Florida Seabase


First Sea Base Crews Campout

Picture Gallery


     On March 24, 25, and 26, at a weekend campout in Harbison State Forest, our job of turning 3 groups of Scouts from different troops into a cohesive unit began.

     Our first order of business was to have the boys complete some team-building events so they could find out each other's strengths and weaknesses. They completed a "ravine exercise" where they had to get all the boys to the same side of the ravine by using the rope hanging from a bridge. Not too hard... the rope was hanging straight down and they could not use a branch to retrieve it. It was one of the funniest exercises I have ever watched. "Ravine Pictures"

     Next, they had to get all the crew members from one side of a spider web made of ropes to the other side. Oh, yeah, they could not touch any of the ropes, and each "hole" to include over and under the web could be used only once. "Spider Web Pictures"

     They last exercise they completed was to line up with the crews facing each other, and moving only one person at a time using the one open space, change sides. This wasn't as much fun, but did require a lot of thinking and a lot of teamwork.

     I do think the "hit of the day" (after the ravine exercise) was the rope bridge the boys decided to make over a gorge. After a lot of tying and retying, and safety checks by the adults, the bridge became well used. "Bridge Pictures"

     The boys got along so well together, that it was impossible to determine how to place them into crews. Therefore, Saturday evening after dinner I asked the boys to form two lines -- those were the crews.

     As the pictures show, the campout went very well and a lot was accomplished. I am very proud of all these boys and know that this will be one of the best trips I have ever taken. "A Scout is Reverent"

     Special thanks to Mr. Bill Gieger for pulling the trailer, getting us film, and generally helping out where needed.