BBC hits the water Thursday with students on night kayaking trip

Damian Gordon/ PantherNOW

Biscayne Bay Campus’ Wellness and Recreation is here to keep students afloat during the FIU Kayaking At Night trip.

On Feb.9th, students will be venturing into the clear waters of Biscayne Bay and through the Mangrove Trails of Oleta State Park.

The event will be $7 for students and $15 for everyone else not buried in assignments.

Jonathan Torrey, Recreation Coordinator/Interim Facilities Manager, speaks on why the kayaking program has making waves at BBC for five years now.

“They (students) love it—I’ve had students come up to me and say, man I went through my whole year or whatever here and my only thing I keep hearing about is kayaking,” Torrey said.

Torrey emphasizes the uniqueness of what students are offered on these trips.

“It’s not done anywhere else; it’s not done on MMC. Not a lot of universities have a bay in the back of their campus,” Torrey said.

In past years, it used to be that people lined up outside the gym and the first 20 people got to go.

Torrey stressed the importance of how this new system will make it easier for students to make sure they have spots on these events.

After a brief intro from lifeguards, kayakers will form pairs of two and paddle through the trail with the first stop cruising through Oleta’s kayak trail.

After that, there are some options for kayakers. Eventually, everyone hits the sandbar for games, where the water can reach up to their ankles.

Students are able to swim in the water, stay on land or just walk around and take in the scenery on Sandspur Island before heading back to campus.

Ashley Nevarez, Broadcast media student, heads outdoors often and attends other events hosted by the BBC rec team.

“I really enjoy kayaking, I did it back home in Fort Myers. I didn’t do it on a bay, it was a park and they had like a river. It was nasty water, this one is actually blue,” Nevarez said.

She went on to list the benefits of why she goes to these types of events.

“I think it’s fun, it’s a good activity to have. Very athletic, because believe it or not rowing is hard, this a good arm workout. I think it just brings people together…you get to meet people and really value nature,” Nevarez said.

She also mentions a future hope that the recreation center will start letting students rent kayaks regularly outside of events as her previous college FCCU did.

Photo retrieved from Flickr