SEA-MAX Trade Show. OC travelling Band of Coral Vagabonds.
 

Hi All,

A few months ago I posted that OC is hoping to organize a traveling group of reefers and vendors to attend SEA-MAX that is taking place in Seattle on July 23-24. Many of you stated that it was too far away to make concrete plans but now the time has come to finalize commitments.

Here is their link to the event and please note that the trade show organizers have been able to negotiate a deal with the Mariott hotel for better room rates.

http://www.marineaquariumexpo.com/SEAMAX%20INDEX.html

I would like to have an idea of how many people are planning on attending this 2 day event and if you would be interested in traveling with OC and friends.

Myself and a few vendors will be offering a "swag" bag for attendees so to make sure we have enough "swag" to give away, please contact me asap so that I can organize the freebies with the other vendors.

Now for the good part. O.C. WILL be able to offer all OC attendees the ability to bring back NON CITES livestock :eek:

I will facilitate the importation of your NON CITES livestock that you buy at the trade show. There will be a nominal sur charge applied due to the cost of filing the paperwork with USFW; so the more people involved the more diluted the fee will be.

Details surrounding this will be made more concrete as we get closer to the date.

Please PM me if you have ANY questions regarding this or the event. It is very rare that a U.S. lead trade show occurs so close to our backyard. Don't miss out on this chance to meet some great vendors that you may not otherwise have a chance to meet.

Cheers,

Paul

As it stands now, count me in. Keep us posted with details! (costs, travel, etc.)

Cheers dude!

Wow Paul, you are AWESOME!!!:mrgreen: I will be attending but it is a tag on to the end of our family vacation and we are driving thru seattle so I will see all you guys there! Wheeee! I can't wait!! :biggrin:

I wish I was closer.

This sounds like a fantastic opportunity to find some things that may not be in Canada.

Good on you for organizing and including the locals out in your area!

wow, so no problem with the islanders meeting up and tagging along??

I'm in but we will be entertaining my wifes sister and her family from Australia so I won't be travelling with the group. We'll make our own way down and back.

Great! We'll have a room booked so anybody that's passing through and want to meet up for dinner and drinks after the show are welcome. Should be a great time.

Paul

Hi Rick,

As always, OC does not prejudice where you live or travel from. All are welcome in our group. Will you be taking the ferry down or meet up in Vancouver/Aldergrove?

Thanks

Paul

if i attend i will meet-up in seattle!

Will you be staying at the hotel? Attending both days?

Paul

wife and i planning to arrive friday and leave sunday eve.
yes will stay at the hotel

Anyone have any idea on how we get tickets? At the door?

Yes'm. Pay at the door.

Cheers,
Paul

Hi Paul,

Count me in and I will be travelling with you all as well. :biggrin:

Sounds great Leah. Are you gonna need a roomie?

Maybe another female on here needs one?

Cheers,

Paul

Great initiative Paul!

We will have a large booth for the show and will see everyone there!
http://www.marineaquariumexpo.com/SEAMAX%20INDEX.html
It will be a great show!

MAX was a success and alot of fun and I am excited for a show with the possibility of a higher Canadian turn-out!

I know some great coral vendors will be present for this show, including Cherry Corals so your offer to help facilitate bringing back non-CITIES specimens is a wonderful opportunity for everyone!

I have a room booked at the hotel for Friday and Saturday nights. I might be looking for a room-mate..Don't know for sure yet.

I'm prolly going to head over Friday on the ferry and come back Sunday afternoon. Rick have you checked the cost of flight vs ferry?

Everyone remember if you fly you need a passport... By land or water you need a passport OR an enhanced Drivers License.


Non CITES Paul? As in softies and unattached zoas? How would this work? Would we purchase the coral and leave them with you Sunday? And i guess hook up sometime later after the border crossing?

shelley, we have alaska air miles so we will fly on points via kenmore air seaplane.

off the top of my head :question: i think it is about 300$ + tax(es) return on kenmore air from victoria.

shelley, what does the clipper cost?

paul how is the mainlanders traveling?
as a group? what type of transport?
rick

Rick the Clipper is $140 RT but I think you get a tad off if you book in advance.

kenmore air is $300? Can I go with you as baggage?:mrgreen:

The wife and I will be attending. If we go on our own and meet you there, can we still get the CITES deal?

I'll be heading down for the show. Likely early Saturday morning then return Sunday. I'm not staying at the hotel but will keep my eyes out for everyone

J

Tagging along as we might be able to swing this, too..........
Anyone else going from Alberta??
Lenny.

I am booked to attend as well. Likely going on the clipper (only about 90 return Shelley) and we are booked at the hotel for the 2 nights.

Fantastic offer to get the corals through for us. Then perhaps the islanders can go in together to get them flown over......

I can't wait!!

groovy!

For those of you that plan on taking the Clipper, I can provide parking for 4-6 cars for the weekend. We can then either walk, or talk my Boo into taking us down to the terminal.

flights and hotel booked.
do we pre-register?
dont see a link on the site.

Paul, I will probably make this trip. Please keep me post it. Thanks.

Hi Rick,

I'm looking into the cost of hiring a Coach bus to take us down there and back. Another option is to take the Train down from Vancouver and we get dropped off downtown Seattle. No traffic to worry about.

Still trying to figure out different options for travel at the moment.

Ultimately, we could carpool if we didn't have the numbers to make hiring a coach economical. Right now as it stands I have a lot of interest and a few confirmed for sure. I'll wait till after the weekend and compile a list of who's in and post it on this thread. If I miss you, please PM me and I'll add you to the list.

Thanks

Paul

It's pay at the door for admission. I am trying to get a hold of the organizer to see if we can get a group rate. Will keep y'all posted.

Thanks

Paul

Hi Trina,

Can't wait to finally meet you and Patrick. Have been dealing with you guys for some time now and it'll be great to put a face to the name.

Thank you so much for offering our group a "swag" pack and I'm sure everyone attending will make a point of stopping by your booth to say "Hi" and explore what you guys at Reef Wholesale have brought available to Canada. That and having Todd Cherry's in the same booth makes it even more enticing to stop by. He has some of the nicest corals in North America hands down.

Cheers,

Paul

Hi Shelley,

Yes NON CITES meaning:

Soft corals that are NOT attached to any type of rock either dead or alive. Plugs are fine.

Soft corals: corals that do not have a calcium base to their structure. ie Zoas/Palys, Rics

If you choose to buy stony corals and bring them back across the border, THEY will get confiscated and you WILL be fined. I will be ensuring that ALL livestock brought back through me are within USFW and Environment Canada's guidelines. It is not worth it for anyone to try and sneak them across. You are risking yourself as well as the life of the coral that you are trying to bring across so please don't.

Thanks everyone for your attention to this very important matter.

Cheers,

Paul

Hi Kevin,

Thanks for posting your thoughts and offering us a warm welcome to your trade show. Hopefully there will be lots more of these events staged for the Pacific Northwest.

Looking forward to experiencing your show and koodos for organizing such a great event.

Cheers,

Paul

Welcome Kevin! Glad you stopped by. I can't wait till July!! Its gonna be awesome and I hope to see more shows in the PNW!!! :biggrin:

Hey Paul,

now that we are getting close to the event, do you have any details to share with us regarding the purchase of frags - and where you guys will be hanging out!

Thanks, its's getting close now - very exciting.

Looking forward to meeting some fellow canreefers on the weekend. we are travelling with another couple from Edmonton.

We are the other couple:biggrin: and this is going to be a fun show!
Only a few more sleeps left.

Hi All,

I will be at the Hikari Trade show booth most of the 2 days and will check back often if I miss anyone, you can leave a message with anyone at Hikari on how I can get a hold of you during the weekend.

Regarding livestock and bringing them back, for all interested parties please email me or PM me for details on this. I need to find out if there's enough interest to warrant the administrative fees involved to bring the corals back.

For all Islander people who are interested, the logistics have changed since originally making this post and Harbour Air no longer flies direct to Victoria via Langley. In order for me to ship corals to Victoria, I now have to travel to the Vancouver Airport to ship through Harbour Air. This is a 2 hour trip for me and unfortunately I now have to take fuel cost and my time into consideration. If there's enough people on the island that want to have their corals shipped Monday after they've crossed the border I will have to charge a small handling fee to cover the above costs (fuel and time) as this is a not for profit service that I'm offering. Hope you understand.

I will be staying at the hotel so everyone is welcome to come up for drinks or meet up for dinner. Please PM me if that is your intention.

Thanks and see you all on Saturday.

Paul

Thanks for clarifying this Paul. I can understand that this is a little out of your way - do you have a normal handling fee that you charge for shipping livestock? I guess before I can decide if this is an option, I'd need to know how much we are talking about. Could you also ballpark the admin fee you are mentioning for the admin of the order?

So Islanders, who is interested in having this shipped in one big order? We'll need to know by Friday so we can make a decision on what is involved before we get down there and see all the fun stuff they have. Or are there any Islanders who are going by OC on Monday and can facilitate the transportation??

I might actually be able to attend..yeeehah!:biggrin: