I moved to Florida in the summer of 1999, and began working at a local dive shop. As September came around so did the International Coastal Clean up. Our shop was an affiliate of Project Aware which at the time was a co-sponsor for the clean up and I decided to head up a volunteer team of our own. All of two people showed up for the clean up, me and my 5 yr old daughter. Undaunted the little bug and I went out to the wetlands along Pasco County and filled up 6 yard bags with trash. The following year it was still just the two of us only we brought back 7 bags! We were undoubtedly hooked.

     We got a lot better at it over the next few years getting the Girl Scouts involved and by 2005 we had a small team of boaters going offshore. In 2006 for the International Coastal Clean up we ended up with only 1 boat and 7 volunteers (thats 1 more then I should have had on my 22ft Sisu). We went out anyways. When we were ready to head back in, we loaded up 22 bags, 46 tires and a section of deck from a boat. On our way in we were taking in water and had to keep the bilge pump running. We did make it in safely, but we came to the conclusion,“We need a bigger boat.”

      The following year we did just that, got a bigger boat Vikings Fleet in Tarpon Springs, ushered us out into the GUlf of Mexico aboard their Gulfstar. This first trip brought together 22 volunteers under the pun name "7 in the water" went ashore at Anclote Key and 3 Rooker Key Trash removed and hauled back ashore 67 bags of trash, 1 grill, 21 tires,1 boogy board, 1 marine, hatch, 1 patio chair, 3 crab pots, 3 full sheets of plywood, 1raft, and 2 Navy flare markers.

      We knew that we were on the right track ...
In 2008 as people started talking more about going "Green", it was really catching on, but we were out on the water, so blue for the water and green for the environment so Bluegreen just is natural