miami
Oceana Returns to Nautica South Beach Triathlon
On April 1st Oceana kicked off spring in high gear at the 2012 Nautica South Beach Triathlon. We set out for the warm waters of Miami to fundraise for the oceans, engage hundreds of new ocean advocates and connect with existing Wavemakers in one of our favorite ocean places. Thanks to Nautica, our passionate volunteers and dedicated athletes, we did just that – and then some!
In the end, our athletes like Summer Osterman (Burgess Yachts), Deborah London, Bruce Sutherland and Laura Taglione, raised nearly $4000 for ocean conservation and our volunteers helped turn hundreds of curious attendees into Oceana Wavemakers by rallying their support around a new petition to help protect dolphins and other sea creatures in American waters.
In total, Oceana raised over $30,000 at the event thanks to athlete fundraising and contributions from Nautica that included proceeds from all the commemorative merchandise sales at their beachside pop-up tent throughout the weekend. 100 percent of all Nautica sales during race weekend went to Oceana’s mission to help protect the oceans! Not only that, but they supplied us with tent space, race entries and uniforms for our athletes – helping keep us outfitted and visible throughout the entire weekend.
And despite a sudden downpour that left most of the expo waterlogged for much of the weekend, we had great weather – especially on race day. Clear skis and water temps in the high 70s made for perfect racing conditions for Team Oceana and the 3,000 other folks that turned out to test their mettle through swimming, biking and running.
A special thanks goes out to our volunteers who helped rally new Oceana supporters and to the Nautica team for raising an impressive amount of money to help fuel our mission to protect the world’s oceans. Next up, Nautica Malibu Triathlon! We can’t wait.
Team Oceana Joins Nautica in South Beach
This past weekend, Oceana joined Nautica at Lummus Park for the Nautica South Beach Triathlon. It was the third time we teamed up at the SoBe Tri to raise money for Oceana and raise awareness about ocean conservation...and it certainly seemed charmed.
First, there were the conditions – and I don't mean the clear blue skies and 78 degree Atlantic Ocean water temperature – I mean the six volunteers and nineteen athletes who gave of their time and effort to make the event successful for Oceana and for our oceans.
Tagging Sharks in the Dry Tortugas
Two expedition updates in one day - hold on to your hats! In this one, Oceana marine scientist Elizabeth Wilson describes yesterday’s successful shark tagging adventures, including a monster nurse shark:
Today we traveled to the Dry Tortugas, a small group of islands at the end of the Florida Keys, to study sharks. On board with us is the shark team from University of Miami’s R.J. Dunlap Marine Conservation Program, led by Dr. Neil Hammerschlag. Other members of the team on board are Lab Manager and graduate student Dominique Lazzare and Captain Curt Slonim.
We arrived in the Dry Tortugas National Park, anchored near Fort Jefferson and started surveying for sharks. We had a successful research trip where we tagged and sampled three Caribbean reef sharks and two nurse sharks. We attached identification tags to the Caribbean reef sharks and sent them back on their way. The nurse sharks were too big and feisty to bring on the boat for tagging…one was 10.5 feet long and was the biggest nurse shark any of us had ever seen.
