Participant Up Date #1

Greetings TME '08 Participants,

Thanks to those folks that traveled to Fredonia for the Info Meeting two weeks ago. We have had a great response to the trip this year and currently we have space for a single male participant. Some rearrangement of roommates may occur depending on preference for room type and the possibility of adding a 10th room. Please check your personal e-mail for details.

I will be sending out packets (BOCES or snail mail) from the Info Meeting to folks that were unable to attend. Please take a look and give me a call if you have any questions. Included will be a financial balance sheets.

Travel to Roatan, The Bay Islands, Honduras, Central America, requires you to have a valid US Passport. Expiration date must be February 16, 2009 or later. This is six months beyond our scheduled return date. If you need to apply or renew please begin the process immediately. Visit your local Post Office or download forms from the link at the left.

We will plan to meet as a group before we travel to discuss packing strategies, snorkel equipment & practice, sign waivers, and make final payments. Tentatively this Pre-Trip meeting is scheduled for Tuesday Evening, June 3, 2008 at 7:00 PM. I will be sending an e-mail for you to reply to with your plans to attend. Feel free to bring the family... We usually meet at our home. Map to follow.

The payment schedule for the trip will be as follows: $400.00 deposits were due last week! If you have not sent in a deposit please do this ASAP. I have printed accounting sheets and will be sending them by regular or BOCES mail sometime this week. Your account will need a $1000.00 balance by April 9, 2008. (This is $600 plus the $400 deposit) The Final Balance will be due by June 3, 2008, and will reflect any COSEE Scholarship award. All checks should be made payable to: Tropical Marine Ecology.

Travel insurance is available at an additional cost of $141 per person and I will need to hear from each of you regarding your choice to purchase or not purchase this option in the next e-mail. I would like to be able to add this to your Financial Sheet before I mail it out next week. Thanks.

I have attached a .pdf file of suggested locations if you need to purchase snorkeling equipment. If you can't open the file the included locations are Lake Erie Diving Center, 8542 Route 5, Angola, 549-3338; and Dip ‘N Dive, 500Niagara Falls Blvd., Tonawanda, 837-3483. Any of the local Scuba Dive Centers should be able to assist in selecting gear. This is an item we will discuss at the pre-trip meeting.

A few questions came up about SCUBA Diving at the info meeting. If you are a certified diver there will be opportunities to dive at some of the scheduled snorkel sites. In addition, you may schedule dives with the dive shop during free time. The dive shop does offer a PADI Discover Diving course that would allow non-certified folks to experience SCUBA. Or, if you have completed a SCUBA course locally except for the required open water dives, these may be completed in Roatan if you take a referral letter from your local instructor. SCUBA rental and courses will incur an extra cost that will need to be paid to the resort at the end of the trip. Please call if you are interested in any of these options.

Please feel free to contact me any time if you have questions or concerns.

Garry
Garry W Dole
Science Resources Coordinator
Erie 2 - Chautauqua - Cattaraugus BOCES
10001 Route 60
Fredonia, NY 14063
716-679-3419
FAX 716-679-3420
garrydole@aol.com