Really, really fun event!
How many corals did I come home with? Probably not a good idea to try to count them. Mini-maxi carpets. Rock flowers. Zoas. Acans. A red blasto. A teeny little Jack-'o-Lantern lepto. A Duncan. A few millepora, Montipora and birdsnest corals to take my first baby steps into the world of SPS. Memories. Faces to go with names like "Sassawrasse" and "Triggereef". Meeting up with folks from SWCARK and CTARS. Sharing the love of tropical marine life. Learning about corals I'd never seen before. Wondering whether those were painted-up lobsters, or whether blood shrimp really _do_ get that big.
This day would have been worth the trip and price of admission if I didn't buy a single thing for the tank - but with a tank that's got spaces to be filled in, I was a kid in the candy shop - with birthday money burnin' a hole in my pocket. Thanks to Jon (who I didn't meet) and the others who helped to pull this together, to all the vendors, from hobbyists clearing space for their fish to swim to nationally known "coral celebrities", and to all the reefers (there are a lot of reefers out there!! The parking lots around the school just aren't big enough!!) who contributed to its success!
Didn't even hardly _look_ at the raffle stuff, and hoping that next year, I'll have the confidence to help out with the club tables. 'Cause I _do_ plan to be there!
~Bruce