Im going to florida for 10 days camping on an island…?

People have told me that there in the water like 9 hours a day and that there balls chaff really bad. How can i prevent this. I dont want to deal with any powdwe cuz that sounds kinda messy but i was thinking of wearing a speedo under my boardshorts so that there was no rubbing. Also we only get a small bag for our stuff so you prettymuch pack 2 swimsuits and 3 or 4 shirts and a bed sheet to sleep on. I dont want chafing balls plz help me.
yeah its seabase im goign next summer but i thought i would ask now cuz it was on my mind. Ik ill brign real chothes also. BTW sisce u have been there what should i bring.

Are you going to Flordia Sea Base?! I went there! From the details that you gave this sounds exactly like what I did down there. If you set up your profile so that you can send and receive messages from other users we can talk about this without getting in trouble or anything.

If you’re doing the thing that I did down there then honestly you won’t really get that much chaffing, the most you’ll really be in the water for is about 6-7 hours a day. Just wear something that you know is really comfortable and won’t give you that. I’d suggest either wearing a loose-fitting Speedo or a set of underwear under your board shorts, this will make life a lot easier for you! Also the guy who went with us had some Gold Bond Maximum strength stuff, according to him it wasn’t that much of a mess and he only used it when we got back from the water.

But if you are going to FSB/BEC I have a lot of background on our trip. Set up your profile so that you can send/receive messages by going to “My Profile”, then “Edit my Info” and then check the box about user communications (the first one under privacy that says ” Allow Answers users to contact me via email (Address not publically displayed)”)and we can discuss the trip.

((update)): Wow! You’re doing the Out Island Adventure to Big Munson! It’s a nice trip and 10 days?? That’s as long as National Jambos!

OK wow, I don’t even know where to start with here.

You can bring things like iPods, cell phones, ect. but remember that there’s no electricity on the island at all. You can store anything you’re not bring out to Big Munson in locked storage containers they keep there at Briton Environmental Center. Also pack a lot of stuff in your main bag if you’re flying in, about 90% of stuff going on a Scouting trip wouldn’t be let through by aiport security (we have LOTS of personal experience with pocket knives, fire starters, ect.).

I would highly recommend making/ordering customized Class B’s for the trip, FSB/BEC doesn’t mind if you don’t have Class A uniforms, as long as your troop wears a uniform scouting shirt to dinner each night it’s OK with them. Class A’s on the island is absolutely not required and is highly recommended against; you’ll have no real purpose for them on the island.

If you’re flying in to Miami just for the record it’s really a 4 hour trip to get there not a 3 hour trip as you may have heard. Actually Isamorada (where the main Sea Base is) is about 3 hours, 3 1/2 sometimes but BEC is really 4 hours. Also don’t rent rental cars to get down there either from Miami or from Key West, instead use a charter bus (they come in various sizes from about 30 person buses to the standard 54 person depending on how many crews you’re taking down. It’ll be a lot cheaper and everything will be so much more organized.

Like you’ve probably heard before about the trip: bring lots of cameras!! It sounds like you’re doing the 7-day, 7-night program so I’d say bring at least 2 disposable cameras and a water-proof one as well. Trust me, you’ll want to take pictures of just about everything on the trip.

About the widlife on the island: AVOID THE POISONWOOD AT ALL TIMES!! If you come into contact with this stuff it’ll likely require a hospital visit and a nice long stay in the “No Adventure Box” (the nurse’s office). They should be marked by orange tags on the trees but their sap is so acidic that it’ll melt these off eventually. NEVER stand under these when it rains, that’s just asking for a living nightmare of an experience. Don’t burn poisonwood if you have a fire, this would be an automatic trip to the ICU in Miami. Otherwise just about all other plants and animals on the island are OK, the gumbo limbo trees might give you a slight reaction but nothing like the poisonwood. You also can’t eat the barracuda if you catch one fishing, they have a toxin in them that I believe contains some mercury so FSB/BEC/BMI staff don’t want to take any chances will being liable to say it’s OK to eat that stuff. Otherwise you’ll catch mangrove snapper, yellow tail, maybe some mahi-mahi if you’re really lucky and other fish. When we were down there they caught a record cobia, now THAT was a fish for ya’! There’s a fish I forget the name of that always come up on the surface in the bay at Briton Environmental Center, I think the record was something like 16″ or so and they’re fun to pull in. Also if the spiders on the island have bright colors stay away from them, you really don’t want to take chances with them either.

The weather down there is probably a lot different than the weather you’re used to. Because of the sub-tropic climate the place is really active when thunderstorms roll through. If it starts to rain the slightest bit your best bet is to get undercover quick (and away from poisonwood trees as I mentioned before). The rolling thunder will keep everyone up all night if it comes at night; you’re all either in backpacking tents or hammocks so everyone hears everything on the island.

Typically what would happen is you’ll come in on what they call Day #1 around 3 PM or so. They might have a last-day luau for another batch of scouts leaving (oh, and bring a Hawaiian shirt for that too!) and you’ll get to at least eat the food they have but don’t worry about not playing limbo or Polynesian tug-of-war, you’ll get to do that your last night there. But you’ll get there and you’ll unload all of your bags and then you’ll sit in a circle in the chairs they have there with your island mates and you’ll tell a little bit about yourself and give a brief introduction. This is nice for people who have never met each other before like if you’re in there with some crews from other troops.
Sometime around here you’ll use the drink stand they have there, also note that the flavored drinks are very sugary and should be watered down, otherwise you’ll get really sick of them real quick. After this you’ll get your dorms set up for the night. Also bring bedsheets, these are really nice for both the island and the dorms they have there. Also old bed sheets are advisable; you might get the bedsheets messy from just the general island wear and tear. Now you’ll probably go down for your swim test that they do there. After this you’ll go down for flags at about 6, say prayer and eat. And eat good because this is the last chance you have of getting real food before you go on the island! So after dinner they’ll probably have a leader’s meeting and they’ll go over the basic stuff with them and all that stuff and during that time is the best time to use the ship store. Here you can buy hammocks for the island, ice cream, rope sandals and a lot of other odds and ends like t-shirts. After the leader’s meeting is over they’ll sit everyone down and go over things about the island: everything from poisonwood to vacacoons (I think that’s how you spell it), Key deer to some of the craziest spiders you’ve ever seen, they go over just about everything in this meeting. Typically after this you’ll load the motor boats (that you won’t be taking) with all the food and water you’ll be taking (these will be put out on the floating docks off the island waiting for you to bring them once you get out there). At one point or another you’ll get your dry bags as you pointed out and this is where pack rats get left behind: it might be a 5-galloon drysack but when folded to prevent water from getting in it’s more like 3.5 galloons. You should pack a pair of VERY comfortable sandals (wear your booties for your snorkel stuff on the kayaks or war canoes), at least 2 polyester shirts (preferably 3 in your case), 2 or 3 compression shorts, 2-3 underwear, toothbrush and maybe a pack of toothpaste the whole crew can share, a patrol first aid kit, a flashlight for each person, rain gear, any other toiletries you might need, your hammock if you got one, a compressed pillow (bean pillows are amazing out there), a hat, sunscreen and bug spray. That’s all I can name off the top of my head but you’ll know what else to pack. Also don’t pack aerosol bug spray or sun screen; you run out of either really fast if you’re not careful (you have to spray lightly so that it goes on you instead of half of it deflecting off of you) plus aerosol cans may burst in the heat down there if you go at the right time and the conditions are good for it. You don’t have to worry about packing your scuba/snorkeling stuff, that’ll be in a seperate bad that can get wet.

Your second day (Day #2) will be your deployment day typically, this is where you paddle out to Big Munson. You’ll either take their polynesian war canoes or you’ll take their 2-person kayaks. We kayaked out and it took us 4 1/2 hours to get out there, we were going into a strong headwind and headcurrent so the trip there was rough; be prepared for a long trip getting to the island. Hopefully if you’ll lucky you’ll get to kayak because if you come back with the war canoes you can make sails from things you find on the island and from things you bring with you. We found a 12 foot metal pole over in the “End of the World” campsite as they call it over by Little Palm island (the rich people’s place). THAT was a find but I don’t know what they did with it after that. But anyways the crews returning from the island will probably be coming in around lunch time, you’ll eat lunch and then you’ll head out for the island. Fill up your water bottle all the way and use the bathroom before you go (there’ll be some stops where you can jump out and go in the ocean, it doesn’t hurt the ecosystem and no one typically notices because the water’s so warm or at least that was the case when we went). If you have access to a rowing machine or can get one I would highly advise it, you’re going to be in the kayaks/war canoes for a good part of the time you’re on-island or in the waters just off the island. When you get there mind the jaged rocks; since the island lies on a base of limestone it erodes away in a funny way making for a trecherous trek to the island. Also deal with the sargassum; as nasty as that stuff is you’ll get out of it quick. So once you bring everything to shore you’ll bring the stuff to your campsite: the food, the water and your personal gear. They have the grills and cook boxes in the campsites already along with the tents; if you have 2-3 people who use the hammocks you should have only 1 person per tent. But I remember an island mate by the name of Mike had a spider hammock: it was a completely enclosed hammock that could be hung just about anywhere: in the trees or just above the ground, that was really neat. So after you get all that stuff set up you might go “fishing” off the floating docks, just wait for this!! Once you come back from fishing you’ll cook up anything you have, you might eat before you go or you might eat afterwards. But that’ll pretty much be your second day.

From here you might do a variety of days of different things, I’ll just list them out as we did them when we were down on BMI. You might also go off-island for a night maybe down to Key West but I’m not sure, we did a one-week trip with just about our entrie troop so doing the 6-day 6-night island trip would’ve been rough for us. Just be advised that your crew’s own schedule likely won’t be like this since you’re doing 2 extra days and nights over what we did on Big Munson.

Our third day (Day #3) was our island day when we didn’t have to use the boats at all. We basically took a big tour of the island, we saw the third largest buttonwood tree in the US (formerly the third largest in the world) and basically saw a little preview of just about everything. On this day you might do the mangrove maze, it’s basically a giant maze of mangrove trees really close over to Little Palm but there’s a whole bunch of entry points but there’s only 1 main channel that you can go through to get out. But anyways you might do a large combination of things on this day like you might go “fishing” off the floating docks on this day if you don’t go after you first get to the island. You’ll also go out in the war canoes on your island day at night and snorkel around just off the island. I won’t give away what you’ll see but it’s one of the coolest organisms you may ever see in your life.

Our third day on the island (Day 4) was our fishing day. You’ll pack lunches to take with you and you’ll take some pills that’ll keep you from getting seasick before you go (or at least they really advise you to). Around 9 or so you’ll head off for the floating docks and hop on one of the motor boats they use for various puroses. The boat captains will have their radios buzzing with fishing reports and brags (the cobia that I mentioned earlier became unbearable to listen to after a while) and you might either go to the Continental Shelf for mahi-mahi (also called dolphin fish but they’re not real dolphins). If you hook one of those you’re in for a legendary day of fishing. You might also go into the shallower waters a couple miles off the island’s coast and here there’s more guarenteed catching available; the mangrove snapper and yellowtail love these areas and wherever they are there’s also barracuda. If you pull up half a fish you know who took the other half. Once you get back with your catch you’ll cook that all up for dinner (also don’t overspice the fish as you’ve probably heard over and over if you’ve taken the cooking merit badge but overspicing on these is really easy to do) and it’ll be a nice little night provided it’s not raining.

Our fourth day on the island (Day 5) was our main snorkeling day. Now if you’re gonna get chaffed down on Big Munson then this is the day it’s gonna happen. Wear something really comfortable under your swimming stuff, it really can make a huge difference. But on this day you’ll go on the boats again with all of your snorkeling stuff out to some spots including Looe Key, I believe it’s either the second most dived spot in the world or the US, one of those. You’ll go to some other places and you’ll also occasionally find yourself in some shallow waters, even just 2 feet at times but you can still snorkel in this. In some spots schools of mangrove snapper will just swim right by you but you can’t fish in these spots, they’re generally protected waters. If you’re lucky you should see a turtle or 2 and you should typically see a barracuda so be ready with those water-proof cameras! Also if you’re scared of goign in the water you should wear something dark like a black polyester shirt because the barracuda are attracted to shinyness; this is how they’ve learned to identify their main food sources of mangrove snapper and yellowtail so if you dress in dark clothes the reflection off your skin won’t look as appealing as a person not dressed in dark clothes.

On the last night you’re on the island the island mates will leave you in a spot and you’ll wait around for a while, typically here you can get some great pictures with the sunset (also get more pictures at sunrise, we got these absolutely incredible pictures of the sunrise looking like an atomic bomb had gone off) and get pictures of families there too! And also bring a crab with you to this and make sure that it’s fast and not easily scared, you’ll see why when you get there. I’m not giving anything about this part away but I’ll just say it was very interesting.

For your trek back you’ll load all of the stuff back on to the motor boats and you’ll head out again in either the kayaks or the war canoes, whichever one you didn’t use to get out there. The trip back will be much faster than the one getting there, the return trip for us was an hour and a half in the war canoes with sails (the wind was about 2-3 MPH, nothing much at all even though we had this massive sail). When you get back you’ll reclaim a dorm room and set up camp again except in a place with RUNNING WATER and SHOWERS! Also bring a LOT of quarters for the laundry machines, you’ll really want to do a lot of laundry after the trip. Detergent would also help but they may have some in the ship’s store but I’m not sure about this. The laundry machines are located right in the pen with the storage bins with your stuff in them are right off the main dining area. That night you’ll have your luau (wear the Hawaiian shirt of course!) and even if it’s raining you’ll still have fun. Of course before all this you’ll need to clean out the garbage bins from the island (mmmmm… maggots…) and put away the stuff. You’ll also do some skits and things so you might want to be ready with something for this per each crew. Also if you have a song or something like that made up by your troop, council ect. The last day is the best day to do it. Also if your troop hasn’t been there before bring one of your council’s main patches (upper left sleeve patch) and a troop number (also sold in the ship’s store for sure), they’ll stapple it up on the ceiling in the enclosed dining area as proof that your troop was there.

Your last day will basically be your goodbye day, you’ll get emails from island mates and other scouts that were down there with you, it’s sad leaving but you’ll have some great stories to tell (like me, look at all this I’ve typed!!!)

If you want to share this with your trip/unit leaders then feel free to, this is the advice I would give anyone going out to Big Munson Island out of Briton Environmental Center.

And last but not least if you meet any island mates or staff who were island mates by the names of Mark Roberts, Mike, Gaar (pronounced Ghar, kind of like the stereotypical pirate saying) or Rachael tell them that their 4th of July 2006 crews said hi!

Waterspout / tornado touches down near island while camping on it.

Comments are closed