Vester Marine & Environmental Science Research Field Station

The Vester Marine & Environmental Science Research Field Station, basically scoured by Hurricane Ian's storm surge, is once again taking middle school students on an environmental journey of discovery.

This spring, The Water School at FGCU deployed a new artificial reef complex eight miles off shore from the county line between Collier and Lee. While WGCU is producing a documentary about the reef and the scientific research it hopes to study, we will keep our friends informed of the progress of the reef and the documentary with Dispatches from Kimberly’s Reef. Here is the second dispatch which tells the story of the creation of the reef complex from cement culverts donated by Oldcastle Infrastructure in Cape Coral.

A unique classroom is literally growing beneath the waves off the coast of Florida. In the Gulf of Mexico, seven and a half miles due west of Bonita Beach and 30 feet below the surface grows Kimberly's Reef, an artificial reef complex created by The Water School at Florida Gulf Coast University. WGCU is producing a documentary about the reef and the planned scientific research around it. In the meantime, WGCU’s Pam James will keep folks informed of progress on the reef and the documentary with the occasional "Dispatch from Kimberly’s Reef." Here is the first.