Saltwater sojourn

The Minnesota Scouts' stay also included a day on Shell Island, an overnight trip to the USS Alabama in Mobile, an offshore fishing trip and saltwater sports at Tyndall's Bonita Bay.

Duane Rader, the scoutmaster for Troop 29, said by e-mail from back home that "Minnesota is the land of 10,000 lakes, so water is plentiful up here. But many of us (Scouts and adults alike) have not had the opportunity to be in a speedboat, sail or snorkel. We really enjoyed being able to do this."

For the "Survivor" challenge, Scouts divided into four clans with authentic Creek Indian names. Reenactor Farris Powell from Shalimar did a presentation in full Creek regalia, on the history, customs and culture of the original Redfish Point residents.

There also was a Native American feast with hearts of palm; roasted alligator and oysters; fried mullet; and a soup called sofkee that includes cornmeal, bacon and onions. For the faint of heart and palate, there were chicken-out nuggets and carrot sticks. Everyone had dessert of peaches and marshmallow Peeps.

"Survivor"-style competitions included a blue crab roundup, Indian burial mound building and a water gun challenge that called for a shooter to fill a 5-gallon bucket held by a catcher.

"Many of our participants caught redfish right off shore," Rader said, "and the chance to catch crabs was really a highlight. We especially liked walking the beach at night when the tide was down and seeing the ground almost move with all the crabs on the beach."

Segler said even the adults from Minnesota learned some things. Bob Homer is one of Troop 29's adult leaders; an outdoorsman whom Segler said has applied several times to be in a real "Survivor" series. He "had great fun snorkeling in the surf" on Shell Island, Segler said. But "he learned a valuable lesson about shell collections. When he returned to his pile after gathering more, he discovered that about half of the prior collection had crawled away. He didn't realize they had creatures inside them."

"On our first night," Rader added, "Randy had (local Scouter) Kerry Gunn come and give us a presentation about local plants, animals and constellations. I am not a big fan of snakes and was surprised that there was the possibility of us crossing the path of one during our camping trip.

"I told Randy that in Minnesota we winter camp under the stars in January, and one of the toughest things to do is get out of your sleeping bag in the middle of the night when it is below zero to use the restroom. But I think I had a harder time getting up while camping, thinking something might cross my path."

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