Hidden Treasures: Daffy Doug’s in the Florida Keys

by Gadling Staff on

It may not look like much from the outside: a block building with the typical tropical scene painted on the side. But once you enter Daffy Doug’s you will wonder why you’ve never stopped there before.

At first you think this little building on US 1 at mile marker 50 in the Florida Keys is just a tourist trap like any other. While it does have souvenirs (at a surprisingly un-tourist-trap price), it is also a well-stocked grocery store and a dollar store with all your household essentials.

Just when you think you have seen it all, keep walking. The far side of the building is the fishing section with a larger array of rods, reels and tackle than the local tackle shop has.

The best part of Daffy Doug’s is that you never know what they will have available; their stock is ever changing.
When you go to Daffy Doug’s, buy a few gifts for the family back home, pick up the kitchen utensil you need but refuse to pay a premium price for, get a cold drink, wander the fishing section, but by all means, do not leave without buying a mango. At $1 a piece (like most things in this unusual dollar store) they are the best in the Keys.

Connie McBride is a Seed.com contributor.

Only in Alaska: How to see the northern lights

by Catherine Bodry on

Just like a bear or a moose, the northern lights are a sought-after sight in Alaska. Despite being present around 300 days of the year in the north of the state, the lights (or “aurora borealis”) are actually visible for much fewer. Alaska’s long days mean that summer skies are too bright for the lights to show, but as the fall approaches (yep, mid- to late-August marks the beginning of autumn up here), chances to spot the northern lights become more numerous.

Though the northern lights aren’t totally predictable, there are ways you can increase the chance you’ll see them. Here are a few of them.

Ask for a northern lights wake-up call. In both Denali National Park and Fairbanks, places well established on the visitor trail, the lights begin to make dim appearances as early as August when night begins to fall again. Hotels are used to folks hoping to catch a glimpse of the phenomena and are happy to ring your room at all hours of the night to let you know if they’re out.


Stay for a few days. The longer you stay in once place, the greater your chance of seeing a light show. It’s statistics. Furthermore, if you can push back your trip (from late August mid-September, say), your chances of seeing the lights increases exponentially. That’s because during certain periods, like around Equinox (September 21), the Fairbanks area will lose as much as seven minutes of light per day.

Go to the right place. Fairbanks may be further north, meaning the lights are more present there, but it also has clearer skies. Choosing a place that has better weather is going to help – yes, you might be able to see the lights from Juneau but your odds of a cloudless sky are pretty low.

Plan a trip specifically for the lights. Though it might mean traveling in winter (involuntary shiver), you can book trips that are aimed at making sure you see the lights. At Chena Hot Springs Resort, my favorite place to see the northern lights, you can walk up the hill to a special “arroureum,” a small cabin with picture windows looking out to the sky. Bring a few friends and a thermos full of hot toddies, and watch the skies dance for hours.

Again, you’ll increase your odds immensely by being in Alaska at the right time and place. That being said, the first time I ever saw the northern lights was in Anchorage at the end of August. They looked at first like thin wisps of glowing white smoke, and even though they were hardly as dramatic as some of the neon lights shows I’ve watched since, seeing them made my entire summer in Alaska.

[Photo credit: Flickr user nick_russill]

From the Shores of Louisiana — Turtle rescue!

by Jon Bowermaster on

Along the beaches of the Florida panhandle and Alabama there is a massive rescue effort underway involving butter knives and forks, tricked-out Styrofoam coolers and specially-rigged FedEx trucks.

The job is to scoop 70,000 mostly loggerhead sea turtle eggs out of the sand (very carefully, using kitchen utensils among other tools) before the hatchlings can swim out into the Gulf where they will either suffocate or be poisoned when they start floating with the current and munching on oil-soaked seaweed.

It is an unusual example of across-the-board cooperation among the federal government (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) and local environmentalists, who are usually loudly against any such intervention. No matter the threat, relocating turtles nests is rarely done. Here it’s being regarded as essential.

Early this morning I talked with J. Nichols, a research associate with the California Academy of Sciences who was just leaving the dock in Grand Isle for a day observing the impact of the oil gusher on local wildlife. His Grupo Tortuga has for years been dedicated to restoring Pacific Ocean sea turtles. His response to the unorthodox rescue plan? “I wouldn’t want to put any turtle into that oil if there’s another option.”

The turtle rescue echoes a theme I heard in voiced across the Gulf as the gushing continued – 2.5 million gallons a day, or roughly 200 million gallons – like those defending the unorthodox building of berms and dikes to try and stem the oil tide, that doing something is better than doing nothing, even if the efforts may seem Quixotic.

%Gallery-98231%Carl Safina is the president of the Blue Ocean Institute. Among his many books on ocean wildlife he’s written “Voyage of the Turtle.” Regarding the nest relocating he says, “For the hatchlings it’s a tiny sliver of a gain. It helps draw attention and that’s good.” He adds that of course it is already too late for the juveniles and adults already aswim in the Gulf.

One reason sea turtles lay so many eggs – about 100 per nest – is because the chance of surviving is so low. The probability that a sea turtle hatchling will survive ranges from one in 1,000 to one in 10,000. Even in the best of times tracking them is tricky, including statistics like how many eggs are laid, how many turtles are successfully hatched and how many survive the first month.

The process of trying to save the 700 nests is painstaking: 1,500 Styrofoam coolers have been turned into surrogate nests, each holding just half a nest. Once the coolers are filled with sand and the eggs carefully laid inside they are loaded into specially padded FedEx 18-wheelers and driven to the NASA-controlled Kennedy Space Center where an air-conditioned warehouse has been readied. Within seven to eight weeks the eggs should hatch and the tiny turtles will be carted to the eastern side of Florida to be released into the Atlantic.

Everyone involved has fingers, toes, etc., firmly crossed.

Like most wildlife in the Gulf, sea turtles have not fared very well. To-date a little more than 600 have been found washed ashore or floating injured near the site of the gushing oil well, 447 dead and 116 with visible oil on them. Others have been accidentally burned to death in some of the “controlled” fires aimed at reducing oil gathered on the sea’s surface.

BP is concerned about those numbers because ultimately it will have to pay damages for every dead creature counted, just as it will have to pay a penalty for each gallon spilled.

The Perseids meteor shower, an August tradition

by Kraig Becker on

The Perseids meteor shower is an astronomical tradition that returns every year, running from late July to mid-August. The night time fireworks occur for several weeks as the Earth moves through the tail of the Swift-Tuttle comet, which sprinkles particles across the atmosphere. Those particles, in turn, burn up in a bright, colorful, display that is amongst the best light shows that nature has to offer.

The 2010 edition of the Perseids has already begun, and will actually peak this week. The absolute best days to watch the meteor shower are tonight, tomorrow night, and Friday. (August 11-13) During these peak days, you can expect, on average, about 30-40 meteors per hour. But after mid-night things really pick up with as many as 90-100 shooting stars per hour. That’s 1.5 meteors per minute for those keeping score at home.

This year, stargazers have the sky working in their favor as well. On August 9, the moon entered the “new” phase, meaning that it will be absent from the sky at the peak days of the shower, ensuring that there won’t be any natural light pollution to obstruct the views. Having a dark sky is crucial to really getting the full effect of the Perseids, and that includes the lights of the city as well. If you want to enjoy the display to its fullest, it is definitely best that you head somewhere without too much ambient light, such as a large park. Better yet, leave the city behind altogether and head out into the countryside.

The next few days give us all the chance to observe one of the best astronomical displays of the year, and although it is most prominent in the Northern Hemisphere, it can be seen nearly every where on Earth. For an enjoyable and relaxing evening, grab a bottle of wine and a blanket, head out onto the lawn, and stay up late for the show. You won’t be disappointed.

[Photo credit: Mila Zinkova via WikiMedia]

Sting opens organic farm store in Tuscany

by Laurel Miller on

Is every little thing he does magic (sorry)? Mother Nature Network announced that Sting and wife Trudie Styler just celebrated the opening of their new farm store, on their 16th century Tuscan estate near Florence. The couple have quietly been producing wine, olive oil, acacia and chestnut honey, and salumi on the 900-acre property for a number of years. Until now, however, the products were only available at select outlets in the U.K. and U.S.. The property also hosts yoga retreats.

At Tenuta il Palagio, travelers, food lovers, Police fans, and…tantric yogists…can get a taste of these farmstead products. In 2009, Sting told ecorazzi, “I came here and I decided to stay and be a farmer…also because I wanted to nourish my family with genuine quality products in a healthy environment. Everyone knows about my environmental commitment, especially to the rain forests in South America. With this business in Tuscany I am trying to help myself and those who are close to me to live better in a natural context.”

Move over, Bono.

[Photo credit: Flickr user funadium]