A Day of Fish, a Submarine and Flips!

What an awesome day was had on the water by 19 students of the Riviera Beach Youth Empowerment Center. See highlights of the day in the following video, and then read on below...

It was instant action as soon as the lines hit the water. A couple of bonita were hooked, and both were landed - but one student learned a hard lesson. As he held the fish to admire his catch, it flipped out of his hands, over the side, and back into the water! Other fish caught were strawberry grouper, grunt, triggerfish, and more.

The kids learned how to bait their hooks, get the bait to the fish, reel the fish in, and handle the fish to unhook and release. Lessons in focus, patience, and overcoming fears abound!

After the fishing came to a close, the ride back through the inlet surprised everyone with a view of a mostly submerged submarine getting towed out of the port. Check out the video to see it. It was a first for many on the boat.

Once back in the intracoastal, we anchored for some lunch, and then a dip in the water. The kids had a blast jumping and flipping off of the back of the boat to appropriately wind up an amazing day!

Thank you to the Florida Fishing Academy for organizing and managing the trip, and thank you to the customers of Shark Zen for making this and future trips possible.

To learn about Shark Zen's future ocean experiences for at-risk kids, sign-up below.