While we can't do much about dreary winter weather, booking a trip for the coming year might be just the trick to lift your mood. REEF trips are a diver's dream vacation! Destinations include Fiji, Hawaii, the Bahamas, Roatan, Cozumel and more. Expert-led fish identification education combined with citizen science and world-class diving make our trips unique. Visit www.REEF.org/trips to find out more, and then contact us at trips@REEF.org or 305-588-5869 to book your space.

We are pleased to share with you the the 2014 REEF Field Survey Trip schedule. We have an exciting lineup of destinations planned, and we hope you will join us. These trips offer a great introduction to fish identification for novice fishwatchers, and are a fun way for experienced surveyors to build their life list while interacting with fellow fishwatchers. REEF staff, board members, and other REEF experts lead these trips, and each features daily classroom seminars and a full diving schedule.

We are pleased to present a preview of the 2011 REEF Field Survey Schedule to our valued members. Destinations include many exciting locations that offer great diving and prime fishwatching experiences, including the San Blas Islands in Panama, Saba, Hawaii, and for the first time, a South Pacific destination -- Fiji! These trips offer a great introduction to fish identification for novice fishwatchers, and are a fun way for experienced surveyors to build their life list while interacting with fellow fishwatchers.

REEF is once again partnering with CEDAM International to support an educator to participate in one of our REEF Trips. The selected Lloyd Bridges Scholar will join Paul Humann on the Little Cayman Field Survey in July 2013. The goal of the scholarship program is two-fold: One, to have educators experience the wonders of the underwater world and then be able to share these wonders with his or her students or constituents. Two, to have these inspired individuals go out and do what they can to help protect one of the world’s most fragile ecosystems.

REEF has been around for over 15 years and we felt it was time to give back to the community that has housed and supported us since REEF’s inception. So we came up with REEF Fish & Friends, a monthly meeting/seminar in Key Largo that gathers snorkelers, divers and armchair naturalists to learn more about fish and have some fun. Our first REEF Fish & Friends was held March 10 at the James E. Lockwood REEF Headquarters.

$2,417 per person double occupancy. Package Includes – 7 nights accommodations in an over-the-water bungalow, five days of 2-tanks dives, all meals at the picturesque Coral Lodge, and round trip transfers* from Panama City (airport code - PTY). *transfer times -- departing no later than 1:30pm from Panama City on June 16, departing no earlier than 7am from Coral Lodge on June 23. The transfer takes 2.5 hours between Panama City and Miramar and 30 minutes from Miramar and the Lodge.

$2,417 per person double occupancy. Package Includes – 7 nights accommodations in an over-the-water bungalow, five days of 2-tanks dives, all meals at the picturesque Coral Lodge, and round trip transfers* from Panama City (airport code - PTY). *transfer times -- departing no later than 1:30pm from Panama City on June 9, departing no earlier than 7am from Coral Lodge on June 16. The transfer takes 2.5 hours between Panama City and Miramar and 30 minutes from Miramar and the Lodge.

Make a dive trip that counts - in Bermuda, October 3- 10, on the Fish Behavior Tour! World-renowned marine naturalists, Ned and Anna DeLoach, authors of Reef Fish Identification and Reef Fish Behavior, will join local expert REEF instructor, Judie Clee, and Chris Flook, Collector of Specimens for the Bermuda Aquarium, as your trip leaders. Ned and Anna will schedule slide and video fish presentations about the wonderful world of marine life behavior and fish identification. This is an excellent destination for your non-diving friends and family as well.

Field Surveys -- these fun and educational dive trips are part of REEF's Volunteer Survey Project and they are the perfect way to "Make a Dive That Counts". I am looking for folks to join me in St. Croix in May, details are below. I recently returned from leading a group of amazing REEF volunteers on the Field Survey week in St. Lucia. The diving was great and everyone managed to see a new species during the week. Most notable for me – on my fish wish list was the Cardinal Soldierfish.

REEF members are at the heart of our grassroots marine conservation programs. Over 50,000 divers, snorkelers, students, and armchair naturalists stand behind our mission.

This month we highlight one of our many REEF couples - David Thompson and Luanne Betz, members since 2011. David and Luanne have collectively conducted 250 surveys and are active surveyors in several REEF regions. Both have achieved Level 5 Expert status in the TWA and Level 3 status in the CIP. Here's what they had to say about REEF:

Pages