Quarterly Compass

Where we've been and where we're going...

October 1, 2026

JOIN US NEXT THURSDAY IN NORTH PALM BEACH

WE'RE MAKING WAVES IN THE PALM BEACHES

LAGOON DRIFT AT THE SOUTH FLORIDA GIS EXPO

JOURNALISTS HIGHLIGHT USF OCEANOGRAPHY CAMP

FLORIDA EDUCATORS EXPLORE PBC MARINE SCIENCE

Our fall semester of youth expeditions for our Coastal Ocean Explorers: Sharks program in partnership with Florida International University scientists is underway. So far this fall, we have welcomed students and educators from four schools onboard R/V ANGARI, surpassing 1,000 participants since the program's inception. 

With support from the Palm Beach International Boat Show Gives Back grant program and Jacobs Wellington Foundation, students from Independence Middle School, Palm Beach Central High School, Inlet Grove Community High School and Palm Springs Community Middle School have assisted researchers to study local shark populations and learn more about our marine environment.

This summer we welcomed back John D. MacArthur Beach State Park rangers and Friends of MacArthur Beach State Park staff onboard to release two juvenile loggerhead sea turtles.

On our 124th expedition, we all boarded R/V ANGARI and traveled offshore in search of the perfect patch of Sargassum to release Cece and Shelly, the two Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission permitted sea turtles cared for at MacArthur Beach State Park. We loved being a part of sending these sea turtles into their new home.

This summer we welcomed ANGARI sponsors and donors onboard R/V ANGARI for a full day of shark research! Participants spent the day gaining hands-on experience with FIU scientists at sea and learning about our Coastal Ocean Explorers: Sharks program and the impact of their support. Find out what species of sharks we worked up on the expedition webpage.

We are extremely grateful for their generous support of our programs and enjoyed hosting everyone for an eventful day on the water!

We and our partners at the University of Florida's Thompson Earth Systems Institute are excited to share another engaging series of three live Ocean Expert Exchange webinars with you!

We kick off our fall lineup on Wednesday, October 7 at 1 PM ET with Dr. Philip Gravinese of Eckerd College who will chat with us about the swimming patterns of stone crab larvae and how they may be impacted by changing ocean conditions. Details and registration for our fall events, as well as recordings of past exchanges, are available via our OEE webpage!

The ANGARI Team loved returning to Sea Turtle Adventures to provide adults with special needs interactive activities involving coral reefs and sharks! From virtually joining a coral reef research expedition with our Generation Ocean: Coral Reefs 360 film via virtual reality headset, to learning about and identifying different coral species, and wrapping up with a mock shark workup, 20 participants got to be marine scientists for the day! 

This educational programming was made possible with funding from the Great Charity Challenge.

Our Coastal Ocean Explorers:Sharks team had a busy start to the school year, sharing our shark research program with over 1,700 students and educators across Palm Beach County! Emily Spurgeon from Florida International University presented as the new lead scientist for the program, sharing her Ph.D. research on bull shark behavior in South Florida.

Thank you to the Palm Beach International Boat Show Gives Back grant program, Jacobs Wellington Foundation and Great Charity Challenge for supporting these school visits!

In July we wrapped our 15th Lake Worth Lagoon and 7th Indian River Lagoon Lagoon Drift experiments, and they were both record breakers! 

Not only did we have more citizen scientists involved than ever before, we also had an eco-friendly drift card travel a record 276 miles from Manatee Lagoon to north of Jacksonville! Get all the details in the after-action report, and get ready for our fall deployment on November 10th! This Lake Worth Lagoon experiment was made possible with funding from the Great Charity Challenge.

ANGARI was invited to present at the Broward Shell Club's monthly meeting in August. Club members regularly participate in beach combing and are the perfect group to find our eco-friendly drift cards and become citizen scientists.

Laura was also invited to present as part of the University of Florida IFAS Extension's Virtual Water Ambassador Program Lunch and Learn Webinar Series. Laura enjoyed sharing Lagoon Drift and discussing the importance of studying marine debris movement in our local waterways.

Our Community Outreach Programs and Education Manager Laura Jessop has spent the past few months sharing new educational lessons for Lagoon Drift. She completed final testing with educators during this summer's Lake Worth Lagoon Educator Workshop and the School District of Palm Beach County's Math, Science, and STEM Back to School Conference. Educators got the chance to investigate our Lagoon Drift data and have a go at coming up with their own hypotheses about why, where and how our eco-friendly drift cards end up where they do. Lessons will be classroom ready and available online later this fall.

We are excited to share that our Director of Science Education & Advancement Dr. Amanda Waite has officially joined the Palm Beach North Chamber of Commerce's Ambassador Committee.

The PBN Chamber fosters a partnership of private, public, education and civic organizations working together to ensure Palm Beach North is Florida's "Prosperity Coast." Ambassadors welcome and orient new Chamber members, and add to the overall value of membership. Interested in joining the PBN Chamber of Commerce? Connect with Amanda!

THANK YOU TO OUR SUMMER INTERN, ALEX!

Alex Magda concluded her internship at ANGARI in August, completing a number of amazing projects focused on growing our Coastal Ocean Explorers: Sharks educational program.

Her internship consisted of assisting with scientist visits to schools, youth shark research expeditions and developing new educational content for the COE: Sharks program at-sea and on shore. Read all about Alex's projects and her internship experience in her intern blog. We're all proud of Alex and wish her the best in her new full-time position at FAU!