This is the third annual project to Curacao to document the establishment and consequences of invasive lionfish as part of REEF's ongoing effort to minimize the Indo-Pacific predator's impact on native fish populations. Participants will have an opportunity to be trained in lionfish collection and dissections of specimens to document prey.

Cost Per Person: $1,882 (double occ) $2,421 (single occ)

What is included: Your package includes 7 nights in a Garden View Room at Kura Hulanda Lodge & Beach Club, breakfast each morning, 5 days of 2-tank boat dives, roundtrip airport transfers on Curacao, ground transportation for group activities, and all taxes.

Additional fees: A REEF Program Fee of $250 per diver will be added to each package to cover the cost of the group leaders, seminar and survey materials. Lunch and dinner not included.

Airport/hotel transfer information: Participants fly into/out of Willemstad (CUR) Hato International Airport. From there participants will be transported to Kura Hulanda Lodge & Beach Club, a 30 minute drive.

How to book: To reserve your space or find out more, email us at trips@REEF.org, or call us at 305-588-5869. A $500 deposit will be collected at time of booking. Visit our Trip Policies page for more information on deposit and payment schedules.

About the trip leaders: Lad Akins, REEF’s Director of Special Projects, is renowned as the leading expert on invasive species, specifically lionfish. He served as the Founding Executive Director of REEF and led the organization in that capacity for 16 years, helping to design and develop REEF’s widely recognized marine conservation programs. In 2005, he stepped down to focus his efforts solely on the lionfish invasion.

Peter A. Hughes is the Founder of the DivEncounters Alliance, a group of independent live-aboard dive operators, and a member of REEF’s Board of Directors. Peter is one of the diving world’s foremost live-aboard operators, having spent more than forty years in the diving industry. Peter received the DEMA Reaching Out Award for helping to evolve the live-aboard diving industry and subsequently joined the DEMA Hall of Fame in 2011.

Curacao dive dock

 GO WEST dive boat

 Collecting lionfish

Lionfish data collection