Matanzas Pass Preserve

The visit to Matanzas Pass Preserve was very educational. We started off with a wonderful lecture which gives us a sense of how Estero was before the settlers came and how over the years different changes have taken place to lead to the way the area is today. The word matanza is Spanish for massacre, and before the Spanish came, the area was inhabited by the Calusa Indians. They were a peaceful people that rely mostly on fishing and agriculture to survive. I definitely enjoyed the visit, because it shows a beautiful aspect of nature that we sometimes forget. Life on Earth is interdependent and mistreating one part of nature could affect other parts. For example, although we were really bothered by the presence of the mosquitoes, we also understand that they are a very useful part of the ecosystem of that area. Spiders eat those mosquitoes; the mangroves leaves that fell in the water are eaten by smaller fish which are eaten by bigger fish or dolphin. Oh yes, we saw a dolphin. We learned about the three types of mangroves that were in the area, red, black, and white mangroves. The only weird thing about the visit was the gentleman sitting on the bench next to use. No one said anything to him, before I left I passed by him and said: "You have a wonderful day sir!"