Journal 5: Reflections of Fort Myers Beach

Fort Myers beach is a big “hang” out for my friends and I. Just like everyone who may go to the beach without any research would be in the same position about the beach as I once was, “clueless”. Yet, when the class and I traveled down to the beach and we got to listen to Fort Myers story from Joan Hughes, I was shocked. The island of Fort Myers has gone through so much incredible history. It has survived incredible hurricanes, battles between the Spanish and the Indians, tremendous technology and environment growth, and went from a tiny residency up to now residing 6,000 people in season. The amazing transformation of the island is amazing, and makes me wonder how it may look in sixty years from now. Also, I was fascinated because I did not know that the island used to of bigger size. Now because of all the hurricanes that have weathered the island, it is not even as close as it is today. I though it was amazing how weather can destroy landmass.

Also on our trip to Fort Myers Beach, we took a walk through Matanzas Pass Preserve. This journey through all the different mangroves and out to the water was amazing. The scenery was beautiful and I was amazed by how the mangroves play a huge role in preserving the environment by sheltering massive amounts of nutrients as well as housing fish
on our way back to the school we also stopped at a shrimp factory. This was amazing on how the business worked. Also the way that the shrimp industry became such a big business in Fort Myers, because of a lazy fisherman we now have pink gold here in Fort Myers. “Everything happens for a reason”, and him being lazy brought a lot of money to this area.
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