEM program.
(25:22):
It's 90 minutes long and youbuild your own shark sifter to
take home with you and then wego shark tooth hunting.
That's fabulous.
The funniest thing is the lastclass that I taught.
I had 15 people come and I hada waiting list, because I like
to keep my classes small,because I really like to have
personalized classes so thatthis way, I can answer the
(25:45):
questions that you're interestedin, and I just like working
with smaller groups.
And when I showed up, I had myinflatable shark with me and all
of my gadgets, and there were11 grownups and four kids.
Yeah, it was awesome.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
It was really awesome .
You're kind of dialed into akid's world and you show up with
all the adults.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
Yeah, now in my head I'm going, okay, how do I change
this around?
But we had a lot of fun, I bet.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
So we do have some other learning opportunities
here in Topsail.
We have different camps.
We certainly have surf schools,all kinds of things, and we
have ecological marineadventures and they have a camp
and do some of the probably somesimilar things.
But yours is different, I feellike, because you don't have a
building.
So, you're going to tell peoplewhere to meet you Right
(26:35):
Different locations on theisland, sometimes at Morris
Landing and Holly Ridge, andthen you involve all ages and
make it a true learningexperience for a family
adventure, even for, like I said, locals.
Sometimes we don't knoweverything we should know, but a
family on vacation could have areally cool morning or
afternoon out with you, huh.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
Yeah, it's really fun because I have the kids, the
parents and the grandparents andthat's always so much fun.
That's neat.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
I love that, and we did talk a lot about sea turtles
, but we're talking about a lotof other animals.
What other subjects do?
Speaker 3 (27:05):
you cover?
You do the shark tooth.
Do you also do birds andgrasses and things?
So I do do a little bit ofbirds and grasses when we're out
on the marsh, because at MorrisLanding there's so many
different ecosystems out there.
We have the tidal flats and wehave the maritime forest and we
have the sandy beach and we havethe salt marsh.
So there's so many differentthings to talk about.
So we talk a little bit aboutthe history of stump sound, we
talk a little bit about thegrasses, about the birds, about
(27:27):
all of those things.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Because they're all relying upon each other.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
Right and.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
I'm glad you emphasize that.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
And we fish.
We do a little bit of fishseining, which is really, really
fun.
I try to make everythingdifferent.
I actually have a family thathas taken every one of my
classes this summer so farexcept for fish printing.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
That's cute.
Is the fish printing more likean art class kind of?
Speaker 3 (27:44):
thing.
So the fish printing is part ofa bony fish class.
We talk a little bit about bonyfish and we talk about form and
function of their fins andtheir body parts.
So that's how the programbegins.
And then we talk about thedifference between bony fish and
cartilaginous fish.
And then I have some bony fishand some cartilaginous fish.
They're rubber.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
I was asking wait, are you bringing anything out of
the ocean?
Speaker 3 (28:08):
and painting live fish and throwing them back or
eating them for supper oranything like that.
They're rubber fish and thekids and the parents and the
grandparents, everybody'swelcome to bring a t-shirt.
They bring their own t-shirtsand we print fish.
I have tote bags that areavailable, because sometimes
people want to make beach bagsand sometimes we just practice
printing.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
Oh, and then they get a nice souvenir.
Yeah, I like that Well.
So how many classes?
Speaker 3 (28:32):
I have five different classes right now.
Fish printing, learning withloggerheads, marsh madness,
treasure hunters and explore theshore.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Okay, so you have those five classes.
Are you teaching all five ofthose each week, or how?
Speaker 3 (28:46):
do you work that out?
I teach three to four classes aweek and I have to set my
schedule up according to thetides, and I also focus on the
morning because it is hot onthat beach.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
That's good for the older people.
Speaker 3 (28:58):
Thank you Especially me, so my classes usually start
at 9 o'clock, and a couple ofthem run for an hour, and
there's a couple of them thatrun for 90 minutes.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
So when someone books a class, they know where to
find you.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
When they sign up for it.
They get everything.
They get all the directions,they get what they need to bring
.
They get all the directions,they get what they need to bring
.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
They get a little blurb of the class and what
they're going to be doing.
They get all of that.
Okay, good, I like that.
And we talked about it's allages.
And then you do keep theclasses small.
But you said, if I had a groupof five people, I can have my
own class.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
Yeah, you just have to contact me through email and
then we'll pick a day and a timeand let me know if any of those
topics that I've been teachingthis summer is something that
you're interested in.
And if it's not and you'reinterested in something else, or
you want to do some talk ondolphins and whales or learn
about jellyfish, then that'swhat we'll do.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
What's the youngest age of children?
You usually have come?
Speaker 3 (29:48):
I have young toddlers come, but I don't expect anyone
below the age of three to buy aticket.
So I had a little girl outthere today.
She was so cute and she boughther little bag and collected her
seashells, and so I'm justhappy for everybody to be there.
I think it's really important.
Number one family time.
I don't think that we haveenough family time off of the
(30:10):
technology for sure.
So getting the kids outsidedoing things with their hands
and exploring and discovering isway high on my list.
So I love working with thefamilies, especially the kids.
And then my other love is, ofcourse, the ocean.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
And I can imagine the memories last a long time for
some adventure like that for thekids.
They're going to reallyremember that.
I hope so.
How long is a class?
Speaker 3 (30:33):
So I have three classes that are 60 minutes,
that are an hour, and then Ihave two classes that are 90
minutes that are a little bitlonger, but I do have to warn
you if we're out on the beachand we're having like a super,
really fun time like I washaving this morning.
I don't rush off the beachafter an hour.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
So like if you're good to hang out and keep
exploring and discovering, thenI'm good for that too, and
that's good, because if theweather's cooperating and you're
finding stuff, I mean, whowants to cut short?
Speaker 3 (31:01):
the fun.
I don't want to.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
Yeah, so do people need to bring anything to class?
I mean, you provide me.
I've heard you bring your ownfish, I do bring my own fish.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
I always tell everybody.
I send an email the nightbefore when you sign up for the
class, just reminding you aboutwhere we're going to meet and
what time and all of that.
But I also always tell youtowel, because the kids always
wind up wet one way or another.
Sunscreen because that sun isblasting out there, and a
reusable water bottle.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
Yeah, so how do people figure out the cost and
how?
Speaker 3 (31:33):
to pay.
So they would go on to theticket website that I use and
the address for that istickettaylorcom.
Slash events, slash funkyfens.
If they don't go there.
I'm really, really active onsocial media.
Every time I find somethinginteresting or I love to take
(31:54):
pictures of things, I'm alwaysposting them.
We're on Facebook and alsoInstagram.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
What happens when the weather doesn't cooperate
Because everything's outside.
I mean, you don't do anythinginside.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
You're right, and I had a lady last night that had
contacted me and she saidthey're looking for
thunderstorms tomorrow.
Are you going to cancel theclass?
So I went to the radar and youcross your fingers that the
meteorologists are correct.
Right, I saw there was a 12%chance of rain this morning,
starting at 10, and I said I gota window from nine to 10, 12%.
You know, living at the beach.
(32:27):
It does change, yeah, and itblows over.
So I've only had to cancelthree classes in three years
because of weather.
I just think it's cloudy, it'ssunny, just get out there.
If there's thunder or lightningor it's pouring rain, then I'm
not going out there either.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
No, that's only scary .
Yeah, I want to make sureeverybody knows how to find you.
Speaker 3 (32:47):
So it's important if you Google funky fins, it does
come up.
If, for some reason, it doesn't, you want to Google Funky Fins,
eco Education for Curious Minds, right, because there is
another company out there in theworld called Funky Fins and
they make scuba gear.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
So if you Google Funky Fins, we're aiming to find
your Facebook page.
Is that correct?
Yes, okay.
Speaker 3 (33:12):
And the events are all posted for the summer right
now on Facebook, so all theevents are posted.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
So the tickets are directly linked from your
Facebook page.
Yes, so.
Speaker 3 (33:22):
I post many.
Like I said, I'm on socialmedia a lot posting, so whenever
I have new classes coming up, Ipost it so that you can find
what's coming up.
But I also post on Facebookevery single day what's coming
up.
But I also post on Facebookevery single day, like today I
did explore the shore.
So yesterday I posted differentpictures of different
experiences of people.
(33:43):
From your past classes yes, andthen I always have the link.
So whenever I make a post onFacebook or on Instagram, I
always put the ticket link inMost of the feed on my Facebook
page is the classes, but I alsostarted putting some information
about different critters thatwe've been finding too, because
people have been asking for that.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
Yeah, how far in advance do people need to think
about your classes and put thaton their calendar?
Speaker 3 (34:06):
That's hard to say because when I post my summer
classes in March, people startto buy tickets already and then
sometimes people will wait tolook at the weather.
But if you buy a ticket aheadof time and something happens
like weather happens, or therehas been a couple incidents
(34:29):
where I don't have five peoplesign up this has happened twice
in three years I don't haveenough people sign up so I
canceled the class.
You can either have a refund oryou can use that money and be
pushed into another program, sothat's totally up to you.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
So, when you book your tickets through
TicketTailor, are the classesall the same prices or are there
different prices associatedwith each class?
Speaker 3 (34:54):
So, as far as pricing is concerned, it's different
and it varies, but I try to makeit very affordable so that
families can come.
So with the treasure huntersthere's a lot of equipment for
building and things involved.
So that class is 90 minutes andthat's probably the priciest
class I have.
It's $35 for 90 minutes, butusually we're out there for
(35:17):
almost two hours because wecan't stop picking up shark
teeth.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
It's really fun, yeah , and you're supplying all of
the equipment for them to maketheir devices.
Speaker 3 (35:22):
That's great, and it's time-consuming to put those
kits together.
The fish printing class is $20,and you bring your own T-shirt
if you want to print.
And then I also have availabletote bags.
I sell tote bags for a very lowprice so that if people want to
make beach bags, they can dothat too.
Marsh Madness is $25 for 90minutes, but if you have a
(35:43):
family of four you get a 10%discount, so it's $90 for your
family to come out to do MarshMadness.
And then Learning withLoggerheads is an hour, so
that's a $20 class.
My last class is explore theshore and that's targeting three
through nine year olds, but theparents all come and play for
free, or the grandparents.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
Outside of what classes you have listed with
TicketTailor, what otheropportunities are there that
people might not know about?
Speaker 3 (36:08):
So I do offer paddle tours, eco tours, and I work
alongside of Onshore Surf Shopand collaborate with them.
And I work alongside of OnshoreSurf Shop and collaborate with
them, and you can email me toreserve your kayaks or your sups
, however you'd like to see thewater, and we go out for about
two hours and that runs around$65.
And we do all kinds ofexploration on the water.
(36:29):
Wow, what ages.
I think the youngest that I'veever taken out on the kayak was
probably in the vicinity of 10.
Wow, sometimes I also run pizzapaddles for the teens.
I mean, I was trying to think ofthings that I could get the
teenagers involved in when theywere coming to visit, because I
didn't want them to be at thebeach and be like, oh, such a
drag, there's nothing for us todo.
(36:50):
So I thought, well, they liketo paddle, so I do pizza paddles
.
So the kids come and I givethem a little lesson in the park
that's Soundside Park, we meet,they take a little lesson and
then we kayak out around themarsh and I drag a seine net
with me so that we can collectfish and other critters while
we're out there and then when wecome back we get pizza from
Max's Pizza.
(37:10):
I bet they love that.
It's so much fun actually.
Yeah, yeah, there's a lot oflittle kid stuff going on, but I
thought you know, and parentshad mentioned to me, there's
really not a lot of stuff forthe teens when we come here.
Do you know anything aboutteens?
And so there went my brain againtrying to think of, like, what
can I do for teenagers thatwould get them excited about
coming to visit here, and Ithought, well, we could do pizza
(37:30):
paddles.
Speaker 2 (37:31):
Yeah, I like that because there's some
independence in that.
Speaker 3 (37:34):
Yeah no-transcript them.
A little lesson in the parkbefore we go out.
(37:54):
It's very different when you'rekayaking or paddling on the
ocean waters than it is ifyou're on a lake or a river.
Speaker 2 (37:59):
So you've been doing this Funky Fins for three years.
I'm sure you've learned a lot.
You've tailored your classes alot to what's happening here at
Topsail.
You figured out that all ageswant to learn.
Speaker 1 (38:08):
And I love that.
Speaker 2 (38:10):
I love that.
Tell me some feedback.
You've heard from some of yourguests, some of your students.
Speaker 3 (38:14):
So a lot of people say that, oh my gosh, we learn
so much in an hour andeverybody's always saying I
didn't know that and I've livedhere forever.
So, that's really fun.
They also say that we reallyprovide educational activities
for kids and families that arereally fun to attend.
Speaker 2 (38:28):
And.
Speaker 3 (38:28):
I like that and, like I said, they keep coming back
like that family that's come tofour different classes.
They say that it's reallyawesome to have experienced
marine biologists that providethe information, because there's
a lot of kids that are veryinterested in marine sciences.
So I get a lot of the olderkids that will come and then we
talk about they're getting readyto go to college and that's
something that they're reallyinterested in.
(38:50):
And what kind of advice do Igive and what kind of
experiences did I have when Iwas going to college with the
dinosaurs, of course, but I justreally enjoy teaching the
classes.
I don't think I would ever doanything else besides what I do
out on that beach.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
Is this what retirement life is?
So this is what we're.
Speaker 3 (39:10):
So retirement life.
My husband and I retired fairlyearly and we're really enjoying
the not working part of it.
Speaker 1 (39:17):
Well, he's really enjoying the not working part of
the show, but I'm still working.
Speaker 3 (39:22):
Actually, I had him cutting all the little shark
screens.
Today, when I left, he wassitting on the driveway sweating
.
Yeah, he did road constructionin New York City for almost 35
years.
So he's like I'm going tocollect my pension and I'm not
doing nothing.
Speaker 2 (39:35):
Yeah, You're juggling learning, You're juggling jobs,
kids, and this is yourretirement life and you're
scheduling all these classes andyou're still creating
curriculum.
You're still you're fitting aneed and I think that's
wonderful.
Speaker 3 (39:49):
I think I'm always going to be a lifelong learner
and because I enjoy the oceanand I enjoy people so much that
it is totally impossible, nomatter where I am in my life, to
not do this.
Well, you're meeting greatpeople.
Speaker 2 (40:01):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and it's totally fun yeah.
Speaker 3 (40:03):
And people from all over come here to visit, so it's
really awesome.
Speaker 2 (40:13):
Well, I love all the education opportunities that
you're providing for locals andtourists and young and old and
all of that.
So, with all the people who arelistening right now, you've got
an audience.
So what would you like them toknow?
What do you want to share aboutour environment here at Topsail
?
Speaker 3 (40:30):
What I want them to know is that there is a wealth
of things in the ocean that wedon't know about, that needs to
be discovered about.
That needs to be discovered andin order to be able to come here
to visit and to just enjoy thebeauty of our island, it's super
important to sit back andreflect and just think about
(40:54):
what am I doing, what are mybehaviors while I'm visiting
this environment, and so howdoes the ocean affect my life?
Even if I live in Ohio, how doesthe ocean affect my life?
And I think it's reallyimportant for people to think
about those things, because thisis an ecosystem that we need to
(41:16):
sustain and all the little kidsthat are coming out here and
enjoying the classes andenjoying the beach.
We want them to be able toenjoy that with their families.
So how we act and our behaviorsdirectly affect the ocean.
We need to conserve it and weneed to work together to do that
(41:37):
.
We can't expect and sit backand wait for other people to do
it for us.
It's really important for us tobe accountable and to stand up
and do our part, even if it'sjust having your lunch in a
Ziploc bag and taking it backhome with you and not leaving it
on the beach.
Speaker 2 (41:53):
You're also involved in the community and you're
learning and giving in otherways, and I want to highlight
that.
What groups are you connectedwith that are also working to
protect and preserve our island?
Speaker 3 (42:05):
Well, I'm connected with the Chamber of Commerce, of
course, of Topsail, which is afantastic group to be a part of.
I'm also connected withEcoTopsail.
The Topsopsil is a nonprofitthat is working to do basically
(42:28):
what I'm looking to do.
I mean, these are my people outhere.
Speaker 2 (42:31):
okay, these are your people, these are my people.
Speaker 3 (42:33):
So we're all kind of working together to conserve the
environment and make itsustainable.
Speaker 2 (42:38):
And it starts with education.
It does, yeah, it really reallydoes.
You don't know.
Speaker 3 (42:42):
Yeah, and a lot of people are surprised by some of
the things I tell them too.
I try to get involved with asmany groups as I can, and even
if I can make a little dent inhelping them get their message
out and accomplish what they'relooking to do.
I also belong to the NorthCarolina Coastal Federation.
Speaker 1 (42:59):
I mean.
Speaker 3 (42:59):
I'm kind of like you really when you think about it
Well.
I wear a lot of hats.
Speaker 2 (43:04):
Yeah, I wear a lot of hats too, so tell me Topsail
Island Longboard Associationwhat's that group about?
Speaker 3 (43:09):
So Topsail Island Longboard Association is a
really great group.
It was really funny becausewhen I joined I don't surf much
anymore but I paddleboard, so Ithought, well, I kind of fit
into that.
So you don't have to be asurfer to be part of the group,
you just have to have a love forthe ocean.
They do a lot of fundraising totry to raise money for kids to
(43:32):
get their start in college, andI think that that's really cool.
They have a scholarship fundand we raise money to help kids
get started in college fund andwe raise money to help kids get
started in college.
Speaker 2 (43:46):
So the kind of love that you had for the ocean, you
can target those kids and helpthem pursue education.
Yeah, exactly, and then theocean friendly establishments.
Speaker 3 (43:53):
So the ocean friendly establishments is a group of
people in an organization wherewe try to talk to the business
owners in our area to kind ofmove away from plastics.
So we're looking to move awayfrom plastics and styrofoam and
think of alternative ideas.
And it can be a little rockysometimes because I understand
(44:13):
that that costs money to do, butI think that it's really
important if you can findanother way to carry your things
out of a store or take yourleftovers home.
Speaker 2 (44:26):
I've learned so much and I love all the opportunities
.
You've really adaptedeverything to the people we have
here, to the environment.
You've just meshed it so well.
So I want to make sure everyoneknows how to find you and plan
their own adventure.
So we have the Facebook pageFunky Fins Eco Education for
Curious Minds Right, that's thespecific name for that.
(44:46):
Yes, but you have an emailaddress.
Speaker 3 (44:48):
I do, it's funkyfinsonti at gmailcom.
So TI for Topswell Island.
Speaker 2 (44:53):
Right, Right.
Is that the best way foreverybody to find you?
Either Facebook or email.
Yeah, I'm also on.
Speaker 3 (44:57):
Instagram oh you can find me on Instagram the same
way that you find me on Facebook.
Okay, but you can also.
You can text me or call me at203-512-4936.
Wonderful.
Speaker 2 (45:08):
So thank you everyone .
Listeners, thank you forjoining us today and thank you
again, Chris, for being here onTopsel Insider and telling us
all about Funky Fins.
Thanks for having me, it wassuper fun.
Speaker 1 (45:23):
Hey, if you enjoyed today's episode of Top Soul
Insider, please show yoursupport by clicking the follow
or subscribe button on yourfavorite podcast listening
platform.
You can also follow us onFacebook, Instagram, Twitter and
YouTube.
Please also go totopsoulinsidercom and join our
mailing list by clicking on themake me a Top Soul Insider
button.
While you're there, you canclick the send Me a Voicemail
button and let me know exactlywhat you're thinking.
(45:44):
Your message just might be onan episode of Topsail Insider.
You can email me at Krista atTopsailInsidercom, or call or
text me at 910-800-0111.
Thank you for listening andsupporting Topsail Insider and
our local businesses andnonprofits.
These are our neighbors and ourfriends, and together we build
(46:06):
a mighty and a beautifulcommunity I'm super proud to be
a part of.
I'll see you around Topsail.
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