July Meeting - Corpus

[DeletedAccount]

Well, it is now July! I wanted to remind everyone that the July meeting will be held in the Corpus area.

On July 24 we will be going to the Texas State Aquarium. Afterward, Minh has graciously offered to host a meeting for us and share his great knowledge!

July 25 we are going a collectin'! We are going to see what fun things we can find off the island. I know that I will be looking for pods... Who knows what all we can find...

There are a few folks that want to go diving or fishing on Sunday. Post your interests and maybe there are a group of you that wants to do the same thing!

[BA]

i've never been to the aquarium, i can't wait....mayb i can jump start my sand in my new tank, w/ some pods........sounds like it will be a fun weekend...

[MikeDeL]

Do we know if MAAST has arranged anything with a hotel there for a group rate? If so who do we need to contact for that? MAAST can take over the Holiday Inn and convert their pool into a reef. The Aquarium Sounds awsome to me. I went there once as a kid, but dont remember a thing, and would like to go again.


Thanks,
Mike

[DeletedAccount]

When we tried this trip last year (before the weather destoyed it) most folks voted to find their own lodging. I know that I will be staying on Mustang Island. Some folks have expressed interest in camping out on the beach.

[fishhawk]

man I will miss meeting some of y'all. I have been to the state aquarioum about 6 times...must have salt in my veins...or a pirate in my former liife.. anyway i will be down there from the 12th to the 20th for my vacation. staying at my parent's house in rockport where my boat is stored. Anyway for those that don't dive, sometimes you can go a ways out on the jetties and poke around the pools between the rocks. they can act as tidepools or holding tanks and you kind find some neet stuff at times. Its also cool to sein the grassbeds in the shallows or in the surf...have caught puffers, baby flounder, seahorses, pipefish, spidercrabs, etc...anyhow have fun...wish our path will cross someday..

[OrionN]

It will be fun here in Corpus in July. Y'all come. There will be frags sale to raise money for the club. Anybody who want to donate frags to the club are welcome to bring frags.
Minh

[Nano_Steve]

blast, this mb7 is becoming a neausance, its eating up all my funds!!!

misti, do you have any sort of estimates of how much each person should bring? also will there be caravans or carpooling for this?

thanks, steve

minh, glad to hear youre still around!!! im looking forward to going :)

[DeletedAccount]

I think that carpooling is a great idea! I am going with my daughter, leaves two seats open (actually 3, but 2 comfy) in my truck. Kiley will be watching movies, so she should not bother anyone.

I am guessing that with all of the single folks we have people can share rooms, bunk together.

Gas money, room sharing $$, and breakfast and lunch ....

The club will help with the entrance to TX ST Aquarium, and we are taking care of a late luch/early dinner Saturday if we can get Minh's OK to feast at his house (hint, hint Minh).

[Nano_Steve]

thats true, i didnt think about sharing a room. well if anyone is up for carpooling from austin and grabbin a hotel room ill be coming for sure!

do we need to look into any licenses for collection?

-steve

[OrionN]

We can BBQ at my house after the trip to TSAquarium.
Minh

[Moonrs]

Just wondering if there's an actuall itinerary or are folks just going to congregate together and vote as they go?

[Ram_Puppy]

darnit! my wife and I have already set plans for the following weekend in corpus. With the amount of money I lose when I take time off, I can't afford to take another weekend... :(

Oh well, I guess you all will be able to scout out some cherry spots for pod collecting and so on now!

oh, and on collecting, I beleive seahorses are all CITIES protected now, so if you fing one, probably best ot put it back.

[DeletedAccount]

CITIES regulates international trading, not personal collecting.

[lax]

ill be there, in fact this weekend im goin down to corpus. i might just have to scout it out a lil, and see what i get, hmmm.

[alexwolf]

Hey what time on Sat is everything happening? We want to go but I have to work Sat morning

[DeAngelove]

Yeah... any word on an itinerary for the weekend? I'm still trying to decide when I should drive down, and making the necessary arrangements so *I can* be at the meeting and actually be able to enjoy the weekend as well. :-)

[DeletedAccount]

Saturday:
11 am - Meet at Aquarium
3pm - Go to Minh's for meeting and late lunch / early dinner

Sunday:
7am - (Time will be established better when I know when sun rise is) out to collect fun things

[don-n-sa]

Is it OK to bring my son to these events?

[DeletedAccount]

Definitely!!!!!

[MikeDeL]

I was curious if we have arranged anything with the aquarium to see any of the behind the scenes stuff, or is it going to be regular addmision.


Thanks,
Mike

[Ross]

Have any of you guys made plans for sharing rooms. I will need to split with someone.

[DeletedAccount]

:)

[Gator]

is anyone going out on a boat to go fishiing

[DeAngelove]

Thanks for the info Misti! :-)

I think its going to be a blast... definitely looking forward to this event. :)

I hope to see everyone there!

DAB

[kaiser]

Dang it, I am leaving to go to germany again. :( Oh well maybe next year.

[Nano_Steve]

Dang it, I am leaving to go to germany again. :( Oh well maybe next year.

sheesh kai, i think youre the only dude i know that would have a problem with this :-D have fun in germany though man! thatll be a blast!!! i hear that place is really neat especially in the summer since all of europe is so nice and cool.

-steve

[brewercm]

When you leaving to go, I'm guessing you gotta go pick up the weed and bring her back.

[kaiser]

I am leaving on the 28th, I got to work the weekend before that to get at least a couple hours in before I leave.

[dan]

i won't be able to make this one. the family is going to galveston and going to moody gardens. wish i could go to both but the family is making the call. their telling me that i go to all the meeting and this time i need to to their way. i had to say ''ok''.

[kaiser]

Admit it Dan, You just didn't want to sleep on the couch again. :-D :-D

[DeletedAccount]

So far we have been told "No" to a behind the scenes tour. I have a call in to a higher up, and a few e-mails, but no answer yet.

[z28pwr]

Anybody organizing an early dive while people are collecting ?

[brucedittmar]

HELLO, TROPICAL FISH HAVEN WOULD LIKE TO INVITE ALL MAAST MEMBERS TO SEE OUR NEW STORE AND ACRYLIC SHOP.
OPEN SATERDAY 9:00 TO 6:00 CLOSED ON SUNDAY.
WILL OPEN FOR MAAST ON SUNDAY TO PICK UP BEFOR TRIP HOME

PLEASE LET US KNOW WHEN YOU COME IN

THANKS BRUCE DITTMAR

TROPICAL FISH HAVEN
6325 MCARDLE
CORPUS CHRISTI

361-991-1893

[DeAngelove]

Sweet... was just about to ask if there were any cool lfs stores in the area to check out! ;-)

[OrionN]

Would somebody keep a head count so I can make sure we have enough food and drinks for everybody.
Minh

[DeAngelove]

How about starting a poll to get a head count guestimate? :)

[ziggyrocket]

Lets organize a rig dive!! Who all is in?

[BIGBIRD123]

You will need a current fishing license and saltwater stamp. The licenses re-new the first of August, so it would be best if you don't have one to get the 3-day temp. with SW stamp. It will be about $22. I am also a member of Marsh and we had that collection trip last weekend. The collecting during the daylight hours really stunk but after 8 pm..."there was gold in them thar' hills". We collected buckets of peppermint shrimp. We also got baseball-size urchins, beautiful anemonies, Molly Miller Blennies, Sgt, Majors and gobies. This was a fantastic trip and if you can collect at night, you will come home with "treasures" for your tank.

"Nough said"

Steve

[OrionN]

Guys and Gals,
I really need a ball park head count. I don't want to eat the same BBQ meat for the rest of the year (and my wife will kill me if I get lots of extra food). So:
no head count = no food
Please let me know ASAP.
Minh

[matt]

Unfortuately, i can't make this one. Have a great time, everyone who's going.

[Brett Wilson]

I am going, Please add one to the head count Minh :)

See you guys there!

-Brett

[pilot_bell777]

Have fun everybody!......

Something we did that was real fun was we rented jet skis in Port Aransas and rode them in the chanels with Pods of Dolphins not two feet from us! AWSOME and didn't really cost all that much.

[don-n-sa]

minh,

I am not sure who is keeping track of who is going but I will be going with my wife and 5yr old son

[DeletedAccount]

Minh-

Right now we are looking at about 35 folks....

[Nano_Steve]

**raises hand** i plan on goin! im totally stoked to go night collecting!

-steve

[Sherri]

Not sure yet...hubby may go out of town - if not, hopefully we can make it. Will update as soon as I know more.

[MikeDeL]

Im there. COME ON FRIDAY!! I also want to take the chance, Minh, for giving me an excuse to get away for a few days. I need it.


Mike

[DeAngelove]

Minh/Misti -
I don't know who's keeping track either or when they started, but I am in as well for this weekend. See y'all there! :)

[MikeP]

I managed to get the weekend off so will be going down. Anyone want to carpool? I may just camp on the beach or could split a room with a few people.

[RobertG]

Well Guys Hate to say I am going to miss this one. I am going to be in Florida for the week, vacation!!! :-D :-D 8)

Hope everyone has a blast, Happy Collecting!!!

[Nano_Steve]

heads up guys, looks like there's somethin in the water we need to be careful about.

http://marshreef.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=2585

everyone watch yourselves out there.

-steve

[MikeDeL]

That kinda sounds like an urban legend in the making. Wonder why I havnt seen anything on the new. Guess they dont want to screw up tourism. Wonder where people are catching this infection at. Guess I will have to go get me some liquid bandaid, my hands are all cut up.


Mike

[MikeDeL]

So are we following everyone back to Minh's house after the visit to the aquarium, or are directions going to be posted?


Thanks,
Mike

[NaCl_H2O]

I really want to start attending meetings, but a trip to CCTX this weekend just won't be possible.

Looking forward to meeting the MAAST mob at the next meeting (SA Based I hope!)

Y'all enjoy!

- Steve

[DeletedAccount]

We will all go after the aquarium. I will have maps with me. If you cannot make the meeting then PM me and I will send you his address and you can meet us there.

[DeletedAccount]

Saturday:
11 am - Meet at Aquarium
3pm - Go to Minh's for meeting and late lunch / early dinner
evening - collecting trip, also

Sunday:
7am - (Time will be established better when I know when sun rise is) out to collect fun things

[enriquerivas]

Hi ! My name is rick and im three weeks new to MAAST. I will be attending the Corpus Meeting at Minh's house and am very excited about meeting everyone and collecting in Corpus. We plan on camping on the beach saturday night but we are new to Texas and wanted to know if anyone had info on beach camp sites near the location we will be collecting or anywear interesting. Can we build a fire on the beach? Any info would be great. Thank You.

[OrionN]

Maybe we should also go to Tropical Fish Haven. Bruce got a few nice looking A. percula for sale if anybody interested.
Minh

[DeAngelove]

Yeah... I think heading over to Tropical Fish Haven at some point would be fun. Personally, I was actually planning on heading over there at somepoint on Saturday to scope the place out... especially since Bruce said he would hold any purchases and allow for Sunday pickup for MAAST people (and they are normally closed on Sunday). Anyhow... just my $0.02 ... see y'all there! :)

[DeletedAccount]

Sounds like a grerat idea!

[Ross]

Has anyone talked about splitting rooms yet? I will need to split a room w/ at least 1 other person, but i would like to just sleep on someones floor if thats ok.

[beareef19]

How long does it take to get to the Aquarium in CC from SA? would like to know so I wont be late. Three on the head count for me Mihn. Barry

[Sherri]

Argh...can't make it - hubby out of town. Hope everyone has a great time.

[DeletedAccount]

Ross, Kiley (my 5 yr old) and I will have either floor or bed space that you are welcome to if none of the "boys" chimes in.

[BA]

man, i'm going to have to miss this one, was looking foward to seeing minh's set-up

[don-n-sa]

Just to give a small insight of how the Corpus Trip went this weekend

the Corpus Aquarium was great but crowded

Minh did a fantastic job at hosting/cooking for the MAAST crew and with help from Nano steve...wow what an awesome setup that Minh has!!!

Misti did a great job coordinating the event and got us going on the collection trip

I ended up with 17 peppermint shrimps, 3 juvenile permits , an small perch of some sort, lots of snails and crabs, and 4 really cool blennies with mohawks!!!

oh lots of pods too!

Although the turnout was kind of small, I had a great time...thanks misti, minh and it was a pleasure spending time with everyone who went

[wkopplin]

If you have too many peppermints, let me know hehe

[pilot_bell777]

No one ever really answered my question when I was in Corpus the week before about what a POD is???? hehehehehehehe

[Ross]

the meeting was alot of fun. it was cool getting to know some of you guys well. i got a few peppermints, and one really cool blenny.

[Tim Marvin]

Pilot,
Amphipod, copepod, and so on are tiny little shrimp like critters that live in and about rocks and filters in our tanks. They help to feed corals and other animals as well as clean up stuff from the tank. Very good to have.

[adaminaustin]

I am glad you guys had lots of fun and everything turned out well. I am sorry I could not attend.
However I will be going down in about a month.
Will anyone share the technique they used to catch the blennys?

[MikeP]

Also had a good time there. I ended up with 2 small transparent gobies, one green goby, 2 blennies, a sergeant major (he's trying to school with my baby bangaiis) , one cool looking banded killifish, a few sheepshead minnows , some small colorful anemones and assorted conchs and hermits - also a half dozen peppermints.

It's doable for a day trip in the future - a little over three hours from Austin. Unfortunately it looked like a lot of the sargassum was gone so we missed out on all the stuff living in there. For the next time I think a minnow trap would work great for catching peppermints.

If anyone decides they want to try in August for the day I'd be up for it.

[JimD]

Im thinking about going to Port Aransis after the school year begins, has anyone had any luck collecting there? If so, what kind of fauna was available?

[Brett Wilson]

Port A - Ask the guys at Aqua Tek about port-a. I remember them saying the best luck for fauna is in the marshes below the large bridge between aransas pass and port A.
if you want pepps the main jetty is port A is where we got all of ours... but I hear the less used jetties are better.... I still got 15 of them fairly quickly though, and a few blennies...

-Brett

[adaminaustin]

So are you guys just netting the Blennies or are you using a trap?

[Brett Wilson]

Using a net. we would just randomly scrape at the sides of the rocks on the jetty to get shrimp/blennies/etc. you can see the shrimp with a flashlight. they reflect light back at you (And then run away from the light).
The larger the net the better.
It's amazingly easy.

-Brett

[captexas]

What time were ya'll collecting? I have heard it's good to go at night or early in the morning when it's still a little dark to catch some things. I think the Houston club went down there recently had got a lot of peppermint shrimp and other goodies as well.

[don-n-sa]

we started collecting as soon as it got dark, and kept going for a few hours...personally I could of gone all night but the wife and son probably would have left me there...he,he

seriously though, at dark with flashlights and simple nets and good balance is all you need

[enriquerivas]

The Corpus trip was excellent. Much thanks to Minh for his hospitality. His tank was beutifull and he was very knowledgable. Thanks to Misty for a well organized trip. This was my first meeting and a great way to get my feet wet... literally. HAHAHA!!! Also thanks to Nano Steve, Mike P., and don-n-sa for the blennies, and shrimp they caught and gave to me. I ended up with three blennies, one Pep shrimp, and a snail. WAY COOL! i dont want to forget about Tropical Fish Haven. Sunday I went to pick up a clown fish I baught on saterday and they put my blennies, shrimp, and snail in a huge bag and filled it H2O for the trip home. Thanks to everyone.

[Nano_Steve]

minh,

id like to thank you very much for your incredible hospitality(the discussions, the company, and the FOOD!!!) all were beyond my expectations and i am very happy that i decided to go! also, thank you very much for the frags! these are some of the most gorgeous specimens i have seen of acropora and i will do my best to give them a great home!

mikeDEL,

dude, i cant thank you enough for puttin up with me on the way down there and the camp out! it totally rocked! i had a blast :D

MikeP,

totally thanks for bringin me back up and stoppin at beary's and josh's. hope my snoring on the car ride didnt bug ya too much! :P

Beareef,

it was great meetin ya bud! thanks a heap for holdin the frags for us! great lookin tank btw :D

enriquerivas,

dude, it was great meeting you and your lovely wife. totally had a blast chillin with you guys! best of luck with the new tank :D

TurboBrett and DeAngelove,

it was great gettin to know yall better, had a fun time collectin with yall!

don-n-sa,

it was great to finally meet ya! had a great time gettin to know you and your wife.

russel,

it was great meetin ya dude, had a fun time gettin to know ya!

MAThueson,

psh.......i have nothing to say to you........:P it was good seein ya again!!! great planning on the trip and activities! very much kudos to you. i hope next time can be HALF as fun cuz this was almost too much!

everyone,

lol, sorry for the long post. i hope i got everyone, if i didnt you know it was great to see ya and i hope we will be able to do another trip like this in the future! it was a blast.

-steve

[BA]

oh man sounds like it was a blast... wish i could have gone to fish, get some fire shrimp, and blennies, and see Minh's awesome set-up...next time...

[MikeDeL]

The trip to Corpus was fun. Minh thanks for having us at your house, and for the lunch. Your tank is awsome. Camping on the beach was fun, but it sure is nice to eat food without sand in it again.


Mike

[OrionN]

Thanks everybody. I hope you guys enjoyed it. sorry I have to rush off to go to SA and chase everybody out of the house, and missed the collection trip.
You guys and gals are too kind. I knwo my tank is not in the best of shape and there are algae everywhere due to the recent temp spike. Maybe it is slowly getting under control.
Hope everybody enjoy the frags, and give them good home.
Minh

[Brett Wilson]

Thanks minh for everything!
BTW the frags I got are doing great :)

Thanks Misti for organizing this trip. :)

-Brett