Last week in Florida - July

Sam's cousin Andrew was in Ft Lauderdale this week, attending the International Coral Symposium. He is an assistant professor at University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science (RSMAS). He is on the telly quite a lot too, as he is articulate and very 'easy on the eye' .... unlike most Beakers (slang for scientists - think sesame street).

He won the Pew Fellowship award this year for his work on protecting Corals against Climate Change. See link if you're interested. www.rsmas.miami.edu/pressreleases/20080205-baker.html

We helped out on the RSMAS booth while the team was busy giving presentations on Tuesday and it was really nice to meet his colleagues. We also bumped into people we knew from the Cayman Islands and Belize (it seems that the conservation world is just as small as the diving world). We hope to get involved with more marine projects when we move to the British Virgin Islands, so it was great to make some contacts for the future with the guys from NOAA, REEF, WCS etc.

Andrew and his wife Tiffen met us at the beach for brunch on Saturday, their first family outing since the birth of their new baby Avery. Older brother Aiden was not impressed by the photo-posing as you can see....

Please note that their daughter Teia is standing on the back of the pushchair in this picture… (but we do accept that she will be towering over us by the time she is ten!).