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/