A couple of years ago, my wife
Marisa and I decided we were going to
turn our
avocational love for the past and present wilds
of Florida into our
occupation. So we started
Fossil Expeditions and Megalodon Expeditions.
A few days each week, we can be found sloshing
around with a small group
of crazies like us in the
shallows of some stream, scanning the bottom
for
marine or terrestrial fossils. For us, "just another day at the office"
takes on a very special
meaning.
Marisa
and I met while we were both working at a small
newspaper near
Fort Myers Beach. She was a paste-up
artist and freelanced creating
architectural
renderings for local realtors. I was a reporter.
For our first date, I took her fossil hunting. When she
actually agreed
to go out with me a second time,
I knew we would soon be inseparable.
Since
we met, Marisa has had other opportunities to use her
skills as an
artist. The mural of her and a giant
ground sloth on the umbrella page
of this site was
painted on two pieces of canvas and glued together
as
a 7 x 10 foot prehistoric portrait, which has graced
the walls of the Calusa Nature Center in Fort Myers.
See our front page and scroll down to the section called "Identify Your Finds".
She has also illustrated books, which are detailed on the front page of our web site.
Additionally, she has designed a best-selling line
of children’s
t-shirts, as well as t-shirts
depicting such wildlife as a Florida
Panther
and Saber-Cat.
Marisa was born in Puerto
Rico in 19 (...ah, I’d better not divulge that
if
I want to live to see MY next birthday!). She has
lived in New York
and Georgia.
I’m a Florida
"Cracker", who was born in Fort Myers on April Fools
Day
of 1955. I have lived in Ohio as a child,
Washington State and Tennessee
as an adult, before
moving back to Florida as a child again in 1990.
In addition to being a reporter, I have thoroughly
enjoyed working for
six years as a Florida wildlife
guide for Babcock Wilderness Tours and Everglades
Day Safari.
As an amateur
paleontologist, I was the first president of the
Paleontological Society of Lee County, and taught adult
continuing education classes for
Edison
Community College in Fort Myers. University
Press of Florida published my book,
"FOSSILING IN FLORIDA:
A Guide for Diggers and Divers"
.
See BOOKS ON FOSSILS.