Paddling the mangrove tunnels of Weedon Island with Kelly Kress is a little like traveling with a mashup of Eugenie Clark, Rachel Carson, and Ruth Gates. Every piece of sea life – flora and fauna – is an almost magical curiosity that she can cheerfully explain or share some insight about.
Not surprisingly, Kress was drawn to formally study marine life. In May, she graduates with bachelor’s degrees in marine science and animal studies from Eckerd College.
Kress had kayaked only a few times when she applied for the job of kayak guide with Ecomersion about a year ago. After sharing all she knew and loved about mangroves (a lot) with her now manager, she landed the job. “She told me, ‘You can’t teach passion, but you can teach someone how to paddle a boat.” Kress recalls.
Now Kress shares stories about the ubiquitous Florida trees and the tiny crabs that live among their gnarled stilt roots with other paddlers several days a week at Weedon Island and Boca Ciega Bay.
Beach Upbringing
Kress grew up in Freehold, N.J., a town of about 35,000 that’s roughly 20 miles inland from the Atlantic Ocean. She remembers always being interested in animals and sea life, in particular. She was the 5-year-old running up to fishermen on the shore begging to see their catch, the child picking up horseshoe crabs on the beach and showing them to friends, the kid with her arms shoulder deep in the touch tank at the local aquarium.
Her parents helped foster her and her sister’s love for the outdoors. “My mom was always the type who would take us to parks all the time,” Kress says. “She would take us to the beach almost every day in the summer.”
Her father owned and operated the town paint store and got involved with her softball team; she played for 12 years.
Choosing Sunshine
As much as she loved animals, Kress briefly considered majoring in accounting because she worried marine science wasn’t a realistic career choice. After visiting several universities in New England, she wondered whether she even wanted to go to college.
A good friend encouraged her not to give up her dream, and she decided to visit Eckerd, which has a top-notch marine science program.
“I immediately was stoked to see people walking around barefoot, ’70s-style buildings, and professors walking around in cargo shorts,” Kress says. “The professors are very hands-on and interactive. That is great; it is totally my vibe.”
Walking the Talk
Since studying at Eckerd, Kress has worked with animals as a volunteer and an intern. She dove and tagged about 100 turtles in the Rainbow River as part of Eckerd’s long-running turtle population study. “You basically swim upstream and catch turtles all day,” she says. “It’s not everybody’s cup of tea, but I think it was great.”
She interned at the Florida Aquarium’s Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Center at Apollo Beach. She worked with Apollo, an African grey parrot in St. Petersburg, doing cognition-research studies modeled after Dr. Irene Pepperberg’s work with Alex the Parrot.
New Horizons
Kress’ immediate post-graduation plan is to hike the Appalachian Trail for a few months with her boyfriend and her pit bull terrier rescue dog. Long-term, she would love to land a ranger job in Florida, but economics will dictate.
“I will land wherever the job takes me,” Kress says. “I love all the wildlife here, Weedon Island especially. Then there’s Boyd Hill (Nature Preserve), where you can get wildlife in a city setting. There is a lot of interesting research that you can get into about wildlife in urban areas that I really appreciate in St. Pete.”
