On the water, of the waters
Photos and essay by Angelique Herring Photo by Angelique Herring Photo by Angelique Herring I moved to Florida from Baltimore to attend Eckerd College in 2015, but I’d been dreaming of living here since I was a kid. I fell in love with the weather and the water long before my feet hit the Florida sand on my 8th birthday. Growing up, I dreamt of being minutes away from the
The Florida I have inside me….
A literary remembrance of Bill Belleville, whose storytelling celebrates the mystery and glory of our state’s waterways, and beckons us to go outside. By Cynthia Barnett This winter on a sunny weekday, I jostled my kayak into the warm waters of the Wekiva River in honor of Bill Belleville, one of the great chroniclers of what he called vernacular Florida—“the luxuriant particulars of nature, of culture, and of place.” Belleville,
Water as A Healing Source, In search of miracle cures
From ancient times, water has been imbued with almost magical curative powers. Taking the waters in Florida After the Civil War, visitors flocked to the state, drawn by a promise of the healing powers of the springs and the sea. By Rick Kilby Beer baron Charles D. Kaier had certainly prospered in America after he immigrated from Germany. He fought for his new country during the Civil War and, by
Water as Freedom: Fluid freedom
Whether it be an endless ocean, a meandering river, or a back country swamp, water evokes freedom for all who seek it. Finding freedom, so fluid and fleeting Florida’s waterways promise blissful release from rules and care — until one person’s liberty clashes with another’s property lines. By Thomas T. Ankersen Featured image above: Cave divers enter the labyrinth of Manatee Springs, one of the state’s first-magnitude springs, located on
Water as A Divider: When Beaches Were Not For All
Water is the symbol of many things — renewal, rebirth, life itself. But in the Jim Crow South, it was a stark physical reminder of an enforced separation. Parting the Waters In the bleak years of segregation, Florida beaches and pools were symbols of a great divide — and of rising up through persistent struggle. By Audrey Peterman As a Jamaican woman who developed a passion for nature at the
Water as A Natural Bridge, Bonding Across the Straits of Florida
The lessons of a manatee’s journey How shared waterways bridge the divides between Florida and Cuba — for marine life and the scientists united to protect it. By Anmari Alvarez Aleman Featured image above: In April 1984, more than 20 years before this Florida manatee was spotted by Anmari Alvarez Aleman in the warm waters off of Cuba, she was photographed in Crystal River with her male calf. In 2007, she
Telling the story of a beloved bay
Florida Bay Forever harnesses the power of the narrative to protect this threatened lifeblood of the Keys. By Jacki Levine When Emma Haydocy talks about Florida Bay, the life-brimming estuary that links Everglades National Park with the Florida Keys, the Massachusetts native evokes an almost poetic vision of nature’s beauty. “There are no words that can adequately describe the experience of being out on Florida Bay when the water is glass and
Someplace so familiar
Traveling halfway around the world, this sponge diver found his home in Tarpon Springs — a vibrant seaside outpost of his native Greece. By Janet Scherberger It’s a breezy, clear-blue-sky early afternoon in Tarpon Springs and Anastasio “Taso” Karistinos is on his sponge boat, stringing up a gray tarp to protect against the sun. “I don’t need to get more tan,” he says with a broad grin, his white teeth
History unfolded as water set the course
History unfolded as water set the course Lessons abound in the stories of our state’s earliest inhabitants, as they coped with the rising seas. By Kenneth Sassaman 7032 B.C., Near Modern-Day Titusville, On Florida’s East Coast As the end of her mortal life approached, the matriarch of the clan contemplated the future of her people. The world they knew was changing. Water was on the rise, in some places faster
Where there’s a will…Makeshift Freedom
Makeshift chugs meant hope of freedom for those fleeing Cuba. By Janet Scherberger In 1998, when Ivan Torres was 19, he set out from Cuba in a makeshift boat, headed for a better life in the United States. Caught by the Cuban Coast Guard, he ended up in jail in Cuba for more than two years. But he didn’t abandon his dream of living in America. On his 16th attempt,
