Topsail Insider
Topsail Insider interviews local businesses and nonprofits in the Greater Topsail area of North Carolina including Hampstead, Surf City, Topsail Beach, North Topsail, Holly Ridge, and Sneads Ferry. Locals can learn about all the new businesses popping up in our area, prospective residents can find what’s available before making the big move, and vacationers will see we have much to offer beyond our beautiful beaches!
Topsail Insider
Funky Fins: Eco Education For Curious Minds
Looking for fun, outdoor activities to enjoy quality family time away from devices? Trudy hosts this episode offering the perfect solution for locals and visitors alike.
Join us for a fun conversation with Chris Lener, the Marine Biologist and Educator behind Funky Fins: Eco Education for Curious Minds. Chris shares her journey from the Jersey Shore to North Carolina, detailing the education and teaching experiences that led to the engaging adventures she now offers in the Topsail area. From shark tooth hunting and marsh and beach exploration to fish printing and kayak tours, Chris's programs foster a deep connection to the ocean, promote environmental awareness, and create impactful experiences for families and future generations.
Email Chris: funkyfinsonti@gmail.com
Find and Follow Funky Fins on Facebook and Instagram!
Buy Tickets at www.tickettailer.com/events/funkyfins
Text/Call: (203) 512-4936
Topsail Insider is Sponsored by Saltwater Suites & Resort - Topsail Island’s premier luxury hospitality experience! Book your beach getaway today at SaltwaterTopsail.com or call (910) 886-4818!
Topsail Insider is also Sponsored by Surf City Line! Come out for Beachin’ Bowls, Margaritas, and Live Music, and enjoy your meal on their top deck with Ocean Views!
Visit SurfCityLineNC.com for their full food, bar, and brunch menus!
Topsail Insider is edited by Jim Mendes-Pouget.
jimpouget@gmail.com | http://bit.ly/PodcastsByJim.
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Thanks - I’ll see you around Topsail!
Welcome to Topsail Insider where you can hear all about the businesses and events in the beautiful coastal towns in the greater Topsail area of North Carolina. Coming up today, we have Trudy hosting Ms Chris Leonard, marine biologist and owner of and educator at Funky Fans Eco Education for Curious Minds. She offers outdoor classes on the beach and in the marsh, teaching kids, tweens, teens and adults all about the sea life you find right here in the greater Topsail area. Whether you're a local or a visitor, you're going to want to hear about the fun and informative classes she offers Today on Topsail Insider. She offers today on Topsail Insider Experience a new level of luxury on Topsail Island at Saltwater Suites in Surf City, north Carolina.
Speaker 1:With no nightly minimum, you can enjoy short getaways or an extended stay. Each suite features luxury bedding, full kitchens with dining tables and dishwashers, and all suites other than the three ADA suites have full-size washers and dryers. And don't forget about those beautiful ocean views. 24-7 self-check-in provides a hassle-free and seamless experience. Saltwater Suites is the perfect choice for your next beach getaway. Book your next Topsail visit at saltwatertopsailcom or call 910-886-4818.
Speaker 1:Saltwater Sweets Topsail Island's premier luxury hospitality experience. Come on out to Surf City Line for the best made-from-scratch beach and bowls on Topsail Island. Treat yourself to their delicious bowls with shrimp steak, fish, chicken or pork, or enjoy their peel-and-eat shrimp beach break salads and more. They offer a full bar serving handcrafted cocktails, incredible margaritas and they proudly serve North Carolina craft beer. The line boasts the biggest deck on the island with three levels for listening to live music, relaxing in the sun or head on up to the top deck to enjoy your meal with ocean views. Visit Surf City Line NCcom for their full menus. The best service and beach vibes on the island await you at 2112 North New River Drive. Whether you're a local or visiting from out of town, celebrating a special occasion or just soaking up the sun with family and friends, it's always a great time at Surf City Line.
Speaker 2:Welcome to Topsail Insider. My name is Trudy and I am your host. Let's get to our guest today. Today, we are talking with Chris Leonard, and she is the creator of Funky Fins. Welcome, chris. Thank you so much for joining us. Thanks for having me. Yeah, we have been having a lot of fun exploring so many cool things to do in the summer here on Topsail Island, and I've recently found out about this adventurous and educational activities provided by Funky Fins. So, chris, I want you to tell everyone what kinds of adventures you're providing for our community.
Speaker 3:I'm providing adventures for the family when they come to Topsail Island, so what I'm interested in doing is sharing all the different coastal environments with them, helping them to become more environmentally aware and conservation conscious, and I work with ages from two to 102, all kinds Anybody who wants to come out and learn something about the island.
Speaker 2:You've opened my eyes to a lot of different opportunities, not just being out on the beach, but the marshes and everything too. So you've got several locations right.
Speaker 3:Yes, Right now this summer I'm rotating through five different programs. I'm teaching a treasure hunters, which is shark tooth collecting and other treasures on North Topsail Beach. I'm teaching explore the shore, which is for three to nine year olds and the parents can come and play for free. That's on Topsail Beach. I also do a fish printing program.
Speaker 2:So I love that you're using all different parts of the island too. You don't just have one spot you're going to and you're really maximizing on the different pieces of the island, and the different lay of the beaches are different, you know. Yes.
Speaker 3:So I'm also teaching a learning with loggerheads program and that is on Topsail Beach, and then I teach off the island as well, because I want people to see more than just Topsail Island, because it's all about the ocean environment and not specifically just the coast there. So we're also going over to Stump Sound and Morris Landing and we do a family marsh madness program there.
Speaker 2:So these are all programs that you dreamed up. I mean based on your knowledge or based on what families and people are wanting to know.
Speaker 3:As a marine biologist I have a lot of knowledge about the ocean, but I've also spent many years teaching school. So I've taught in school for over 20 years and I wrote a lot of curriculum, so that kind of thing comes real easy to me. All right, we're going to get to that because I want to hear your background.
Speaker 2:But what was your goal in creating this business?
Speaker 3:So in creating this business, my goal was to make a connection between people that are coming to visit the ocean and the ocean with the people and the ocean with the people. So I think it's really important that people understand that what they do directly affects the ocean and that the health of our ocean directly affects us.
Speaker 2:I do want to talk about you personally and where you've come from, because I have a lot of respect for the background you have. You're not from North Carolina. I'm not from North Carolina.
Speaker 3:Let's talk.
Speaker 2:You can't tell by my accent I know, I know, so share with us where you're from and how you came here. How'd you come here? Yeah, how you got here.
Speaker 3:Well, I grew up on the Jersey Shore, so I've always had a love for the ocean. I spent a little bit of time living in Chicago, not near the ocean, and then got re-transplanted back to the Connecticut coast, so the reason why I'm here is because it's warm, quite honestly, yes we've heard, our weather is better than Connecticut.
Speaker 3:There's no snow here, but what brought me to North Carolina, to this specific area, was I had a friend which many people know, jean Beasley, who was the director of the Sea Turtle Hospital for many, many years, and we had met at an international symposium because, aside from being a teacher and a marine biologist, my specialty happens to be sea turtle migrations.
Speaker 2:I was going to ask you how did you meet the great Jean Beasley? That's wonderful, yeah, so you met her.
Speaker 3:How many years ago it was probably 15, 20 years ago, when I met Jean. Wow, okay, yeah.
Speaker 2:But you ended up being a teacher because I know you also. You do have funky fins as your business, and that was what we're talking about today, but you're an excellent tutor and you help a lot of students, so you have a teaching background.
Speaker 3:I do have a teaching background. I worked mostly in independent school systems so, like Cape Fear Academy is one that's close to us, I worked in the independent school system for almost 20 years teaching math and science.
Speaker 2:You have a love of the ocean. You ended up being a teacher, but there's lots of other parts too.
Speaker 3:There are a lot of other parts. So I went to school for marine science and then, when I graduated, I worked as a biologist at the Maritime Aquarium in South Norwalk, Connecticut, and I was one of the original biologists there. And during my time as a biologist I happened to get pregnant. One of my jobs was to feed the seals, which you would climb like Spider-Man across the windowsill to get out to the rookery where the seals were Well at six months pregnant. My belly didn't fit, so I fell into the pool in front of about 300 people and they quickly pulled me out.
Speaker 2:How did the seals feel about this.
Speaker 3:That's what everybody says to me. How were the seals? Were they friendly? Did you pet them? I was just worried about getting out of the pool, and that followed me for many, many, many years.
Speaker 2:When I would come into the aquarium, people would say are you the lady that fell in the pool? Yes, they remember that.
Speaker 3:Well, when I left there, I was pretty young, I was 24. Well, when I left there, I was pretty young, I was 24. And so I had just got out of college. This was my first job and I really wanted to make a mark in marine science and I felt like, oh no, now I'm going to be home and I mean, it's the greatest job in the world being a mom right, let's just say that.
Speaker 3:But I was just starting my career and I didn't want to just be labeled as not having the experience and being a stay-at-home mom. So I created a business there and it was called Traveling Sea Squirts and I traveled all around Connecticut and many counties in New York and I had little igloo coolers with animals that I got from my friends that were oystermen. I would call the boats and they would keep their bycatch and save it for me and then I would go down and pick what I wanted and I would travel around to the schools and I would teach marine science, and I did that while my kids were little for about 10 years.
Speaker 2:That's a long time it was. And then I got tired of driving and that was a lot of distance.
Speaker 3:Right, it was a lot of distance.
Speaker 3:It was a lot of distance, it was a lot of distance. And then, after about 10 years of doing it, I decided that I really wanted to stay put and not be driving so much. So a friend of mine said you know, you can teach in a private school without a teaching certification. So I went in and I covered a sabbatical at a school in Lower Fairfield County in Connecticut and when my year was done they said we really want you to stay, so we've created this job for you. And I thought, well, that's pretty cool. So I built this lower school science curriculum there and then quickly graduated and they were moving me to do some middle school classes.
Speaker 3:Well, a school in Upper Fairfield County found out about my sea turtle program because the school had a large budget for professional development. And they said to me we want to send you somewhere to study marine life. If you could pick anything that you want to do, what would you want to study? And I said, well, I don't really know a lot about sea turtles to study marine life. If you could pick anything that you want to do, what would you want to study? And I said well, I don't really know a lot about sea turtles. So they said okay, we'll find someone, a PhD or somebody to work with and we'll send you to study with them. Wow, so I did an Earthwatch program and I met Dr Tony Tucker and he was amazing and we had a great time. I was down there for 10 days in Florida studying sea turtles and when I came home we kind of hit it off. So he called me up and he said hey, do you think you could scoop up some money at your school and maybe you could come down and we'll try to put some satellite tags on sea turtles, because he was very interested in doing research on migration patterns in the Gulf of Mexico. So I was very blessed and very lucky for a very long time.
Speaker 3:But it started out at New Canaan Country School, the first school that I worked at, and they funded a sea turtle for me, a satellite. Actually they funded five the first year and it was really cool because the kids got to name them and then I went down there and put the transmitters on them and then I thought about well, how can I get the kids to learn about them in the classroom? So I published a curriculum for teachers and it's still online. It's on cturtleorg and it's about how do you use scientific data live scientific data in your classroom and it teaches you all about. You can go on cturtleorg, you can take all of the longitude and latitude points and then you can bring them into the classroom and the kids can map them and it teaches them so many different kinds of skills. But it's all live science. So I did that for 15 years.
Speaker 3:But I had another school that was up county where I lived, and they kind of stole me away from the other school. They said we want you to come up. We're building a science curriculum. We hear what you did down there is fantastic, and we want you to come up and consult because we want to start a science program in our elementary school. We don't have one. And I said, sure, a science program in our elementary school, we don't have one. And I said, sure.
Speaker 3:So I went up and I met with the headmaster there and we sat and went over what they were looking for their program to look like and so I developed the program for them and I tried to get them started in contacts with the Moat Marine Lab, which is who I worked with as a visiting scientist for 15 years Marine Lab, which is who I worked with as a visiting scientist for 15 years and I thought about it and I said, well, why would I not work here, which is closer to my kids, instead of doing all that driving?
Speaker 3:So I wound up switching schools and I worked at Worcester School in Danbury, connecticut, for 15 years and I was just really lucky and blessed that they were excited about what I was doing and I had a field studies program where I could take high school kids with me during the time that I was putting the transmitters on and they could actually do the turtle work with me and we would go around Memorial Day weekend. We'd stay for about a week and they would do all of the work and then we would come home and then we'd use my curriculum in the lower school and the middle school classrooms to track the turtles. How exciting for them it was really fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so seriously, you went from working in an aquarium to taking your coolers, dragging your coolers around, and then you went to private schools or independent schools, and then you ended up in research and you've published curriculum and then you ended up figuring out how to combine the school system and the research. I mean, that's the way I see it, am I?
Speaker 3:missing something. No, I mean it was funny because when I was working down there in Florida, we were on the beach one night and we were just waiting for turtles to come up, which you know in Florida they come up a lot more than they do in North Carolina.
Speaker 2:True, very true.
Speaker 3:But Tony said to me why don't you go back to school and get your master's oh? And I thought, oh gosh, because at this point I was probably in my early 40s.
Speaker 2:Well, the other thing you've done so well, too, is keep your kids prevalent in everything you were doing too. You're making decisions career decisions around them too.
Speaker 3:Right, because now you're talking about Because I was a mom first, right yeah?
Speaker 2:And now you're talking about going back to school. I can imagine that's like I know.
Speaker 3:And so I was like oh, I don't know if I want to do this, it was. So I started scraping the backs of loggerhead sea turtles, because they travel around like little islands and so wherever they migrate from, things are falling and floating on their backs and landing on their backs, and so they would come up on the beaches to nest, and then I would collect everything on their backs.
Speaker 3:And I would put it in little tiny jars and I would send it up to Yale and then I would go back up to Connecticut and then I would spend hours in the lab looking at little, tiny, microscopic things, trying to identify them and counting them, which was very tedious. Did you publish or do anything with that information? That information went to Tony's study when he was doing migrations, because what we were looking for to see if there was an indicator species on the backs of the sea turtles where other countries. It's very pricey to have a satellite transmitter on the back of a sea turtle.
Speaker 3:So not only do you have to pay for that, but you have to pay for the airtime, for the Argos airtime. So we're trying to find a more affordable way for other countries and other places that didn't have that kind of money. And so we did find that there are indicator species and there are things on the backs of sea turtles that tell the story of where they're coming and going from, and there was a lot of work being done on that right now.
Speaker 2:All right. Well, your son is a teacher too, so as you're being a mom and you're dragging my kids to turtle beaches, so what does he do? Is he in the same field?
Speaker 3:He is in the same field. He is a marine biologist. He also studied sea turtles alongside of me for quite a few years and he is presently going to Mexico on Saturday to study whale sharks.
Speaker 2:I'm a little jealous, I bet you are. Yeah, well, he'll share his information with you. I hope so. So obviously your son was inspired by all the things you were showing him and he was seeing mom do, and he got involved, and you involved a lot of kids along the way, which is fabulous, but it had to start somewhere. So how did you get inspired?
Speaker 3:I just always really was fascinated by the ocean, and as a kid, growing up and being on the Jersey Shore all the time, one of my favorite things to do is just walk the beach or pick around in the tide pools. I thought that was the coolest thing, and even as an adult, I can spend hours out there doing it. As I get older. I do recall talking to my parents and asking them about studying whales because I think that that's a common animal that people connect with when they're young and my dad said you go to college and you can just study whales and I thought, wow, that's really cool, but your parents weren't in this field or anything.
Speaker 3:No, my parents were in the field at all, but they both grew up in New Jersey and we just spent a lot of time at the beach and now you're helping other families really appreciate the beach and see stuff that I don't know, that they would all stop and recognize with your programs.
Speaker 2:I like that it's really interesting.
Speaker 3:So when they're out on the beach with me even, you know, sometimes you look at the beach and you think, oh, there's nothing out there. But once I get people out there and they start looking around and digging around and they're paying more attention because they're really looking. They're like, wow, I didn't know this lived here. Wow, I didn't know that this had this on its body. You know, they start to discover new things and that's really cool for me because, like for me to go on the beach and someone see like a horseshoe crab for the first time is like better than going to Disney, frankly.
Speaker 2:And cheaper, so that's good. And it's in our backyard, I think that's good. So you mentioned earlier about getting the visitors to come and see and learn, but there's a lot of our locals who really need that information too. Yeah, and.
Speaker 3:I find that there are a lot of locals that take my programs, but one of the most amazing experiences that I had was two years ago in February. I had a family from Ohio contact me and they wanted to go out on the marsh and I thought, okay, february, that's the coldest month for us right, so I took them out on the marsh. The kids had never seen the ocean. Oh wow, it was so amazing.
Speaker 2:They even swam. But see, don't you enjoy it so much more when you have a new person. Yes, like you live through them and their excitement, and then you're just brought back to your early days of when you were discovering things too.
Speaker 3:It just keeps it all so fresh, and I think that's why I've been a teacher for so long and I continue to you know work with kids Because the amazement and the exploration and the discovery and just the awe of everything when they find something new yeah, it gets me so excited.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. I love it Thinking about your education too. So you went to school two different times. You did college, but you went later. Someone mentions go get your master's. Did you do it?
Speaker 3:I did. I went back to get my master's. The school that I was attending, western Connecticut State at the time, had done away with their oceanography master's. So I thought, well, where am I going to go? Because the college was really close to me and they kind of just created this environmental science focusing on sea turtle ecology masters for me so that I could, with a graduating class of one Basically no.
Speaker 2:That's great. Yeah, I just see a lot of great opportunities that opened up a lot of people who were supporting you and helping you find this crazy awesome path. I love it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, marine science is something that you really have to go after. I think there's so many different fields in marine science to study and I would love to go back to school at UNC Wilmington. Every time I go there to hear a lecture I'm just like, oh, I want to go back to college because it's so great there. But I think it's something that there are jobs and things out there. I just was in a position where I was young and I was having a family and I was trying to going back to school, so I had to create things as I went along. It was kind of like being a magician.
Speaker 2:Well, now your kids are grown, you can go do other things. Now I can do whatever I want. That's great, all right, I want to get back to you. Said you got connected to Topsil because of meeting Jean Beasley. Yes, we just celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center last year and that is always a mouthful when I say it. So what ties do you have with that group? Do you do anything?
Speaker 3:with the hospital. I had a very short stint working in the sea turtle hospital and then I decided that I would work on my big thing was the night patrol. So I was really attracted to the night patrol, and what I like about here is how it's used for education, because working in places like Florida, I worked in Costa Rica, I worked in Bermuda, I worked in Mexico they don't sit by sea turtle nests.
Speaker 3:They don't, they don't, and we make such a big deal about it, of sitting at the nests and waiting, and every time I sit there I think about how special that is, because in Florida, with our 100,000 nests a year, you know the mamas come up, we study them and do what we need to do and then they go back into the ocean and the nests are left and we make sure that they're safe and they're all tucked in and we do all of the things that you folks do here with the stakes and putting up the tape and protecting them. But I never saw in the 15 years that I did sea turtle research. I never saw a hatchling until I came to Topsil.
Speaker 2:Beach. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3:Really, I never saw one.
Speaker 2:You think it's the quantity, though? Florida has a hundred thousand nests and north carolina has a thousand. Was it just they just too much to keep up with? I don't know.
Speaker 3:That's interesting but I also think that in north carolina, because you're so far north that you're producing most of the males, because it's the weather is cooler, yeah, explain that I think it's well.
Speaker 3:The sea turtle eggs are temperature dependent, sex determination and so, because we're so far north, some of the sand does not get as warm as it does down in Florida. So that gives these sea turtle eggs an advantage of incubating at a cooler temperature, which produces male sea turtles. So what I think is really cool is when you're sitting there and you're protecting their nest and you have that experience of watching them go into the ocean. Many of those sea turtles may be males.
Speaker 2:Yeah, which we need? If you've got 100,000 nests down in Florida and you feel like they're predominantly female, then it's important for North Carolina to have it. I mean that sand is very warm, it's hot.
Speaker 3:I mean that sand is very warm, it's hot, I mean there are some places inside of the nest that are cooler than others, so is there a chance? That some males could be popping out of there. Sure, yeah, but I think predominantly in North Carolina we're probably producing more males because the temperatures and the conditions are different and much cooler.
Speaker 2:I love that. Our listeners can learn that little tidbit. So you're always sharing information. Chris, you're just full of information and I love that. I love hearing all the history, how you got here, your wealth of knowledge. You truly know what you're doing and I think that's super because I can see you're pulling from so much information that you've gathered over the years with your research, with your classes. But you've been here at Topsail for a while and our beaches are going to be a little different than Florida.
Speaker 2:So, you're very familiar with what species we have living here, what things you can introduce people to and really make it Topsail-focused. Yes, yeah, that's awesome. All right, let's talk about your classes. You created Funky Fins. How long has it been around? So this is my third summer, so what makes you different from anybody else who might be trying to do classes like this?
Speaker 3:Well, I started Funky Fins working just with kids, and that changed over the years because parents started emailing me saying, well, we want to play in the marsh, well, we want to fish print, we want to do scavenger hunts on the beach. And I thought really so my programs are primarily family focused. Great, so, anyone can come?
Speaker 2:But you could do a birthday party or something too.
Speaker 3:I do do birthday parties on occasion. I do a lot of private programs. So if you don't find a class that works into your schedule while you're on vacation, if you have at least five people and you're looking to do any of those five programs but you want to do it on a different day and time, all you have to do is email me and I'm happy to come out and do it with you.
Speaker 2:You don't have a building or anything, you're out. I do not. My office is the beach, your office is the beach. I love it. So you found that everybody wants to learn. You will set up some stuff for kids, but you've involved a lot of parents and grandparents.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I try to have something for everybody. As a matter of fact, my newest class is treasure hunters, and that was developed because people were asking me last year, where do we find these shark tooth sifters? And I couldn't believe that they were hard to find in a beach community. So over the winter, I thought, wow, people are really looking for that stuff, so can I do a class with that? So I created a STEM program. It's 90 minutes long and you build your own shark sifter to take home with you and then we go shark tooth hunting. That's fabulous. The funniest thing is the last class that I taught. I had 15 people come and I had a waiting list, because I like to keep my classes small, because I really like to have personalized classes so that this way, I can answer the questions that you're interested in, and I just like working with smaller groups. And when I showed up, I had my inflatable shark with me and all of my gadgets, and there were 11 grownups and four kids. Yeah, it was awesome.
Speaker 2:It was really awesome. You're kind of dialed into a kid's world and you show up with all the adults.
Speaker 3:Yeah, now in my head I'm going, okay, how do I change this around? But we had a lot of fun, I bet.
Speaker 2:So we do have some other learning opportunities here in Topsail. We have different camps. We certainly have surf schools, all kinds of things, and we have ecological marine adventures and they have a camp and do some of the probably some similar things. But yours is different, I feel like, because you don't have a building.
Speaker 2:So, you're going to tell people where to meet you Right Different locations on the island, sometimes at Morris Landing and Holly Ridge, and then you involve all ages and make it a true learning experience for a family adventure, even for, like I said, locals. Sometimes we don't know everything we should know, but a family on vacation could have a really cool morning or afternoon out with you, huh.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's really fun because I have the kids, the parents and the grandparents and that's always so much fun. That's neat.
Speaker 2:I love that, and we did talk a lot about sea turtles, but we're talking about a lot of other animals. What other subjects do?
Speaker 3:you cover? You do the shark tooth. Do you also do birds and grasses and things? So I do do a little bit of birds and grasses when we're out on the marsh, because at Morris Landing there's so many different ecosystems out there.
Speaker 3:We have the tidal flats and we have the maritime forest and we have the sandy beach and we have the salt marsh. So there's so many different things to talk about. So we talk a little bit about the history of stump sound, we talk a little bit about the grasses, about the birds, about all of those things.
Speaker 2:Because they're all relying upon each other.
Speaker 3:Right and.
Speaker 2:I'm glad you emphasize that.
Speaker 3:And we fish. We do a little bit of fish seining, which is really, really fun. I try to make everything different. I actually have a family that has taken every one of my classes this summer so far except for fish printing.
Speaker 2:That's cute. Is the fish printing more like an art class kind of?
Speaker 3:thing. So the fish printing is part of a bony fish class. We talk a little bit about bony fish and we talk about form and function of their fins and their body parts. So that's how the program begins. And then we talk about the difference between bony fish and cartilaginous fish. And then I have some bony fish and some cartilaginous fish. They're rubber.
Speaker 2:I was asking wait, are you bringing anything out of the ocean?
Speaker 3:and painting live fish and throwing them back or eating them for supper or anything like that. They're rubber fish and the kids and the parents and the grandparents, everybody's welcome to bring a t-shirt. They bring their own t-shirts and we print fish. I have tote bags that are available, because sometimes people want to make beach bags and sometimes we just practice printing.
Speaker 2:Oh, and then they get a nice souvenir. Yeah, I like that Well. So how many classes?
Speaker 3:I have five different classes right now. Fish printing, learning with loggerheads, marsh madness, treasure hunters and explore the shore.
Speaker 2:Okay, so you have those five classes. Are you teaching all five of those each week, or how?
Speaker 3:do you work that out? I teach three to four classes a week and I have to set my schedule up according to the tides, and I also focus on the morning because it is hot on that beach.
Speaker 2:That's good for the older people.
Speaker 3:Thank you Especially me, so my classes usually start at 9 o'clock, and a couple of them run for an hour, and there's a couple of them that run for 90 minutes.
Speaker 2:So when someone books a class, they know where to find you.
Speaker 3:When they sign up for it. They get everything. They get all the directions, they get what they need to bring. They get all the directions, they get what they need to bring.
Speaker 2:They get a little blurb of the class and what they're going to be doing. They get all of that. Okay, good, I like that. And we talked about it's all ages. And then you do keep the classes small. But you said, if I had a group of five people, I can have my own class.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you just have to contact me through email and then we'll pick a day and a time and let me know if any of those topics that I've been teaching this summer is something that you're interested in. And if it's not and you're interested in something else, or you want to do some talk on dolphins and whales or learn about jellyfish, then that's what we'll do.
Speaker 2:What's the youngest age of children? You usually have come?
Speaker 3:I have young toddlers come, but I don't expect anyone below the age of three to buy a ticket. So I had a little girl out there today. She was so cute and she bought her little bag and collected her seashells, and so I'm just happy for everybody to be there. I think it's really important. Number one family time. I don't think that we have enough family time off of the technology for sure. So getting the kids outside doing things with their hands and exploring and discovering is way high on my list. So I love working with the families, especially the kids. And then my other love is, of course, the ocean.
Speaker 2:And I can imagine the memories last a long time for some adventure like that for the kids. They're going to really remember that. I hope so. How long is a class?
Speaker 3:So I have three classes that are 60 minutes, that are an hour, and then I have two classes that are 90 minutes that are a little bit longer, but I do have to warn you if we're out on the beach and we're having like a super, really fun time like I was having this morning. I don't rush off the beach after an hour.
Speaker 2:So like if you're good to hang out and keep exploring and discovering, then I'm good for that too, and that's good, because if the weather's cooperating and you're finding stuff, I mean, who wants to cut short?
Speaker 3:the fun. I don't want to.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so do people need to bring anything to class? I mean, you provide me. I've heard you bring your own fish, I do bring my own fish.
Speaker 3:I always tell everybody. I send an email the night before when you sign up for the class, just reminding you about where we're going to meet and what time and all of that. But I also always tell you towel, because the kids always wind up wet one way or another. Sunscreen because that sun is blasting out there, and a reusable water bottle.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so how do people figure out the cost and how?
Speaker 3:to pay. So they would go on to the ticket website that I use and the address for that is tickettaylorcom. Slash events, slash funkyfens. If they don't go there. I'm really, really active on social media. Every time I find something interesting or I love to take pictures of things, I'm always posting them. We're on Facebook and also Instagram.
Speaker 2:What happens when the weather doesn't cooperate Because everything's outside. I mean, you don't do anything inside.
Speaker 3:You're right, and I had a lady last night that had contacted me and she said they're looking for thunderstorms tomorrow. Are you going to cancel the class? So I went to the radar and you cross your fingers that the meteorologists are correct. Right, I saw there was a 12% chance of rain this morning, starting at 10, and I said I got a window from nine to 10, 12%. You know, living at the beach.
Speaker 3:It does change, yeah, and it blows over. So I've only had to cancel three classes in three years because of weather. I just think it's cloudy, it's sunny, just get out there. If there's thunder or lightning or it's pouring rain, then I'm not going out there either.
Speaker 2:No, that's only scary. Yeah, I want to make sure everybody knows how to find you.
Speaker 3:So it's important if you Google funky fins, it does come up. If, for some reason, it doesn't, you want to Google Funky Fins, eco Education for Curious Minds, right, because there is another company out there in the world called Funky Fins and they make scuba gear.
Speaker 2:So if you Google Funky Fins, we're aiming to find your Facebook page. Is that correct? Yes, okay.
Speaker 3:And the events are all posted for the summer right now on Facebook, so all the events are posted.
Speaker 2:So the tickets are directly linked from your Facebook page. Yes, so.
Speaker 3:I post many. Like I said, I'm on social media a lot posting, so whenever I have new classes coming up, I post it so that you can find what's coming up. But I also post on Facebook every single day what's coming up. But I also post on Facebook every single day, like today I did explore the shore. So yesterday I posted different pictures of different experiences of people.
Speaker 3:From your past classes yes, and then I always have the link. So whenever I make a post on Facebook or on Instagram, I always put the ticket link in Most of the feed on my Facebook page is the classes, but I also started putting some information about different critters that we've been finding too, because people have been asking for that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, how far in advance do people need to think about your classes and put that on their calendar?
Speaker 3:That's hard to say because when I post my summer classes in March, people start to buy tickets already and then sometimes people will wait to look at the weather. But if you buy a ticket ahead of time and something happens like weather happens, or there has been a couple incidents where I don't have five people sign up this has happened twice in three years I don't have enough people sign up so I canceled the class. You can either have a refund or you can use that money and be pushed into another program, so that's totally up to you.
Speaker 2:So, when you book your tickets through TicketTailor, are the classes all the same prices or are there different prices associated with each class?
Speaker 3:So, as far as pricing is concerned, it's different and it varies, but I try to make it very affordable so that families can come. So with the treasure hunters there's a lot of equipment for building and things involved. So that class is 90 minutes and that's probably the priciest class I have. It's $35 for 90 minutes, but usually we're out there for almost two hours because we can't stop picking up shark teeth.
Speaker 2:It's really fun, yeah, and you're supplying all of the equipment for them to make their devices.
Speaker 3:That's great, and it's time-consuming to put those kits together. The fish printing class is $20, and you bring your own T-shirt if you want to print. And then I also have available tote bags. I sell tote bags for a very low price so that if people want to make beach bags, they can do that too. Marsh Madness is $25 for 90 minutes, but if you have a family of four you get a 10% discount, so it's $90 for your family to come out to do Marsh Madness.
Speaker 3:And then Learning with Loggerheads is an hour, so that's a $20 class. My last class is explore the shore and that's targeting three through nine year olds, but the parents all come and play for free, or the grandparents.
Speaker 2:Outside of what classes you have listed with TicketTailor, what other opportunities are there that people might not know about?
Speaker 3:So I do offer paddle tours, eco tours, and I work alongside of Onshore Surf Shop and collaborate with them. And I work alongside of Onshore Surf Shop and collaborate with them, and you can email me to reserve your kayaks or your sups, however you'd like to see the water, and we go out for about two hours and that runs around $65. And we do all kinds of exploration on the water. Wow, what ages. I think the youngest that I've ever taken out on the kayak was probably in the vicinity of 10. Wow, sometimes I also run pizza paddles for the teens.
Speaker 3:I mean, I was trying to think of things that I could get the teenagers involved in when they were coming to visit, because I didn't want them to be at the beach and be like, oh, such a drag, there's nothing for us to do. So I thought, well, they like to paddle, so I do pizza paddles. So the kids come and I give them a little lesson in the park that's Soundside Park, we meet, they take a little lesson and then we kayak out around the marsh and I drag a seine net with me so that we can collect fish and other critters while we're out there and then when we come back we get pizza from Max's Pizza. I bet they love that. It's so much fun actually. Yeah, yeah, there's a lot of little kid stuff going on, but I thought you know, and parents had mentioned to me, there's really not a lot of stuff for the teens when we come here. Do you know anything about teens?
Speaker 3:And so there went my brain again trying to think of, like, what can I do for teenagers that would get them excited about coming to visit here, and I thought, well, we could do pizza paddles.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I like that because there's some independence in that.
Speaker 3:Yeah no-transcript them. A little lesson in the park before we go out. It's very different when you're kayaking or paddling on the ocean waters than it is if you're on a lake or a river.
Speaker 2:So you've been doing this Funky Fins for three years. I'm sure you've learned a lot. You've tailored your classes a lot to what's happening here at Topsail. You figured out that all ages want to learn.
Speaker 1:And I love that.
Speaker 2:I love that. Tell me some feedback. You've heard from some of your guests, some of your students.
Speaker 3:So a lot of people say that, oh my gosh, we learn so much in an hour and everybody's always saying I didn't know that and I've lived here forever. So, that's really fun. They also say that we really provide educational activities for kids and families that are really fun to attend.
Speaker 2:And.
Speaker 3:I like that and, like I said, they keep coming back like that family that's come to four different classes. They say that it's really awesome to have experienced marine biologists that provide the information, because there's a lot of kids that are very interested in marine sciences. So I get a lot of the older kids that will come and then we talk about they're getting ready to go to college and that's something that they're really interested in. And what kind of advice do I give and what kind of experiences did I have when I was going to college with the dinosaurs, of course, but I just really enjoy teaching the classes. I don't think I would ever do anything else besides what I do out on that beach.
Speaker 2:Is this what retirement life is? So this is what we're.
Speaker 3:So retirement life. My husband and I retired fairly early and we're really enjoying the not working part of it.
Speaker 1:Well, he's really enjoying the not working part of the show, but I'm still working.
Speaker 3:Actually, I had him cutting all the little shark screens. Today, when I left, he was sitting on the driveway sweating. Yeah, he did road construction in New York City for almost 35 years. So he's like I'm going to collect my pension and I'm not doing nothing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, You're juggling learning, You're juggling jobs, kids, and this is your retirement life and you're scheduling all these classes and you're still creating curriculum. You're still you're fitting a need and I think that's wonderful.
Speaker 3:I think I'm always going to be a lifelong learner and because I enjoy the ocean and I enjoy people so much that it is totally impossible, no matter where I am in my life, to not do this. Well, you're meeting great people.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, and it's totally fun yeah.
Speaker 3:And people from all over come here to visit, so it's really awesome.
Speaker 2:Well, I love all the education opportunities that you're providing for locals and tourists and young and old and all of that. So, with all the people who are listening right now, you've got an audience. So what would you like them to know? What do you want to share about our environment here at Topsail?
Speaker 3:What I want them to know is that there is a wealth of things in the ocean that we don't know about, that needs to be discovered about.
Speaker 3:That needs to be discovered and in order to be able to come here to visit and to just enjoy the beauty of our island, it's super important to sit back and reflect and just think about what am I doing, what are my behaviors while I'm visiting this environment, and so how does the ocean affect my life?
Speaker 3:Even if I live in Ohio, how does the ocean affect my life? And I think it's really important for people to think about those things, because this is an ecosystem that we need to sustain and all the little kids that are coming out here and enjoying the classes and enjoying the beach. We want them to be able to enjoy that with their families. So how we act and our behaviors directly affect the ocean. We need to conserve it and we need to work together to do that. We can't expect and sit back and wait for other people to do it for us. It's really important for us to be accountable and to stand up and do our part, even if it's just having your lunch in a Ziploc bag and taking it back home with you and not leaving it on the beach.
Speaker 2:You're also involved in the community and you're learning and giving in other ways, and I want to highlight that. What groups are you connected with that are also working to protect and preserve our island?
Speaker 3:Well, I'm connected with the Chamber of Commerce, of course, of Topsail, which is a fantastic group to be a part of. I'm also connected with EcoTopsail. The Topsopsil is a nonprofit that is working to do basically what I'm looking to do. I mean, these are my people out here.
Speaker 2:okay, these are your people, these are my people.
Speaker 3:So we're all kind of working together to conserve the environment and make it sustainable.
Speaker 2:And it starts with education. It does, yeah, it really really does. You don't know.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and a lot of people are surprised by some of the things I tell them too. I try to get involved with as many groups as I can, and even if I can make a little dent in helping them get their message out and accomplish what they're looking to do. I also belong to the North Carolina Coastal Federation.
Speaker 1:I mean.
Speaker 3:I'm kind of like you really when you think about it Well. I wear a lot of hats.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I wear a lot of hats too, so tell me Topsail Island Longboard Association what's that group about?
Speaker 3:So Topsail Island Longboard Association is a really great group. It was really funny because when I joined I don't surf much anymore but I paddleboard, so I thought, well, I kind of fit into that. So you don't have to be a surfer to be part of the group, you just have to have a love for the ocean. They do a lot of fundraising to try to raise money for kids to get their start in college, and I think that that's really cool. They have a scholarship fund and we raise money to help kids get started in college fund and we raise money to help kids get started in college.
Speaker 2:So the kind of love that you had for the ocean, you can target those kids and help them pursue education. Yeah, exactly, and then the ocean friendly establishments.
Speaker 3:So the ocean friendly establishments is a group of people in an organization where we try to talk to the business owners in our area to kind of move away from plastics. So we're looking to move away from plastics and styrofoam and think of alternative ideas. And it can be a little rocky sometimes because I understand that that costs money to do, but I think that it's really important if you can find another way to carry your things out of a store or take your leftovers home.
Speaker 2:I've learned so much and I love all the opportunities. You've really adapted everything to the people we have here, to the environment. You've just meshed it so well. So I want to make sure everyone knows how to find you and plan their own adventure. So we have the Facebook page Funky Fins Eco Education for Curious Minds Right, that's the specific name for that. Yes, but you have an email address.
Speaker 3:I do, it's funkyfinsonti at gmailcom. So TI for Topswell Island.
Speaker 2:Right, Right. Is that the best way for everybody to find you? Either Facebook or email. Yeah, I'm also on.
Speaker 3:Instagram oh you can find me on Instagram the same way that you find me on Facebook. Okay, but you can also. You can text me or call me at 203-512-4936. Wonderful.
Speaker 2:So thank you everyone. Listeners, thank you for joining us today and thank you again, Chris, for being here on Topsel Insider and telling us all about Funky Fins. Thanks for having me, it was super fun.
Speaker 1:Hey, if you enjoyed today's episode of Top Soul Insider, please show your support by clicking the follow or subscribe button on your favorite podcast listening platform. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. Please also go to topsoulinsidercom and join our mailing list by clicking on the make me a Top Soul Insider button. While you're there, you can click the send Me a Voicemail button and let me know exactly what you're thinking. Your message just might be on an episode of Topsail Insider. You can email me at Krista at TopsailInsidercom, or call or text me at 910-800-0111. Thank you for listening and supporting Topsail Insider and our local businesses and nonprofits. These are our neighbors and our friends, and together we build a mighty and a beautiful community I'm super proud to be a part of. I'll see you around Topsail.
