My trip to Miami Florida!

[ShaunW]

I'm in Miami/Ft Lauderdale Florida on a small vacation and visiting family. As a typical reefer nut, I am visiting all the local reef stores. WOW!!!! is an understatement. The ricordea that you can get here are fantastic and the prices are really cheap. For example you can get a R.yumas blood red and orange rock with 20+ polyps on it for $80! other ones are no more than $40 for a multi-polyped (20+ polyps) rock. Maxima clams are $30!! The bigger clams are $60-80. All SPS is $80 or less. Acans for $60! Blue anthelia for $60.

I am planning on trying to bring home corals on the plane ride home tomorrow. Has anyone had any luck with this after 9/11?

In the ocean at the beach, damsels are swimming around at your feet.

I took alot of pictures of the reef stores and their display tanks, which I will post when I get back to NYC!

 

[spykes]

geez shaun if you can bring back LMK i wanna get some too =D

 

[scotty]

I tried when i was in another airport with no luck but that was carry on(got searched). havent tried to checking the bag or if it goes threw the x ray just tell them its dead coral. if rics then they wont show up. not a garuntee but if they catch u play dumb. let me know if it works i am goin there in oct.

 

[ShaunW]

Spykes, if I get back successfully with corals, I will split colonies (probably ricordea) with you if you are interested! What else would you be interested in?

 

[spykes]

a nice maxima clam for 30 LMK

 

[samksy]

Why not do a group order and ship it back to nyc, rather than risking through security check in the airport.

 

[DEEPWATER]

i would be interested in som ric if you bring back some

 

[jhale]

I've heard mixed reviews on RC of people bringing things through security, it's a pita no matter what.
you could box it like it's being shipped and check it like luggage, then it's the same as ordering it online.

by the way hope your having a good time

 

[bad coffee]

Glad to hear you're having a good time and getting to see family!

I'm not sure I'd want to be in miami in july though. But if you're at the beach I bet it's okay.

I'd take a few rics! You could always ship them fedex.

I've carried wine bottles in my carryon on planes since 9/11. I'd call whatever airline you're flying, and ask if it's okay to bring on a cooler full of corals. Then just put it through the xray like you said.

BC

 

[nanoreefer22]

Nice Shaun. Hope your having lots of fun under the sun.

I'm dead broke or I would tried to get in on this .

Have fun! and be sure to hit the beach at least one day.

-Kris

 

[John]

Hmm I would take a maxxima if you did go through with this. can't beat it for $30. My g/f's parents just came back from Ft. Lauderdale last week and while on the beach they collected some dead corals off the shore and when putting them past security the man actually commented on it but gave them no problem. They flew delta BTW. Hope it works out.

 

[cali_reef]

Don't try to bring it as carry on, you will be question, search and give a hard time about it, you might even miss your flight because you can't decide to leave the stuff behind or get on a different flight so you can make arregements to ship it. Trust me! it happend to me.

You can try to check it in if the store can pack it in a shipping styrofoam box and triple bag everything, try taping over the "live fish" markings as much as you can. When asked by the check in agent what is the container, tell them is food your mom made for you. Try to walk the box to the TSA X-ray machine if possible, when there, ask them to do a hand search because the contain may not surive the new high power xray machines.

I got tire of doing all the crap so I use Fedex now :lol:.

 

[clown25]

hey where in florida did you go?... can you give me the name of the store or maybe the address too because im going to miami in two weeks. thanks

 

[jhale]

where are the pics of you in your Hawaiian shirts?

 

[clownfishking]

I have taken corals and fish on planes coming back from Palm Beach and Ft. Lauderdale, no problem when I went in the security check point.

 

[ShaunW]

where are the pics of you in your Hawaiian shirts?

I'll show you when I get back tomorrow!! It's definately fun down here, and a more mild temp than NYC was when I left. I do have lots of pictures, .

Thanks all for the advice on bringing corals back. Even cleaner shimp are cheap!

The most impressive store is "Big Al's aquarium store", located in Lauderhill!

Ricordeaking, did you tell the security people what was in the bag, and did you put it through the X-ray machine? (I wonder at what intensity the X-ray is and is it harmful to life?).

 

[spykes]

yo shaun you picked me up a nice maxima?

 

[nyfireman3097]

Ill take the blood red rics LMK ill paypal ya
Nick

 

[ShaunW]

I'm back!! well rested and tanned!

I did manage to bring back corals from Florida. I was able to bring a cleaner shrimp and a ricordea yuma orange/red colony back (on this coral I just couldn't help myself!! ).

I would have bought many more corals back, if I was sure that I wouldn't have been stopped and asked to not bring the animals on the plane. Fortunately that didn't occur! When I went to the security check point I told the agent that I was transporting live animals, i.e. shrimp, to NYC. Most people don't understand the concept of corals on a rock, so having the shrimp was a visible way of letting the agent know that I was not BSing him (everyone has seen "Finding Nemo", so I told him I had "Jacque" in the bag, :lol: ). He just took my bag with the animals in it and walked it through the gate, no questions asked!!

I would have liked to bring back corals/clams for everybody that asked, but I was not sure if I would have been sucessful bringing them to NYC. Spending hundreds of dollars in corals to be rejected at security would have be terrible both financially and morally.

 

[nanoreefer22]

Welcome Back Shaun. Glad to here you got some FL corals back into NY.

Nice way to make Finding Nemo worthwhile.