January 2026 Canlife Correspondence -- Tiny Polyps, Travel Tips, Talks, & Totally Rad Road Trips!
Corals are both animals AND plants. Let's just let that sink in for a sec... This simple fact fundamentally shaped our experiences in the US Virgin Islands National Park and Biscayne Bay National Park this past month, especially on the water. We are proud natural science nerds, but this story isn't just about a freaky little polyamorous relationship under the sea, it's about so much more!
It was "Dr. Coral" himself at US Virgin Islands National Park on St John Island, who dropped this brain bomb on us at an evening "ranger" program during our first night at Cinnamon Bay, the only campground within the park. While retired from the NPS, he remains active in coral health research and sharing his freaky knowledge about the Caribbean with tourists from all over the world. We were so fascinated by his talk, we wanted to invite him out for a beer just so we could hear more!
Corals are the tiny creatures (polyps) responsible for building our world's ocean reefs over hundreds, thousands, and millions of years. They spend their adult lives in colonies of thousands of individuals on the bones of previous generations, eating whatever plankton floats by. When they die, they add their own tiny limestone skeleton to the pile and the reef grows, slowly, one generation after another.
Living corals suck up tiny microscopic algae (zooxanthellae) into their bodies giving them two important things: 1. a much better complexion (I mean, they do live near the beach, y'all) and 2. some powerful snacks for in between meals (not the algae themselves but the sugars they produce through photosynthesis). The algae, in return, get a little polyp to share with a few hundred of their best friends and protection from the tiny fish who love to eat them. It's the latest collaborative arrangement in symbiosis...and oh so Gen Z!
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We are thrilled to share this article with y'all! This one was a long time coming. After 13 years and exploring all of the national parks that you can drive to, we are honored to have an article published on the National Park Conservation Association's (NPCA) blog. This premiere, non-profit organization serves as an advocacy and fundraising arm for America's National Park Service since 1919! And, we've been writing a new "Best of America's National Parks" blog each month -- filled with camping options, tips and seasonal advice, and must do's while exploring each park! Our latest edition is Big Bend National Park, which is apropos given the recent namedrop in our blog in NPCA!
You want to go solar so that you can save money and enjoy camping in your RV off-the-grid, far away from crowded campgrounds and RV resorts! We see some RVers build huge systems without a care in the world about adding significant weight, while others are concerned about how the extra pounds may affect their towing experience. Maybe this issue has never even occurred to you?
However, if the resilient few can hang on until the water cools down, they get back together with the algae and begin to thrive once again. When the coral thrives, the rest of the food chain in the reef ecosystem (and the ocean) goes along for the ride. Approximately one quarter of all marine fish species rely on coral reefs for some part of their life cycle -- healthy reefs = healthy fish. Since reef fish account for nearly 25% of all fish caught in developing countries, that's a lot of what humans on this planet eat.
There's something so comforting in knowing that the coral depend upon the algae, and that the fish rely on the coral, and that we rely on the fish. It's all so ... cue music from The Lion King..."The Circle of Life!"
It's this little tiny bit of knowledge that profoundly shaped our snorkeling experiences, as we bobbed in the tropical waters and went from reef to reef checking in on the different kinds of coral, and their overall health. It gave us a story to what we were seeing. Citizen science in action!
The corals of the Virgin Islands over the past 20 years have been hit with a double whammy of both climate change's warming temps and increased hurricane and tropical storm damage. "The reefs will never be like their were before 2004, in our lifetime," says "Dr. Coral." Two thirds of all coral species were damaged, and to bring the point home, he shows us an image of 2/3 of the statue of liberty cut out, 2/3 of the Teton Mountain range gone. Were that to happen, we land dwellers would be crying out!
But the news isn't all bad, because even with the damage, what remains today are the survivors. These resilient corals, from across the spectrum of their genus, somehow managed to hold on and it could just be that they will repopulate this area, if we can give them the chance.
We brought this same critical coral lens when we returned to the mainland in Miami, and set out for our adventure at Biscayne Bay National Park. Our previous visit here wasn't up to our standards, just some hours in the visitor's center and a stroll along the jetty. We longed to paddle out to the keys and spend a few nights at the park's only campground. This time around, we parked the rig, packed our kayaks with camping gear and food, and shoved off into the big, wide open blue bay.
The nearly 8-mile crossing from the boat launch to Elliott Key (due east) starts with an unsettling realization -- we will not be able to see our destination until we're about half way there, even in the clearest of atmospheric conditions. The tallest thing on the island is a flag pole, only 30 feet above sea level, which is impossible to spot from the seated position in our kayaks, providing us (and any flat earth theorists) some discomfort -- albeit for different reasons. However, the weather was warm, the wind gentle, and we had an uneventful crossing in the shallow waters of southern Florida.
Getting out into Biscayne Bay is truly the only way to appreciate this park as well as assess the size, scope, and grandeur of it all, and see the coral reefs, of course. Upon return from our kayak camping adventure, we jumped on a snorkel tour sponsored by the Biscayne Bay Institute which took us further out to some of the best reefs in southern Florida, covering the distance we paddled in less than 20 minutes. Here the coral seem to be in better shape than in the USVI, at least to our somewhat informed eyes. The colder current from the north means that the symbiotic party between algae and coral is not as threatened, at least for now. But it made for a chillier swim, so thank goodness for the wetsuits!
If you haven't guessed already, we're passionate about America's National Parks -- OUR national treasures. That passion set us out on this incredible RV journey over 13 years ago, and our "Tips and Tricks for Visiting America's National Parks" seminars remain among our most popular. So we know we're not alone!
This time last year, several folks at our shows asked us if we thought our parks were in danger. We answered with cautious concern, "let's see what happens this year." Well, we've seen the proof. It's been a tough year for our parks, and we now can see that they are truly under threat! So, yes we are worried, not that they are going away necessarily but that the changes afoot will drastically alter them from a protected shared resource to something more resembling an amusement destination...or worse.
25% of full time staff are gone, resigned, fired, retired, or repurposed to other DOI responsibilities. At almost the same time, record crowds are coming through the door, 2024 saw 332 million visitations across all 433 park sites. These visits generated $29 billion spent in gateway communities and added $56 billion to the US economy. The biggest crowds to parks in history, the most popular activities...and now we're cutting full-time staff? We saw this impact on the facilities in both the Everglades and Biscayne.
Why? Well, call us cynical, but it might have something to do with that $56 billion hanging out there just waiting to be privatized. We saw some disturbing trends toward this in Everglades National Park. The campgrounds are now run by a concessionaire. Privatization, some argue offer better jobs and do a better job, but don't look for that evidence in the Everglades. The trash and recycling bins were all overflowing, one of the shower rooms didn't work, and the campground was only half full -- imagine what it would have been if the usual run of Canadians were here this year (most maple leaf snowbirds are staying home in protest)?
We are left with those two "Dr. Coral" images of large holes left in our iconic national parks. It's haunting, because we've been to those places, know them, love them, and can't imagine an America without them -- whole and ready to be discovered by our next generation. Had we not been made aware of the situation with the coral, what's been lost, the delicate balance between temperature, plants, and animals upon which we rely as a species, we might have just thought "Oh, this is just so beautiful!" What's left are the survivors, and they are beautiful and absolutely worth fighting for. It's up to all of us to speak up for what we want the future of our national parks to look like...and it's time to take action! Here's how to get started...
Parting Shots - Sunrises & Sunsets of Biscayne National Park
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