Saturday, May 23, 2009

Instead of a protest we celebrated

Originally the trip to Ft. Myers Beach was to protest the "Are you man enough shark tournament" - however, as we got into the car this morning the tournament had already become a catch and release event - so we were just going up to celebrate and meet some of the people that made all of this happen.

With me were Brendal Davis from Sharksavers and Nico Danan from Oceanminds (who was with us half of the time / the other half passed out in the back of the car - let's just say that it was a long night). As we arrived, Lawrence Groth was filming and interviewing some of the people involved in getting this tournament to become a bit more shark friendly - there was Neil Hammerschlag, Lupo Dion, Mary O'Malley, Gary and Brenda Adkison, Carl Conley (Ft. Myer Beach Island Sand Paper), Ray Judah (County Commissioner - Lee County) and a few others.

After the formalities and interviews, we headed over to the marina where the tournament will be held next week and all had lunch (thanks to Lawrence - he picked up the bill).

For me it was not only great to see how a group of people were able to come together and make something happen - but to actually meet a lot of them. Some I had know via email or through my dad - many there knew him - and then connect me to him...what can I say - it was a good day.

Here are some pictures.

Tomorrow I am off to the pool for some static and dynamic sessions with Nico.

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