Behind the Bluff
Uncover best practices to participate in life on your terms. Every week, hosts Jeff Ford and Kendra Till guide listeners with short conversations on trending wellness topics and share interviews with passionate wellness professionals, our private club leaders, and additional subject matter experts offering valuable tips. Each episode conclusion includes Healthy Momentum, five minutes of inspiration to help you reflect and live differently. Subscribe now and discover the keys to living your greatest active lifestyle.
Behind the Bluff
How to Find Peace on the Water | Tom Shanahan
Captain Tom Shanahan shares his lifelong connection to the water and how his passion for boating led him from scrubbing boats as a child to becoming lead captain at Wilson Marina after service in the U.S. Coast Guard. Tom offers a unique perspective on Palmetto Bluff's pristine waterways, where members can experience peace and tranquility rarely found in today's busy coastal areas.
• Began fishing at age 3 and owned his first boat at age 6, learning the waterways from a young age
• Earned a biomedical engineering degree but left the field to follow his passion for life on the water
• Created a comprehensive boat captain program at Palmetto Bluff offering fishing trips, destination excursions, and educational opportunities
• Emphasizes conservation and sustainability practices on the water to preserve wildlife for future generations
• Provides practical boating safety tips including creating float plans and understanding tidal patterns
• Describes wellness as finding peace on the water where mind and body naturally align
• Recommends emergency position indicating radio beacons (EPIRBs) as lifesaving boating technology
Whether you're an experienced boater or simply love being near the water, finding your peaceful place is essential for wellness and connecting with what truly matters.
Are you ready to live an active lifestyle? Welcome to Behind the Bluff, where we believe every moment of your life is an opportunity to pursue wellness on your terms. I'm your host, jeff Ford, and today I have a very special guest who I'm joined with the lead captain of Wilson Marina, tom Shanahan. After earning his captain's license in 2012, tom began his career operating charter vessels. He then spent six and a half years in the United States Coast Guard until joining the team here at Palmetto Bluff in 2021. Captain Tom's presence is infectious and his connection to the water is woven into his very being. He's the type of boat captain who creates cherished memories for all who set sail with him. Tom, welcome to Behind the Bluff.
Speaker 2:Hey, Jeff, thank you for having me this morning.
Speaker 1:Glad you could block off your schedule. Come on over here. I know you don't get over to Moreland too often, unless it's by boat.
Speaker 2:No, that's for sure. It's nice being on this side of town.
Speaker 1:Well, this is a long overdue conversation and before we set sail on this conversation, let's go into further detail on your background. So, first and foremost, what inspired you to become a boat captain?
Speaker 2:a boat captain was a mix of passion, opportunity and respect for the water. I grew up on boats and it's always felt at home on the water. It's where everything has just kind of made sense for me. There's a peace and clarity that comes with being out there, but also a sense of responsibility. Over time I realized that I wanted to make you know a lifestyle into a career and I took every opportunity to kind of leap into the next step of, you know, going from cleaning boats at a young age to cleaning fish for the captains that were coming in off the boat, to hopping on a boat as a mate and then overall, getting my captain's license when I turned 18 and, you know, trying to continue this journey and try to give people the experience that they want when they go out there, rather than just a profit-driven experience.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it sounds like you've taken these steps your entire life, from the very beginning of just helping out on boats, now leading actual experiences. I'm sure that's a big change. Let's let's jump back to just your early upbringing. What, what did it look like? As as like a family, did you go out on the boat? What happened Like? Tell us a little more about that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, my dad started me out fishing at a really young age. I think I got my first fishing rod when I was about three years old.
Speaker 1:Whoa.
Speaker 2:And I used to go tear up the ponds in the neighborhood, you know. And then, when I was probably about six years old, I got my first boat, so I started to kind of go out on the water.
Speaker 1:On your own.
Speaker 2:Not exactly on my own until I was probably about eight, but I used to take my dad out and I would take friends out that are a little bit older stuff like that and um, started to learn the creeks at a really young age.
Speaker 2:I was kind of blessed that I had the opportunity to learn this waterway really, really young. And uh, you know, when I was about eight years old, uh, I used to bike down to the docks that were close by the house and, uh, I'd beg the captains to let me scrub their boats. Every day, monday through Friday, you could catch me down there at the dock scrubbing people's boats and ultimately, after a couple of years of doing that, they were like well, if you're going to be down here every day, you might as well go fishing with us. So when I was about 12, I jumped on a couple of boats. I kind of hopped from boat to boat to boat to boat and, um, you know, was able to start off as a mate and I made it every day after school from, you know, pretty much, uh, 12 years old until I was about 18, and hopped on, uh, you know, getting my captain's license the day I turned 18. I think that was my 18th birthday present and, um you know, went out and got my license.
Speaker 1:Think that was my 18th birthday present and, um, you know, went out and got my license, started running trips from there and that level of of experience you've described it's it's rare, I think, in any industry, and it's always so refreshing, uh, to meet a fellow lifestyle driven, profession 100 individual, because it seems like your roots just have always told you that you were meant to be on the water.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you know I did go to college. I went to school for biomedical engineering got my degree in biomedical engineering and did about six months in the industry and I realized that you know, all white room in a white lab coat was not my style.
Speaker 1:You prefer to put the life jacket on.
Speaker 2:That's right, that's right. So I hung all that up, you know, to my parents' disgust, after sending me to school for four years, and turned it all back around and went right back to what I knew and what I loved, and you know I've been able to make a career out of it since then.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. What I've found is individuals like you, and just people who do follow their passion and commit to it to the extent you have. They find a way to make it a career, and that's what's so fun about just being on this planet, honestly. Absolutely, we have the opportunity to do that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you have, you have goals and you have. You know, you have a lot of people that tell you the way that you probably should do something and uh, you know, I definitely tried that route. You know I went and I tried to get my uh, or I got my education and then I tried to go into that field, Like I was told that I should do, and at the end of the day I found peace in what I was doing and um, kind of revolved myself back around. Get back on the water.
Speaker 1:Very cool. Well, we are grateful that you did follow your passion, because I know our marina program, our captain's program, is just driving over here, which we'll dig into here in a second. Before we go into more of the programming aspect of things, can you give us a quick overview of the waterways that surround Palmetto Bluff?
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. I mean Palmetto Bluff. This is probably the most pristine area or pristine spot in the entire area. I mean, with the inland waterway that we have here we've got seven miles inland waterway. That's pristine.
Speaker 2:I mean, if you are a bass fisherman or you're a gamesman or you just want to go out and enjoy, you know, a nice little leisurely cruise on a beautiful body of water, this freshwater lagoon system that we have here is is perfect. I mean, that is just kind of the the cherry on the top, and then besides that we're all the way tucked back up here in the may river, um, so not a lot of boat traffic down our way, uh, and with that not a lot of uh commercial down our way and with that, not a lot of commercialized real estate down this side of the river either. So nice part is you get out in the water and you're looking at green, you're not looking at people's houses and you're not looking at, you know, all kinds of commercialized activity that's right on the water's edge. So we're really in kind of a very, very special area here in Palmetto Bluff where you know it's uh, it's pretty much untouched for the most part.
Speaker 1:And is it fair to say that if you're getting out on a boat from Hilton head, it's a different experience than it is from Palmetto Bluff?
Speaker 2:Oh, absolutely. I mean, there's days on here in Palmetto Bluff that you may only encounter one or two other boats the entire time you're out, as opposed to Hilton Head. You're going to go by 10, 15 boats just leaving the marina. So you know, it's definitely a sense of peace on this side of the river which is pretty sought after nowadays.
Speaker 1:You keep going back to the phrase a sense of peace. Could you tell us more about what that feeling is to you when you are on the water?
Speaker 2:Yeah, ultimately for me, when I get out on the water, you know, peace and mental peace is my version of wellness, you know, and wellness is a piece of the mind and body for me. So when I'm out on the water and my mind is at peace, ultimately my body falls into a sense that it's at peace as well. So, um, being out on the water, you know, get out there first, first thing in the morning, and there's not another boat in sight. You're watching the sunrise, uh, over the water, and water's flat, everything's quiet and beautiful. I mean, that's, um, it's about as peaceful as you get, if you ask me.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, thanks for elaborating more on just that feeling, because someone who's been on the water as much as you being able to describe that, and for our members and anyone who jumps on these waterways to try to grab that, I feel is a very important part with the experiences, absolutely so. You began at Palmetto Bluff like your whole career, kind of staircasing up, which is inspiring. At Palmetto Bluff, you took a job docking boats from the very beginning and, as I understand it, your sights were to revive the captain program here and, from what I read, you being quoted as, as you wanted, to make this place a sports paradise. So, with that, how has the captain program evolved since 2021?
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, if you look at the roots of Palmetto Bluff, palmetto Bluff was built as a gamesman's paradise. You know. It was historically a hunting and fishing property for a long, long time. And, um, you know, I've been in palmetto bluff since the early 2000s.
Speaker 2:My dad was one of the commercial uh contractors that built wilson village um your dad built wilson village, my dad built wilson village, um so the original in Buffalo's post office roads, some of the conservancy buildings, stuff like that. My dad had a foot in the door and was was the lead guy for a lot of those projects and would you come out and see his projects when they came to fruition?
Speaker 1:Or was it you just knew your dad was out here?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I spent a lot of time out here. I used to get dropped off. I went to school in Hilton Head Bl, the bluffton school district.
Speaker 2:it wasn't didn't exist, probably when that's right yeah, it wasn't nearly what it is now, um. So I used to have to get picked up by another bluffton resident. They would drive me from hilton head out here and drop me off at the front gates of palmada bluff, um, and then I would walk from the front gate down. It was still a dirt road at the time where would you walk to from the front gate?
Speaker 2:I would start walking towards wilson village. Um, they would call my dad from the gate and let him know that you know I just got dropped off, and then he would start racing up to the front gates. Um, it was that dirt road back in the day so you used to watch the big plume of dust flying everywhere you would know he was coming.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, absolutely. That's really cool.
Speaker 2:So you know, it was a really cool property to be part of then and now it's even cooler today. You know, when I got in here I kind of noticed there was a little bit I'm not going to say a lapse, but there could be a little bit of work done for the sportsman side of things as far as fishing, hunting, stuff like that, for the members a lot of these people moved here to really kind of cherish and tie into that side of what we have to offer here at palmetto bluff as well, um, so it was really kind of important for me to get in here and try to give the people, um, that wanted that experience, um, a foot in the door to be able to go out and enjoy, you know, fishing out on the waterways, uh, target, shooting out on the boat, stuff like that, and then, you know, ultimately try to tie the, the um, the experience departments here on property together.
Speaker 2:So, do more um, have a more of a relationship with shooting club, have a more of a relationship with golf, uh, with the fitness department and doing primal events, stuff like that. So just trying to tie everybody back together and, you know, give them that sense of outdoor um satisfaction that they're looking for give them that sense of outdoor satisfaction that they're looking for.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, not a day goes by where I think both you and I probably have ideas on what we could do on this property, and it sounds like you're the main programming guy for the marina. Like, do you come up with a lot of the different activities I'm sure there were some existing and how does that work with your team?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you know, bob Newbert ran the excursions for a long time. He did a phenomenal job for us. Um, ultimately kind of found myself in the position that I was taking over for Bob, uh, putting together all the excursions at the Marina run. So we have eight excursions that we run per year. Uh, they're either destination excursions or we call them drop-in shops, stuff like that, where we take them to Savannah, drop them off on River Street, let them go around shop for the day, come back to the boats, race back to Palmetto Bluff.
Speaker 1:Are those member events or do public participate? What's that look like? All member events. All member events. Okay.
Speaker 2:So everything that we do out of Wilson Landing, except for the boat rentals we have a couple boat rental that are in the fleet Everything that we do is for the membership or for the marina members of Palm Meadow Bluff, which is great, yeah, you know it kind of leaves outside brands to be able to run the experience department for all the in guests that are here on property like at the hotel and such.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and it gives us the opportunity to run more of an experience based operation for the members that are here in Palmetto Bluff.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's so special to be able to do that, because our members live here and they have the opportunity for a myriad of experiences, regardless of the department that they might be spending time with.
Speaker 2:Oh, absolutely. And the coolest part is, you know you get these members out there or I'm sure, here too and they're like I had absolutely no idea that this existed or we had this at our fingertips. And that's really rewarding for me, you know, as a captain and guide, to be able to give people that experience or show them something for the first time. That has been here all along that maybe they just didn't know was here.
Speaker 1:Yeah yeah, it's a big property, so you don't always hear everything or learn everything that's going on.
Speaker 2:That's right, that's right.
Speaker 1:Uh, besides the eight excursions those sound like the bigger trips in your ear what, what other types of events and experience are you and the team providing?
Speaker 2:Um, so we kind of do everything, Uh, if you can name it on the water. It's something that we provide through Wilson landings. So, um, we've done everything from blue Marlin, uh, fishing trips uh, for blue Marlin, Mahi, tuna, Wahoo, stuff like that, all the way to fishing trips in the creeks. Then we'll turn back around the very next day we might be doing a Shark's Tooth Island excursion out to Shark's Tooth Island, finding the megalodon teeth out on the riverbank of the Savannah River, and then later on that afternoon I might have a two-hour boat club training where I'm training new members on how to operate and how to properly be able to articulate the waterways that we have here.
Speaker 1:Now I've seen you at Kohl's, I've seen you in the conservancy classroom and what I've noticed is these seminars that you give have grown. How much do you enjoy training?
Speaker 2:Training's everything, because, at the end of the day, if you're not teaching people the proper practices on how to maintain either whether it's sustainability or conservation practices or just how to go out and have a good day in general, you know, being able to teach people that's kind of the difference in you know whether they can do it on their own or not. So, you know, when I was in the Coast Guard, training was everything. You know your training give or take every single day, um, whether it is one operation or another operation, and, um, you know I was a deck watch officer in the Coast Guard side. You're the big ships that the Coast Guard has.
Speaker 1:How big a ship.
Speaker 2:Uh, I was on up to 420 foot national security cutters.
Speaker 1:Whoa.
Speaker 2:And you know you have to go through about 7,500 hours of training to get your DWO certification on a ship. Here, you know, it's six hours of training, you're released to the world. So for me it's not a focus on, you know, teaching somebody how to be a professional mariner. It's more so how to give them the tools that they can teach themselves how to be a professional mariner. It's more so how to give them the tools that they can teach themselves how to be a professional mariner over time. Um, so kind of, give them the, the ground blocks and, you know, remove the blocks when they're ready to go and let them run from there you're the foundation setter and then from there each time they go out.
Speaker 1:I imagine our boat club members learn a lot.
Speaker 2:Absolutely yeah, and they go out and if they do you know a couple drills while they're out on the water. They don't plan on just going from point A to point B. They spend you know five minutes. Just go on, call it dock crashing when you're learning how to dock, you know, go and dock crash for you know five, 10 minutes until dock crashing turns into boat docking and you know, if you take the time to kind of better yourself while you're out there, I mean, it's really kind of a simple waterway here and I tell a lot of members you know this is probably the hardest area in the entire United States to learn how to navigate, but it's the most forgiving area in the entire United States if you do something wrong.
Speaker 1:I heard the tides swing intensely. Could you?
Speaker 2:elaborate on that. Yeah, so we have four tides today. We're on what's called a bilinear tide schedule here, so four tides a day. Every six hours we have a new tide cycle, so we have two low tides, two high tides per day and we have about an eight and a half foot average tide per day cycles. So we have two low tides, two high tides per day and we have about an eight and a half foot average tide per day here. So or I would say, eight to eight and a half foot average tide. So we're pushing or pulling about four to six inches of water every 15 minutes here.
Speaker 1:Wow, how does that compare to other waterways?
Speaker 2:It depends upon where you're at. You know, you go up to, you know, Anchorage, Alaska, for instance, they have 25 foot tides, which is absolutely insane. But then you go down to Florida and they have a two foot tide.
Speaker 2:So, a lot of people come off of lakes or they come off of areas that don't have as big of tide or current ranges as we do here and you know it takes some just a little bit of time to kind of get tapped into what we have here and the environmentalists that are going to be affecting their boat when they come into the dock.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and it sounds like you have a lot of guidance over there at Wilson landing. Um, everyone is given the tools to be successful out on on this waterway.
Speaker 2:We try our best you know, know we definitely do. Um, accidents do happen, it's part of it. You know you're gonna run aground eventually, um, or you might tap the sandbar a little bit, or tap the dock a little bit harder than you planned on tapping the dock, um, but it's all part of it. You know, once you kind of get the the fear factor out of your head, everybody boats with confidence after that you know, and boating with confidence is kind of key.
Speaker 1:What does a typical day look like for a boat captain here, and how many boat captains do you have?
Speaker 2:So we have two right now Um, it's myself and captain Andrew. Um, andrew has been here for quite a long time and he's uh, he's really kind of blossomed into a pretty spectacular captain himself. And, um, you know, between the two of us, uh, any given day we can pretty much be on anything. Uh, so, for instance, um, you know, one week I might have an offshore fishing trip on a member vessel. The very next day we're going to be back in the creeks fishing, you know, for redfish, trout, flounder in the creeks, and then later on that afternoon we might have a taxi run over to Harbortown or something like that.
Speaker 2:So we're kind of we're bouncing around quite a bit. There's, you know, quite a bit of activities that are offered, whether it's tubing, you know, going out to a shark tooth Island or going out to, you know, one of the other destination locations that we have available, leisure cruises, going out looking for the dolphins and cooperative wildlife, stuff like that. And then you know, at the end of the day, training. You know we do a lot of training. Every single boat club member has been through a six-hour educational training to be able to have boat privileges.
Speaker 1:They've got to pass the training in order to take the boat out on their own.
Speaker 2:That's right.
Speaker 1:Now, when you join the boat club just so I understand it correctly the new member of the club signs up for time with one of the captains.
Speaker 2:That's right. Yeah, so it's. It's part of the membership that you receive six hours of training. We break it up into three sessions. So we'll have a day one which is basically just introduction to boat. Um, you know a lot of people, they have boats or they haven't been on boats for a while, so it's more of a refresher for a lot of people. Um, and then some people come in as green as day and you start from square one and you kind of build the build them up into a position that you know they're comfortable out on the water and then we're comfortable with them being on the water as well.
Speaker 1:Is it easier to train folks who have existing habits or the green, the greenies who show up?
Speaker 2:I think it's the greenies. Yeah, and you know it's it's very hard to rewrite bad habits.
Speaker 2:And you know, ultimately I'm not going to say that people think that they're doing the right thing, but there's a lot of times that people think that they're doing the correct thing out on the water and, you know, it just takes two to five minutes to be able to, you know, try to retouch that or maybe teach them another way of doing what they've been doing for, you know, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40 years, sometimes with some of our members.
Speaker 1:Not too tough of a transition, but difficult because we've ingrained, you know, a way of doing something for so long. Absolutely yeah absolutely.
Speaker 2:When you get them fresh and green, it's really easy, because all they know is what you're teaching them. So that kind of helps out a little bit.
Speaker 1:I relate to that a lot just from a teaching fitness perspective. You know, if you've never done a certain movement, you haven't kind of hit different positions that your body and your motor control got used to.
Speaker 2:Absolutely yeah, complete sense.
Speaker 1:Boating's a skill like anything else.
Speaker 2:It is, and it's not like riding a bicycle, I mean you will forget how things feel over time. You might not forget how to do them, but you'll forget the feeling of doing that action over time. Uh, and every boat's completely different too, so you got to take the time to learn each individual boat. They're all eerily similar, but they have little quirks and differences and different nuances to each boat. That's right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, let's, let's go a different direction here and, um, get more, get more of the boating side of things. You know you've, you've got a lot of experience on the water. It sounds like some of your days Is it fair to say six to eight hours are spent out there, maybe more.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean some days maybe more. You know when we did these offshore trips. We're out there for 10 to 12 hours typically, and then, yeah, I would say on any given day, we're probably averaging about three, three to five hours on the water per day. Okay, um, and keeping us tied into everything, that's for sure I bet you and andrew love love being out there.
Speaker 1:A day when you're not out there it's probably a little difficult.
Speaker 2:You have to yeah, you have to love it um, I tell all the members, you know it's phenomenal six months out of the year. It's a little tough the other six months out of the year, but you know it's uh, it's definitely worth it. At the end of the day, you have to love it yeah, what's?
Speaker 1:what's the most unusual or unexpected thing you've encountered on the waters?
Speaker 2:um, gotta think about that. You know when I the one that always comes to mind is, uh, when I was pretty young in my career, I took a guy out and uh, it was just a single guy. We went about 20 miles offshore. We talked the whole way out uh, get about 20 miles offshore and I'm starting to put lines in the water and he's like I don't fish. But I wanted to take my dad fishing one last time. And he pulls out a box and uh, I was. I was completely not expecting him to release his dad 20 miles offshore without telling me or anything like that, not that I had an issue with it but, you know it definitely struck me out of left field.
Speaker 2:I was like okay, and then right after we spread the ashes we turned back to the dock. So you know he didn't even want to fish out of it.
Speaker 1:Was it a powerful moment for him.
Speaker 2:It was a powerful moment for him, and I think it was a powerful moment for myself as well. You know, it was something that you're watching somebody do. I wouldn't say a dying wish, but you're watching somebody do exactly what their dad wanted them to do for them, which is kind of a nice thing to to experience and be part of yeah especially when it is unexpected like that oh 100.
Speaker 2:I mean it was so far out of left field. We were talking for two hours on the way out and didn't know it was gonna happen. Didn't know the guy didn't want to fish. I spent all morning catching bait for it and everything and never, never, put a piece of bait out.
Speaker 2:So you know, it's definitely that was one of the odder ones, uh, you know, just all the way around, but definitely a very powerful moment and uh kind of shows people's uh I would say, their respect for the water as well. That's where he wanted to be because ultimately, I'm pretty sure that's probably where I'm going to want to end up someday. Yeah, way down the road, hopefully.
Speaker 1:So from your perspective, what's the most beautiful or remote place you can navigate to from palmetto bluff?
Speaker 2:I would say that we have a lot of places. Um, so the cool part about palmetto Bluff? I would say that we have a lot of places. So the cool part about Palmetto Bluff we're all the way tucked back in the river. We have hundreds and hundreds of little creeks in the area. I like to just get lost you like to get lost.
Speaker 1:I like to get lost.
Speaker 2:Get up as deep in some of these creeks as you can. There's nobody around. You're not going to see another boat. Deep in some of these creeks as you can, there's nobody around. You're not going to see another boat. You know it's super quiet back in there this time of the year. Yeah, there's some bugs back there, but you know for the most part, just getting deep up in the creeks and seeing, you know, palmetto Bluff from the waterway that way is really special. The other spot that kind of sticks out to me is the Gascon Sandbar.
Speaker 1:Gascon Sandbar sticks out to me. Uh, is the gas cone sandbar, gas cone sandbar, gas cone sand.
Speaker 2:Is that the one where we do the primal?
Speaker 1:sandbar class. It is, it is okay why is it called that?
Speaker 2:um, that's the gas cone bluff. That's straight across from it. So that's part of bluffton. It's a little community here in bluffton. Um, everybody knows the popular sandbar, the big party sandbar, that's straight in front of wilson village. Um, but the gascon sandbar is kind of a special spot because not a lot of people know about it and not a lot of people go to it. So, um, that might change after this podcast, but we'll see, word is getting out on behind the bluff that's right, that's right.
Speaker 2:So you know it's. It is an absolutely beautiful little sandbar to take yourself. You know, take the dogs, let them run on the beach, take the wife, take the kids and, you know, go enjoy, you know, a little piece of quietness out there on the water as well. You may see one, maybe two boats on a busy day, but 90% of the time you go there you're the only boat there and that's pretty nice.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think most of our boat club members get attached to what you're describing having some peace, being out there, away from everything. Bluffton is just becoming a busy part of the country.
Speaker 2:It is.
Speaker 1:And like to have access to these more remote spots on the water has to be pretty cool. These more remote spots on the water has to be pretty cool, and you know you're seeing it every year.
Speaker 2:All these spots that were remote five years ago are not remote now and you know you're constantly having to find new pieces of real estate. But the one good part about where we're at in Palmetto Bluff is a lot of these things don't change. So you know we're backing up to conservation easements right across from us in almost every direction. The only place that may change is just Bluffton itself. So got a kind of nice little, nice little spot here to to kind of enjoy a little bit of relaxation out on the water.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I always look behind my house. That is Beaufort County land so I'm like, oh, it's not going to get built on, hopefully.
Speaker 2:That's right.
Speaker 1:And what I'm hearing from you is these waterways are protected, the lands around them are protected, and I wanted to ask you, because you mentioned it earlier in the conversation not only do you experience peace on the water, but a big thing that in your upbringing you kind of gravitated to is the sustainability and the conservation piece of the water. Could you dig into that a bit here?
Speaker 2:yeah, I mean it's kind of sad. You know, being born raised here in the in the hilton head area, I've been fishing here since you know I was knee high and you just don't quite see the numbers of wildlife and the fisheries and everything that I saw when I was growing up. And you know, a big thing that my dad used to kind of preach to me is you know, put that in the water because you know one day you're going to want your kids to be able to catch this or be able to see this. So you know, sustainability was kind of drilled into my head at a really young age. Conservation side of things and keeping things you know alive, going out, you know no shame on people who do it, but you know, keeping a limit every single time you go out on the water, that's not, that's not indicative to a to a conservation or it's not indicative to a sustainability practice.
Speaker 1:Keeping a limit. What does that mean?
Speaker 2:So you're allowed a certain amount of fish per trip. You know, you kind of run into some people here in the area that every single time that they go out they want to keep, you know, their full limit of redfish, keep their full limit of redfish, keep their full limit of trout and, uh, you know, ultimately, just go out and keep what you're willing to eat. In a shorter period of time they'll be like, oh, I'm stocking up for the year. Well, unfortunately, you know that meat's probably not going to be good six months from now sitting in the fridge. So you know, do the work that you need to do and do the the what's right for the fishery.
Speaker 2:Um you know a lot of the areas that we fish and we play the big game of follow the guide out here. Um, we'll be fishing on a fishing spot where we'll be doing pretty well, but it'll go by. They'll pull up 30 feet from you, start fishing and then every single time you go out on the water after that, you see that boat in that spot and you know. You know that they're just removing a lot of fish from the ecosystem, just because of the fact that when you go back there, there's not as many fish to be caught and we only have what's given to us by up above.
Speaker 2:So, you know, as soon as that gets strained or they start to get stressed out, they will move Um and ultimately they're just going to end up either moving into an area that's not as accessible for us or Polluted potentially too right.
Speaker 2:Exactly, or the population is going to be diluted to the point that you know it's going to be hard for us to go out there and have a good day out on the water. So a lot of the people who have fish with me they know that. You know I try to release as many of the fish that I possibly can. I'm okay with people who want to take fish home. I have absolutely no objections to that. But you know, releasing a healthy amount of fish back into the waterway is pretty important.
Speaker 1:Yeah, don't have a scarcity mindset. That's right, we want to have fish for years to come, that's right. And so one of the number one practices is to not go all the way to the top of this limit. You're describing One or two what you can eat and then move on so we can continue to enjoy the amazing waterway.
Speaker 2:For sure, and you know everything revolves around that as well. So the dolphins that are here, they're here because we have a food supply here, and that's the redfish, trout flounder, that's uh, you know, your mullet and other species like that. That's the reason the dolphins are here. And then same thing with all the bird species, the birds of prey, um, that are here. You know we have ospreys, eagles, stuff like that. They're only here because there is a large enough food supply for them to stay here. So, you know, you kind of remove one out of the equation, you remove all the other ones that are on top of them, on the pecking order as well.
Speaker 1:That's. That's a great point. I mean, we all want to see dolphins and we want to see these amazing eagles around. Let's, yeah, let's, yeah, let's. Let's keep this advice close to heart and do our part.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Every time you go out, just try to do your part, and if you see trash in the water, I like to try to pick up any. You know cups and stuff like that are that are floating by. Um, you know, just do your part to leave it better than you found it, because nobody else is going to do that no you'll probably be the only one out there that is practicing sustainability.
Speaker 2:You're trying to practice, you know, keeping the waterways clean and all that, but a couple people doing their part here and there goes a long goes a long way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well said, I'm glad we took a second there to just touch into conservation and, um, from the fishing angle, because that can be a whole other conversation between you and I just talking about fishing practices in general. Um, so let's, let's start to go a little more practical for the boaters out there. What are some of the biggest mistakes that you witness recreational boaters making?
Speaker 2:Um, things first. You know, just take your time to know what you're doing that day, whether it is knowing what the tide is, knowing what the route that you're taking, the hazards that you might encounter on the route to get to where you're going. So if you know there's a sandbar in this area, what is your tide at? Can you safely get over that sandbar? Float plans Float plans is probably the most important thing that anybody could do If you're going out on the water. Tell somebody what you're doing while you're out on the water.
Speaker 1:Is that a float plan, meaning like you called your neighbor or you told someone where the destinations you're targeting are? That's right.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So even if it's just telling the marina before you go out hey, we're looking to go to boathouse today. If something happens and the boat's not back, we know whereabouts you're going to be, so we can try to help you out with that. If you're going on a destination excursion or you're going somewhere that's further than 30 minutes away from the marina, it's always smart to kind of let somebody know, just in case something does happen. You know where to go, because it is a really big area.
Speaker 1:I mean, there are a lot of creeks, a lot of channels a lot of places to get lost, a lot of places that look the same out there. I've only been out on the water a few times, but it's hard to kind of tell where you are in space.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sometimes it's pretty tough to kind of learn the waterway. Here I mean exactly what you said just know where you're at. So you know, definitely recommend float plans and definitely recommend, you know, kind of pre-staging your trip.
Speaker 1:Pre-staging the trip. What does that look like?
Speaker 2:You know, looking at the route that's ahead, you know knowing, hey, I've got a sandbar here, I've got a sandbar here, I need to make it through this sandbar, or I need to make it through this creek or this cut by this time. I can't reenter this creek or this cut until this time.
Speaker 1:So you're almost describing like a timeline. Boaters should set kind of a timeline for their journey.
Speaker 2:That's right. Yeah, you know, kind of look ahead because that's what's going to ultimately kind of prevent majority of the running aground scenarios that we have or that we deal with from happening is just knowing, hey, the tide's low, I can't go over the sandbar that I could go over at a higher tide, um, and then you know, when you get to a dock, uh, lazy boaters unfortunately kind of get punished um, know that you have to switch your lines and fenders to go into the current stuff like that. There's little nuances, uh, that go into it. That you'll kind of learn over time. But you know, being a proactive boater is being a safe boater for sure yeah, I was not a proactive boater in my early 20s.
Speaker 1:This I actually just remembered during our conversation. So I grew up boating on a lake up in New Hampshire and this was one of the worst days of my life, tom. I'm not going to lie. I got my boater's license once when I was like 17, like really young. My dad was always there when I was boating and one of the things that I always messed up was the buoys and which color meant what. So on this one trip I was just out with my buddies, you know, home from college literally ran the boat over rocks and crushed the rudder.
Speaker 1:I was able to get the boat back. But when you talk about these being prepared, being a proactive boater, maybe one of the key steps is know what markers mean on the water, yeah, something like that.
Speaker 2:I mean there's so many little things that could ruin a day out there and once you've seen it a couple of times you get a little bit more comfortable with it. But with comfortable comes complacentness. Some people they'll kind of start to cheat a corner Five times from them. They've cheated 10, 15 feet and then 10 times from them. They're going to continue to keep cheating what they've already cheated and then they're going to end up clipping that sandbar. They're going to clip something that they've tried to stick away from. So you know, practice how you play. So when you play you're practicing is kind of practice how you play.
Speaker 1:So when you play, you're practicing.
Speaker 2:That's right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's like stay humble out there, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's the biggest thing it yeah. That's the biggest thing I mean, I still cause I'm sure you've had.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:And, um, you know I ran a boat of ground not that long ago and just yesterday. Yeah, you know I don't want to admit it, but you know I have to. And, um, you know I still definitely make mistakes out there on the water and you know it's it's no harm, no foul If you do it's. It's one of those things that's part of boating out here.
Speaker 1:Yep, yep. You learn from your mistakes, which is always the best part of making mistakes.
Speaker 2:That's right.
Speaker 1:So any other safety tips for anyone heading out on the water? I've got a fun question for you to start to wrap up our time together today. But safety tips like top two or three things that our boaters should remember.
Speaker 2:The float plan is important. I mean that really does help and save a lot of people out on the water.
Speaker 1:Life jackets.
Speaker 2:Life jackets are important. But you know, if you're on a boat, even if you're not in a capacity, that you're driving a boat. You're a lookout, you know. And that's another thing is a lot of people get on a boat and they'll leave it just to the sole person that's driving the boat to be the lookout and to drive the boat and to do everything. All for one person. But if you're on a boat and you see something, say something. You know, hey, this doesn't look right. We're getting close to the sandbar over here we have a boat that's 50 feet off the right side of the boat, x and Z, so the spotter, it's okay to be a backseat driver.
Speaker 2:In a boat?
Speaker 1:it's not called a backseat driver. It's called a spotter. That's right, it's called a spotter. So you know, in the boating industry.
Speaker 2:It's very important. More eyes on the water is better, even if you don't exactly know what you're looking at. Just say something. You know it may be seen already. It may not be seen already, but we call that partner in command. Partner in command, yeah, partner in command. So you know, we, we have a lot of pride in tandem navigation and you know, even if you're on a boat, you are still a lookout if you're not driving the boat.
Speaker 1:That makes complete sense. Tom, tell us what's your favorite piece of boating equipment or technology.
Speaker 2:I'd say the one thing that's come out I wouldn't say necessarily recently, but here in like the last 10 years has been the E-PURBs. And E-PURB is an emergency position indicating radio beacon. So basically it's designed if it comes in contact with the water it's going to instantly start pinging off satellite locations to the Coast Guard on your behalf.
Speaker 2:So, you know when I was in the Coast Guard, I I will tell you I mean these things save lives. The E-PIRB has saved more lives than probably any other thing that's happened, you know, in the last 10, 15 years.
Speaker 1:All our boats as part of the boating club have an EPIRB on it.
Speaker 2:No, so we don't have EPIRBs on the boat club boats. They make something called a PPIRB, which is the same thing as an EPIRB, but it's a personal one and you know a lot of people that go on these extended boat trips, stuff like that. We do recommend that they purchase a P-Purb. They're not expensive but you know, the one time that something happens out on the water you're going to be so happy that you have that. It just kind of clips to your person. The P-Purbs do so. If for some reason, you enter the water or something happens while you're out there on the water, you can activate it or it will automatically activate itself, automatically activate itself and you know it'll ping off all that location, whether it's the set and drift or it's the location of where you are or where the boat is at that time. So those E-PURBs and those P-PURBs have saved thousands and thousands of lives per year.
Speaker 2:It's an amazing piece of technology.
Speaker 1:Outstanding. Well, I've enjoyed all of your tips, your story from earlier that that definitely hit home with, with just the experience you had with that gentleman and, uh, we're. We're kind of at the end of our time here, so I'd love to dig into the final question what does wellness mean to you?
Speaker 2:um, well, wellness to me is it's being out on the water, plain and simple, uh, it's the quiet in the early morning when the world hasn't really started yet, and it's just you, the boat and the todd. Uh, it's the rhythm of casting a line, the patience it takes. It's the peace that comes from waiting, uh, out there. I'm not really thinking about emails or traffic or anything like that, I'm just breathing solid air and watching the birds work. It's kind of where I reset, it's where I feel right is out on the water. And, like I said earlier, you know, wellness to me is it's the piece of the body, or it's the piece of the mind and the body and, um, you know, I I kind of find myself where I feel the best, you know, when I'm out, there it's, when you're on the water.
Speaker 1:That's right, it's. It's almost like for each of us. Even if we're not necessarily going to be a boater, we can find places in our lives where we go that bring us that peace, mind body connection.
Speaker 2:Oh, absolutely, yeah, A hundred percent.
Speaker 1:Cool. Well, Tom, this has been an absolute pleasure. I'm glad to have finally got you over here. I'm looking forward to maybe talking about fish next time.
Speaker 2:Yes, sir.
Speaker 1:We could probably take one fish and talk about it for 20, 30 minutes.
Speaker 2:Easy, we could. Right, yeah, we could.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you for uh your service in the coast guard. I can only commend you for that, for that time, and bringing that here as well, that just makes me feel safer for all our members who who go out and are trained by you. Um so, thank you very much and, of course, thank you for uh spending time with me this morning.
Speaker 2:I appreciate the recognition. I appreciate you having me.
Speaker 1:Jeff, yeah, anytime, listeners, feel free to hang out with me for a few more minutes and we'll give you a dose of healthy momentum for the rest of your week. Have you ever experienced that last minute ask? It's that moment when a work colleague, close friend or a family member turns to you and says I really need you to do X, y and Z for me tomorrow. Can you do it? How do you respond? If you're anything like me, you think back to the conversation we just had with Tom and you start wishing to yourself man, I wish I was in my happy place. I think this is what's interesting about human behavior is that, deep down inside, we all have initial reactions and if you're anything like me, internally in this type of situation, you are fuming. It has nothing to do with the person, it has nothing to do with the task itself, but it has everything to do with how, deep down inside, you know the task is going to set you back, know the task is going to set you back. Let's chat about being set back. Is it something that happens to you or is it something that happens because of you? You were set back a few weeks from your fitness routine after getting sick. Well, bound to happen. People get sick, even I do. The project was set back due to budget cuts Bound to happen. Leaders have to make difficult financial decisions. You were personally financially set back due to the stock market or, in my recent case, your two-year-old stove breaking out of the blue. Bound to happen. Appliances they break and even though it's really frustrating for me inside because we've only had the stove two years, I still feel set back. Only had the stove two years. I still feel set back.
Speaker 1:From my perspective, we have to be careful with how we react to the last minute task. First of all, life is too short to not stop and help to be a team player. Your colleague, friend or family member. They would do the same for you, would they not? Instead of viewing the last minute ask or setback as something that happens to you I got roped into it, that's a phrase we use start looking at the last minute task as something that happens because of you. If you weren't a great colleague, a great friend or a fantastic family member, truth be told, they wouldn't even ask. If you weren't already healthy, there's no way you'd get sick. If you didn't have a job, there wouldn't be budget cuts. And if you didn't own an oven like me, you wouldn't get to fix it.
Speaker 1:That's the simple message for this week. Instead of looking at a setback or a last-minute task as a hindrance, let's reframe our perspective and view it as a gift. It is not something that happens to you. It is something that happens because of you. That is a wrap on this week's episode. I want to thank you for spending time with us again this week. We hope that you have an egg-cellent Easter holiday. It is right around the corner. Hop to it with your friends, family, enjoy every moment you can, and don't forget to actively participate in life on your terms. We'll see you next week.
