Celia & Todd

June 30, 2009





Celia & Todd



Kathy & I were thrilled to be invited to the wedding of our friends Celia & Todd. Celia was a former co-worker from my days at Reef Relief and after seven some years of dating, they have finally tied the knot in a beautiful ceremony held on the shore at Ft. Zachary Taylor State Park, with a wonderful reception that followed the ceremony at the Key West Lighthouse museum.





Celia is not only a good friend, but a fellow Hoosier, hailing from Bloomington, Indiana and there was a large contingent of friends from out of town who joined a nice group of locals in celebrating their marriage.



The ceremony was wonderful, though it was incredibly hot and humid and I thought everyone was going to melt in the sun, but somehow Celia & Todd managed to maintain their perfect appearance throughout and once things got going, the heat didn’t seem so bad. They had trolleys waiting after the short ceremony to carry the guests over to the reception at the lighthouse.



Andy, Eliza & Kathy





The reception was wonderful as well, catered by the Conch Republic Seafood company with music by our friends Rob & Brian & The Prime Movers (who also played at our wedding). The food was great, the weather perfect as it cooled off once the sun set and the location was great. We had a lot of friends in attendance at the wedding and we had a really good time.

The Prime Movers





We even managed to climb the circular stairs to the top of the lighthouse in time to watch the sunset and catch the bride and groom getting photos taken. It is an amazing view from the top, but it is not for the claustrophobic.
We want to thank Pricilla & Wayne for being our hosts at the reception and wish our friends Todd & Celia every happiness as they move forward in this new exciting phase of their lives.





Kathy, Elio, & Suzy Jo

G’Day Mate!

June 29, 2009

Craig

Izzy

G’Day Mate!

Hide n Seek

One thing about living in Key West is that you get used to saying goodbye to friends. The transient nature of the place makes goodbye parties a fairly popular event and something that any long time resident has done many times. Goodbye parties are only slightly more common than welcome back parties as people find their way back eventually.



Tara & Carla

Hopefully someday we can welcome back the latest of our friends to celebrate a going away party, but I have a feeling that it may be some time before that happens as the Jones family is moving slightly farther away than the typical departure, all the way to Australia.

George





Craig Jones & I have known each other most of my 18 years in Key West and we have been through a lot together. For years, he took care of our dog India when we went out of town and he and his dog Sparky were a familiar site around Key West. He spent time working for Mel Fisher, diving for treasure before moving on to work at RPM Nautical where he hired me three years ago after Reef Relief ran into financial
problems.

George, Randy, Ellen & Carla

He met his lovely bride, Jodie, while working overseas and they returned to Key West to get married and start a family. Though he left RPM, we have remained in touch as his children have been attending the Key West Preschool and Jodie has been working there with Kathy.



The going away party coincided with their daughter Izzy’s 5th birthday and it was naturally held on the beach at Ft. Zack, which had become the favorite kid’s party location on the island. There were three kids parties going on while we were there. This one was fun and will hopefully create a nice final memory of Key West for the family before they embark on an exciting new chapter in their lives. Jodie is a native of Australia and it will be a happy homecoming for her and a chance for her family to not have to travel thousands of miles to see the kids.



Shrimp Night

The going away party capped a strange and crazy week for us, one that saw some emotional ups and downs with funerals and a wedding and more. We did manage to sneak in a couple of more normal activities, heading over to the Tuesday night $5 Shrimp Night at the Ocean Key House and going down to see some music at the Hog’s Breath Saloon as Matt Guitar Murphy was there for the week.



Kathy

Matt “Guitar” Murphy is still going strong at 81, most will remember him as a member of The Blues Brothers band. In the films, he played Aretha Franklin’s husband and the cook at their soul food restaurant. He still sounds pretty good and it was fun to see a true Blues legend playing here.

Matt "Guitar" Murphy

Reef Relief

June 26, 2009

DeeVon & Craig



Recognized by County Mayor George Nugent

Reef Relief

State Representative Ron Saunders & Craig

My somewhat sad nostalgic trip down memory lane continued this week when I attended the 22nd annual Reef Relief membership meeting held in the ballroom of the Casa Marina resort. I’ve attended every annual meeting since 1991, five as a volunteer and eleven as a staff member and I have continued to go each year since leaving Reef Relief and beginning work at the RPM Nautical Foundation three years ago.

DV

Board Member Vinny Boyle with Mark Howell

Of the many that I have attended, this one was indeed special because it marked the final Reef Relief meeting for the founders, directors and driving force behind what has developed into one of the foremost coral reef conservation organizations in the world, DeeVon & Craig Quirolo.

Dr. Jim Porter interviewed by US1 radio's Bill Becker

Old-timers Amy, Michael & Joel

Roger Bernstein, Craig, DV, Marci Rose & Amy Lachat

DV with Sebastian & Dr. Brian LaPointe

The meeting was a virtual parade of luminaries lined up to recognize and honor the Quirolos and the many accomplishments that they contributed to protecting coral reef ecosystems throughout the Keys and the wider Caribbean. I feel fortunate to have been a part of it all through the glory years and seeing so many old friends who turned out to honor Craig & DeeVon made me appreciate what a deep impact my time there had on me.

Dr. Porter & Mill

DV & Craig awarded by Lee Witwer & Paul Johnson

Recognition for Reef Relief is nothing new, they received a Point of Light Award from the first President Bush, the Re-New America Award as the best Conservation organization in the US, the Keep America Beautiful Award for best Marine conservation non-profit and hundreds of other various honors, yet somehow watching this parade of recognition seemed more concentrated and somehow more poignant. Perhaps it is thinking that the heart and soul of Reef Relief will be leaving Key West and retiring to their new home in Brooksville that got to me, I’m not really sure.

Dr. Bob Ginsburg, Carol Colburn, Michael & Billy Causey back in the day.

Jean Michel Cousteau

Cayo Door Crew, Brettny, Jamie, Autumn, Bruce, Bonnie, Rick, Kathy & Kerry

Dark Hair Days

I know that the past few years have probably been the most difficult in Reef Relief’s existence as the sagging economy has created havoc and dissension on the Reef Relief board. The future direction of the organization is uncertain, and I’m sure this realization made the Quirolos departure more stressful than they might have hoped, but none of that diminishes the tremendous accomplishments of their illustrious and dedicated career.



Laura Urian, Wendy Weir, Sylvia Earle & Michael

Discovery Coral Reef Program

I could list the many, many amazing accomplishments, but that would take many, many blog entries. You can check out the Reef Relief website to get a taste of the good fight that Reef Relief led in protecting the coral reefs. Often in the face of countless detractors and opposition that sometimes came from the very agencies and officials who should have been fighting with us. Vindication, when it often came, was rarely reported with the zeal as the original attacks. Though if imitation is the highest form of flattery , one need only to look at Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary programs like The Eco-Discovery Center, Team Ocean, The Coral Nursery and Coral Reef Classroom which all owe a debt to incredibly similar programs initiated by Reef Relief.

Myself, Craig & DeeVon being presented Honorary Conch Award by the late, great Wilhelmenia Harvey

Winning the fight against Shark Feeding

I doubt I will ever encounter two more dedicated and zealous defenders of the environment than Craig & DeeVon Quirolo. The 15 years that I spent fighting alongside them were some of the most exciting and interesting of my life. I learned so much from them through difficult times, impossible odds and came out the better for it. The experiences I will always treasure and the amazing opportunities that came my way, from scuba diving with the likes of Sylvia Earle, Wyland or Norbert Wu, to helping Wyland paint not one but two of his huge murals, to meeting and working with amazing scientists like Dr. Brian LaPointe, Dr. Jim Porter (who spoke at this year’s meeting), Dr. Drew Harvell and Dr. Kiho Kim, to organizing the biggest locals party of the year Cayo Carnival for 16 years.

Diving with Sylvia Earle

Installing Mooring Buoys

But most of all I miss the incredible people that entered my life through my work there, many who remain to this day among my closest friends. So many talented and wonderful people passed through the doors that I can’t possibly list them all, staff member, interns, board members, volunteers, members and colleagues, but DeeVon & Craig were there through it all, and they along with my dear friend Joel Biddle and myself made up what I consider the core of the organization, at least we were all together the longest.

Cheva Heck & Craig at Mooring Buoy Splicing Party

My simple thanks may not carry the weight of an award from the President or a letter from the Governor, but I wanted to add it to the plethora of accolades that have been heaped upon Craig & DeeVon this week. In addition to photos from the meeting, I have added a few from the archives to supplement them. It harkens back to a simpler time when they sported darker hair and I carried a few less pounds.

Tabling with Joel


Reef Relief Site