Sea Base — Local services in Islamorada

My name is William Carson Fortenberry III. I attended the Boy Scouts of America Sea Base in 2018 as a member of Troop 7303 from Carneys Point, New Jersey, along with our Scoutmaster—my uncle—and several scouts. This review has been a long time coming. Everyone of importance in our group submitted feedback after we returned, but I never got the chance to. After years of staying silent, I want to share our troop-wide experience with brutal honesty so future participants and parents know exactly what to expect. I hope this does not get flagged as fraudulent, because everything I’m saying is true, and BSA knows our case well.

Sea Base started out fine. We arrived in Orlando, drove across the long bridge, and stayed the night at the main camp. Spirits were high. The trip only fell apart the moment we canoed to the barrier island. Before landing, we had a brief snorkeling session that was actually beautiful—our first exposure to coral reefs for many of us from New Jersey. But after 15 minutes, we were rushed onward.

When we arrived at the island, we were told we’d need to retrieve our troop’s water from the boat. What we didn’t know was that we’d be lifting 90-pound barrels not just for our own group, but for everyone else. Our campsite was the furthest from shore, and we were one of the smaller groups—around six scouts total. Every other troop had already been prepped about helping with water. We weren’t. While others pushed barrels through the water in a chain, we stood on the shoreline physically hauling these massive water containers—filled with other people’s supplies—out of the ocean and dragging them 50 yards to the treeline. No one wanted to rotate. Everyone stayed in the water where the job was easier. Our troop got the short end of the stick, and our leaders were justifiably furious. This was not a “group effort” as they claimed—it was exploitation, plain and simple.

The next day, we were taken to see the “world’s biggest tree that was struck by lightning.” What we got was a stump you could sit on. That’s it. Our guide looked confused that we weren’t impressed. We then hiked to the “salt flats”—another massive letdown. We didn’t even know we were standing on them until we were told after the fact. There was nothing but rocks and a vague white dusting where salt may have dried. A complete joke.

Then came the deep-sea fishing trip. We thought maybe, just maybe, this would redeem the experience. Wrong again. Despite our leaders purchasing licenses to fish, they weren’t allowed to cast a line. None of us were. The staff on the boat did everything for us—cast the line, put it in the holder, and only let us reel in the fish by turning the knob. We never got to actually fish. This was insulting and a massive waste of time.

After that, we were scheduled to go deep-sea snorkeling again. Based on our past disappointment, we collectively told our guide we didn’t want to go. She reported it, and some higher-ups came to confront us. We explained we’d already done snorkeling, had seen little, and preferred to stay and stargaze. They left us alone—finally—and that evening under the stars was one of the only genuinely enjoyable moments of the entire trip.

The next day, we were told to “help the island” by cleaning up rotting sargassum filled with maggots. We refused. Why? Because BSA staff had literally warned us that this same seaweed regularly contains used needles and dead bodies. That’s what they told us, word for word. Then they turned around and tried to force us to clean it. We were threatened with being sent home if we didn’t comply, so we reluctantly held the trash bags. It was revolting. The final straw? Our troop had scheduled a trip to an alligator farm, using the official BSA-endorsed bus reservation system. The bus never showed up. BSA admitted their mistake and sent a replacement four hours later too late for us to visit the farm, and dangerously close to missing our flight. Our “make-up” for all the chaos was nothing but a waste of time. In the end, the best part of the trip was the...

Our Seabase experience was mediocre, interspersed with moments of greatness. The Seabase facility itself was fine - clean and well organized (an important detail, given the numbers of scouts that pass through on a daily basis). The food, however, was blah at best and awful on occasion. Our first dinner at base was beef stew straight from a can, with a side of limp vegetables. We were hoping that was a fluke, but our second dinner on base was...beef stew. It was so bad that the running joke became that if you got out of line, your beef stew ration would be cut. Or doubled. Breakfasts were better, but not by a lot. But you don't go to Seabase for the food.

Base staff was generally helpful, if often morose. Our mate Pablo was the exception to the rule, cheerful, happy to be present, and generally pleased to be working there. The rest of the staff was a study in long sighs, bored expressions, and lack of enthusiasm. The galley staff in particular were nearly impossible to engage with, causing me to try an ever more forceful "Good morning" in an attempt to verify their humanity. But again, that's not why we came to Seabase.

Our sailing experience (we did the Coral Reef Sailing program) was awesome, thanks to the attention of Captain Martini. He related well to the scouts, pushed them hard but congratulated them when they succeeded, and went out of his way to ensure they had a great experience, even to the point of supplementing the prolific but boring groceries supplied by base, purchasing basic essentials like bacon (what scout trip is complete without bacon?!), extra fresh fruit,etc. with his own money. Other crews in our troop did not fare so well, ending up with captains that were aggressive with the scouts, belittling them regularly, treating them badly in general, and decreasing their enjoyment of the trip, rather than adding to it. Each captain returned safely with the number of scouts he left with, but my impression was that these men had no training in how to handle young men. Additionally, we had been sold on the idea that this experience involved a scout-led component where the scouts chose where to sail and what activities (sailing, snorkeling, fishing) were on the agenda, and then crewed the ship accordingly. This was most true on the Green Olive with Captain Martini, where the boys made those decisions with his input and provided the crew to achieve those goals. Other ships were told what their agenda would be, the motor was cranked, and they motored from one spot to another with little sailing (and therefore, little crew activity) involved.

My only other gripe involved midweek - we docked halfway through the trip to refuel/resupply. We docked about 2...and then sat bored at seabase through the evening, hours broken up only by dinner (beef stew!). The base had a rec center of sorts, with giant versions of checkers, jenga, etc, but you don't come to Seabase to play board games. We then spent the night tied up at the dock, fulfilling the promised number of nights on the boat, but not what I would consider on the water. We could easily have come into port am hour later, resupplied and eaten our beef stew, and been back in the Atlantic by nightfall.

Overall, our experience was a positive one, and I'm glad we did it. Given that Seabase doesn't let you pick your captain/boat, though, I won't come back, simply because my sampling of 3 boats (out of, given, about 40) gives a 67% chance of a captain with a bad attitude, which on top of the program's other faults, makes the trip not worth...

Amazing time do STEM ECO Sailing adventure Cpt. Wolfman and Cpt Brenda were amazing our troop was in two boats but we were close 90% of the time. They were so flexible and ready for us. There was tons a food and everything was very scout lead. We cooked all of our food not having to follow a menu but go to use our imagination. We also put up the sails and did anchor watch and every thing else even some driving if the boat. We all loved snorkeling at Molasses Reef and all the other times we went off the boat. We had a rough midweek experience at pennacanp but everything that sea base could control was great. Our mates and captains were very knowledgeable about everything and taught us very well. We also had great weather al week long. Timeline Day 1- meet mates then tour the base, get snorkel gear and have a snorkel review and then meet your captains, eat dinner at sea base board boat and go about 30 mins away to stop for the night.

Day two- overnight anchor watch then wake up have breakfast and anchor up by 8 am. Learn about mangroves, sea grass. We kayaked out to lignemvite key which was special for our trip to complete the SCEAN award. We did service there and then got a tour of the house on the island. We then went back to the boat ate lunch and then went out to a sea grass meadow and Did our first snorkel. We then found a place to stop for the night and eat dinner.

Day Three- we did anchor watch and had breakfast and then we sailed to the Atlantic side of the keys and did a really wavy snorkel and some people got sea sick as the ocean is a lot more rough. Then we did sailing over to where we stayed for the night.

Day Four- We did anchor watch and then ate breakfast. We then went to John Pennacamp state park where we pumped out and filled with water and ate lunch. We then made it to a place to stop and then kayaked into the park beach we looked though the aquarium and found it really cool. Then we did a snorkel at their staged wreak that had a couple of cannons and masts. We then got told by a ranger to move our kayaks but that was not sea base’s fault. We then got ice cream and then kayaked back to our ship where we ate dinner and stayed there for the night.

Day Five- we ate breakfast in the morning. We then did a day full of sailing and did three snorkels. Two at Mo reef which is the biggest in the area and then one at pickles reef which was cool too. We saw sharks, eels, dolphins, sea turtles, and caught some fish that day too. We ate dinner on the way and made our way back to where we stayed the first night and ate stake which was AMAZING.

Day Six- we had anchor watch and ate a short breakfast to get back to base by 9 we cleaned the boat and then had lunch and left.

Overall had a great time and I would love to go back again. Would suggest...