Got plankton? Florida Water Warriors introduces youth to oceans and its inhabitants

Jessica Jadick grew up on Long Island, N.Y., where her father was in the boating and marina industry.

She spent much of her time "climbing around on old wooden boats, looking for crabs and mussels on the dock pilings and finding horseshoe crabs to put back in the water," she said. She dreamed of studying dolphins, turtles, manatees and the ocean.

But she also saw how humans can negatively impact the ecosystem, such as overfishing leading to the depletion of the oyster and clam supply in Great South Bay, a lagoon between Long Island and Fire Island.

"Knowing that my grandparents had a different scenery of the bay than I did broke my heart," she said.

Now 36 and living in St. Augustine, Jadick is helping turn things around. The married mother of two created a tour boat company, Florida Water Tours, that merges sightseeing with marine education on 90-minute tours and extended excursions. Then she founded the nonprofit Florida Water Warriors that does similar boat tours and teaches students ages kindergarten through 12th grade in schools, homeschools and other youth groups as well as families about the local ecosystem, conservation and marine life.

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"This nonprofit is so important to me because we get to play a part in the larger picture of conservation by fostering stewardship, understanding and appreciation of our surrounding natural beauty and emphasizing our responsibility to its protection," she said.

Jadick said she is "mostly behind the scenes," with marine wisdom dispensed by educational director and teacher Kristie Corrigan and captain and educator Kevin Jadick, her husband's brother who is engaged to Corrigan. But when any of them spot youth getting excited about seeing a dolphin or grasp a particular environmental concept, they know they're making a difference.

"Seeing these kids' eyes light up, I know that it's going to stick with them," Jessica Jadick said. "The kids love to be involved and collect water with a bucket off the side of the boat, then use that water and tools to test the salinity, temperature and then collect plankton to view under the microscope.

"The hands-on field experience is so important and sparks an interest into these topics that they never knew about," she said.

To the sea: Environmentalists-in-training

Jadick intended to become a marine biologist, but family finances and the closure of the small college she attended derailed her plans. Instead, she spent her 20s working and traveling and meeting now-husband Mike Jadick.

In 2013 they visited St. Augustine and fell in love with the city and its coastal environment.

"Dolphins and sea turtles were always a fascination to me, as we don't see them up North and there is so much to learn about them," she said. Every local glimpse of a dolphin "feels special and magical."

In 2016 the couple acquired their first vessel, the Osprey, and started Florida Water Tours. Her husband got his master captain's license, she took online business and marketing courses and expanded her knowledge of local history and marine wildlife and they both learned about safety and sustainability in running a tour boat business.

Florida Water Tours now has three vessels and offers a variety of trips, including the Sunset Cruise, Wine Tasting Cruise, Adults Only with bar on board, a family-friendly trip and the Dolphin and Wildlife Adventure, which offers far more than sightseeing. "It's an engaging wildlife watch where our professional tour guides dive deep into the intricate coastal ecosystem," Jadick said. Those trips cost from $29 to $39; the business also offers longer or private excursions with higher prices.

In 2018 she began an educational outreach program, which in 2020 evolved into the nonprofit. The initial outreach was free or at a low cost, she said, because of underserved students' "gap in marine science knowledge" and financial barriers.

Florida Water Warriors now offers financial assistance for groups of underprivileged youth and since its inception has provided free tours for 400 underserved students. The 2024 goal, Jadick said, is to raise $10,000 for the program to serve 1,000 students in 2025.

"We now get to fight cost barriers and education inequity to improve overall environmental literacy in our community," she said. "My goal is to help close the educational gap for underserved students, encourage pro-green decisions, engage people in environmental issues and catch students up on a global level."

They also occasionally offer marine education on land. At the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind in Augustine, they brought "touch and listening" marine science centers to eighth-graders for an in-school lesson, she said.

Regular ticket prices for the private group tours are $8 for students and $13 for chaperones. The nonprofit also schedules "Marine Field Experience" tours for the public and families, with ticket prices of $16 for children and $24 for adults.

One lesson learned: Reusable bags

St. Johns County public schools educator Bertha Flores has been taking students on Florida Water Warriors tours for several years. Her charges, she said, "love it."

"Every time that we go, they learn something new. The best part is that since this is such a hands-on program, everything they learn stays permanently in their memory," Flores said. "Not only have they learned some amazing marine biology facts, but they have also discovered how important it is to take care of our oceans.

"I definitely think all youth should have the opportunity to learn about marine science in this hands-on way," she said.

After one of the tour field trips, Flores' own 12-year-old daughter decreed the family should use reusable shopping bags instead of one-time use bags.

"It was amazing for her to take the initiative. She convinced me to start buying one reusable bag per week until we had enough. This is something that will make a huge difference not only for our youth, but also for our oceans," she said.

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Jadick said she hopes some level of environmentalism takes root in all the warriors.

"If our program inspired one of our youth to become a marine scientist, I know that our educators and I would feel so honored," Jadick said. "But if all of our students took even a little bit of knowledge and applied it to their daily lives, we would feel extremely accomplished."

bcravey@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4100

TO LEARN MORE

Florida Water Warriors (nonprofit): 107 Yacht Club Drive, Dock A-19, St. Augustine 32084; (904) 827-7728; flwwarriors@gmail.com; floridawaterwarriors.org

Florida Water Tours: 107 Yacht Club Drive, #Dock A-19 St. Augustine 32084; (904) 827-7728, info@FLwatertours.com; floridawatertour.com

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: St. Augustine nonprofit Water Warriors unveils marine life to youth