One of the big events that we look forward to around these parts each year is the Safari Hunt. Rules are simple, sign up, find an animal, win a prize. How much easier could it be? We need a Staples Easy button, right?
Meet your Safari Hunt Animal Hiders: Grady Weston, Drake Weston, Nicole Willoughby, & Dan La Due.
A quick fun story earlier in the day between Dan and Nicole. Dan was getting ready to go dive that morning, but Nicole (that’s me, the blogger) thought he was taking too long so I challenged him. At that point I didn’t have my swimsuit on, just my regular clothes. I bet him that I could get changed, dressed, geared up, and in the water before he could. Let’s just say, I won the bet!
While we were out hiding animals, I left my photographer assistant, Tiffany Hayworth in charge of land pictures. Tiffany, I want to thank you for your help, or our blog post would be pretty bare.
I’m not sure if Tiffany said something funny here or if one of them, maybe Steve, was up to no good causing them all to laugh. Sometimes I guess what happens at the Lake stays at the lake and those of us in the water weren’t privy even to that information…
Shirley Mann, Rachele Lord, Deb Weston, Steve Sweet.
The Safari Hunt this year had 2 different start times. One was 1pm while the other was 1:30pm. So when people gathered in the water there was a lag before the actual start of the hunt because of that time difference. One time was told by Grady, Deb told the other.
Mark manned the grill. We’ve all heard more than once, if there’s food, they will come. This event was no different. The meal consisted of hot dogs, chips, cookies, and water. Oh and cupcakes you’ll see later in this post. There was a huge discussion about Nutter Butter Cookies had while standing in line about those who like them versus those who don’t.
Meanwhile back in the water, the hiding of 10 animals. Grady and Drake were dive buddies, then Dan and Nicole were going to be dive buddies. Except within 30 seconds Dan and Nicole got separated. Now at this point I should mention both are solo certified, but we did get separated.
Then it was time for Grady to give the official rules for the Safari Hunt. He joked that he would just make them up as he went, but he had the official rules too.
After the Safari Hunt was under way, I asked Dan to go with me to take pictures. This is the only picture I got. The visibility was so horrible that Dan kept a hold of my arm just so we didn’t get separated and as I was looking for the ground, I ran head first in to it. I looked at Dan, signaled up, and we went to the surface.
The one good thing about giving the camera to someone else to be the photographer is the Blogger gets in pictures. Back on the surface, the kiddos were waiting patiently for the Kids Hunt to start.
Once all animals for the Safari Hunt were found, it was time to start the Kids Hunt.
Our trusty animal hider was back at his job.
Then, they were off.
After each kid found their animal, they went up to see Carlene to get a prize.
Once the hunt was officially over, everyone gathered around for food. Except Priscilla. She was busy counting tickets, still getting more money in the fishbowl drawing. This is one of the fundraisers held for Newton County Rescue & Recovery. 
Now those cupcakes I referred to up above. How cute are these? I heard that Ryan brought them, but I’m not sure. Can someone please verify for me?!?! I can verify that they were good.
And now… the Safari Hunt 2017 Winners……
- Emma La Due – She found Mildred the Monkey. Her prize: Accessory Kit (Knife, Flashlight, Retractor)
- Maddie Shafer – She found Ardee the Alligator. Her prize: Dive Flag USB & Dive Flag Mouse
- Dan Hayworth – He found Felix the Lion. His prize: Go Fins.
- Clayton Newman – He found Wendy the Whale. His prize: Dry bag, Retractor, Headband
- Lee Lake – He found Millard the Monkey. His prize: Dive Flag USB & Dive Flag Mouse.
- Casey Krei – He found Gina the Giraffe. His prize: SCUBAPRO Dry Bag Backpack
- Maddie Wilson – She found Paulie the Panda. Her prize: XS Mask & Snorkel.
- Chris Krei – He found Ed the Elephant. His prize: Dry Bag, Headband, Wrist Slate.
- Cam Parrish – He found Wally the Whale. His prize: MK11 C350 Regulator.
- Allison Rickey – She found Dino the Dinosaur. Her prize: BC Knife & Logbook.
Congratulations to all the Safari Hunt Winners this year. Thank you to everyone who helped this year. Thank you all for coming out to be with us. See you next year at Safari Hunt 2018!
Hello Nicole Willoughby