Its been a couple days since we got back and I'm ready to share my experiences of Macna 2018.

This is my third Macna in a row and the first thing I noticed was the absence of some big names. Aquaforest, Vertex and Royal Exclusive just to name a few. There was also very little hardware on display, compared to New Orleans and San Diego. The only cool new hardware I saw was the AI Nero wavemaker and a controllable AC pump, of which I forget the name, but is highlighted in Mr. Saltwater Tanks video on Macna 2018. Overall the convention floor was a HUGE dissapointment.

The Friday night social event was ok, just a pool party at the hotel with great snack food and a really average cover band who were also local reefers. Not at all comparable to New Orleans or San Diego, again.

The Saturday night banquet was very interesting. The venue and food were fantastic, but that's where it ended. Speeches went on forever, including one by Dr. John 'Charlie' Vernon. He is called the Grandfather Of Reefing because of his 40 years of research on the Great Barrier Reef, and you may know him from the documentary 'Chasing Coral'. The poor guy rambled on for about an hour and a half, repeating things multiple times and overall painting a picture of ultimate gloom. Walt Smith also received a lifetime achievement award and gave a farewell speech, as the government of Fiji has pretty much shut him down from exporting. There was also a debacle during the Fiji trip giveaway, but more on that later.

This was the first year that a Macna was not organized by a local club, for reasons which I am not aware. MASNA was responsible for organizing and they received some serious backlash, mainly for the problems involving volunteers and raffle tickets. I'm not going to go into anymore details here, as there is a great thread on R2R started by DaveJep that sheds light on the whole situation, and is well worth the read. It also includes the deatails of the Fiji trip giveaway, that was won by the same people who won last year. Oh my.

This will be my last Macna for the foreseeable future, unless it happens to be in Seattle. Hopefully MASNA can work out the bugs if they continue to organize it. I also think they will need to lower their prices for vendor space, if they want to attract the big names back.

This trip was saved by the fact that we were in Vegas with lots to do, and that we were with several amazing local reefers who have become very close friends over the last few years. We made some lasting memories for sure that can't be shared.... because.... LAS VEGAS!

Sorry Warren I don't mean to offend but the post by DaveJep seems to me to be the post from a bunch of sore losers. He has no idea why that person had that many tickets, maybe they bought them (there are stories or people spending thousands of dollars on tickets) or maybe the person had the tickets from a bunch of people that couldn't attend the raffle drawing.

Also if the same people won the Fifi trip again maybe its because they bought a boat load of tickets and just happened to win again.

If they don't like the game they shouldn't play.

Hey FROGGER you shouldn't talk CRAP about someone when YOU don't have all the facts.

Just so you know the girl with all the FREE tickets was bragging about them to a few different people.
She also posted up on the Macna app about how she deserved to win the Apex for all the hard work she did for the show.
I wasn't upset that I didn't win, I was unhappy that they sold raffle tickets at $20 a sheet without disclosing the fact that they gave out 8000 plus free tickets to the "volunteers".
I posted up about it so that they would realize that the way the raffle was managed was wrong and maybe in the future they could correct the way they do it.
I have no problem with the way the actual draw was done, just had problem of the undisclosed thousands of tickets doled out.

Hypothetically:

Lets say WarDog and I decide to start a Canreef raffle for a WaltDisney across that everyone wants.
You decide to spend $100 on your tickets along with a lot of other people.
After the draw you find out our Buddy won the raffle because of the 8000 free tickets we gave our buddy for helping set up the raffle.
How you feel?
Would you just say, oh well guess I should just take it because everyone will think I'm a sore loser?
I highly doubt it.

Just to chime in... I think if they disclosed the free tickets given away and you chose to try your fate all good. I don’t agree with the non-disclosure as the odds are greatly reduced.

Was it worth it?? ABSOLUTELY not, macna san diego blew this one out of the park... I am debating on going next year. The only reason i would and may go, is due to the fact that me and the fam love disney.. so we may just go for that cause..

First time experience people may look different at it.. But i know the group I went with were not impressed.

I am sorry you feel that the MACNA raffle was poorly run. Please post some reliable sources please. Once I have read all the facts I can make a educated decision.

What I said was I do not want to offend but it sounds to me like. That is just my opinion.

If most of the tickets for the raffle were given out to volunteers and they didn't disclose this before the raffle then shame on them.

Good to know! Thanks for the honest feedback.

What were WD's & HW's selling for down there just out of curiosity?

I got to chat (one on one) with Bob Fenner for over 30 minutes Saturday morning … and also a bit with Walt Smith (got books autographed by both). For me, that made it worth the trip.

its was great to meet fellow canreefers, especially by a pool, in vegas, in 35°C heat, being blasted by a huge misting fan, while a live band played on.

it was my first MACNA, and prob my last tho, unless it comes to Seattle.
i found myself leaving one brilliant speaker, half way, to catch another, so i cud see both presentations - too much of a good thing id say. ill have wait for the recordings.
during the Sat nite Fiji Trip draw scandal, the guy who ultimately won, was sitting rite behind me, and looked like hed won a bag of hot dog mess or something - the whole thing was so weird.
and btw, as far as i saw, the $10,000 scoly and $2500 RBTA werent snatched up by the end of the conference.
on the monday, i visited 3 of the local fish shops, and at one, there were boxes and boxes of fish n corals n rocks being returned from MACNA, and the employee said they had set up many of the exhibitors tanks, so i think that explains why most looked so hohum.
a few days later i visited the Steinhart and Monteray Bay aquariums, and im an atheist, but i may have had a religious experience sitting in front of the Open Ocean exhibit - shocking majestic beauty. i dont think i can look at sushi the same way again.

with the advent of the 5th mass extintion in mind, id like to encourage the Canreef members to make a contribution to the Walt Smith - Coral Reef Project:

https://www.adeproject.org/team/walt-smith/