Article Author:

Captain D.J.
Master Instructor

Hi gang,

Laddie Atkins the leader of special projects for the Reef foundation was kind enough to vist us last week for a seminar on the LionFish problem that is starting to crop up in the Florida Keys.

The point to the seminar which was highly informative was to learn all about the LionFish and how it threatens our local underwater environment. If you don’t know anything about the LionFish, here are few amazing facts that help illustrate the threat to our fish and reefs:

• They lay 35,000 eggs every couple of days.
• They have no natural preditors, in our local eco-system.
• They are voracious eaters and devastate the local fish population.

If you want to know more, please read more about it on the Reef LionFish invasion Page, and donate if you can.. If you go to the seminar, you can sign up for a special permit from NOAA to allow you to catch them inside the marine sanctuaries.

The Lionfish population is out of control in the Bahamas, Cayman, and many other places around the Caribbean, everyone at Rainbow Reef was at the seminar and we plan to capture them anytime we see them to do what we can to control the population.

Article Author:

Captain D.J.
Master Instructor

Hi Gang,

It’s been a little while since the last video blog, so here is the latest special presentation for you to enjoy!

Jim Elliott from the DiveHeart foundation visited us January 27th with a very special guest. Marine SGT Greg Rodriguez who is an vet from Iraq and suffered a traumatic brain injury while serving our country during 2007, came with Jim for some diving in the Key Largo and to test the Pegasus Thruster underwater propulsion vehicle.

Sue Cocking from the Miami Herald came along with a photographer friend to document and write an article about Greg’s experience. I shot some video which you’ll be able to see below.

If you don’t know who or what the DiveHeart foundation is, in a nutshell they provide the opportunity for disabled children, adults and vets to build confidence and independence through the sport of Scuba Diving. You can read more about them, at www.diveheart.org and if you’d be so kind to do whatever you can to support them, I’d appreciate it!

We had some good dives and lots of of the gang from the dive shop out with us. Pam Bradley is our PADI and HSA Course Director, along with Josh who is already an HSA Instructor had Jo and Jardin (Training to be HSA Instructors) helping Jim take Greg on his first dives in Key Largo.

Good time had by all, and it was fun to test out those Pegasus Thrusters.

Join us for a few minutes to meet Greg and see our dive trip with him this afternoon. CLICK HERE to Dive with Greg