Experts are in "order of appearance".  So scroll through a month's worth of intriguing speakers and mark your calendar so you're sure not to miss a presentation or field project!
Enjoy a drink or better yet:  make a reservations @ a sponsor restaurant  

Note:  only adult presentations and field projects are noted.  Each speaker also works with Saba's school children whether in the format of an academic presentation at the public school or in some cases field projects as well as work with Saba Sea Scouts and/or Child Focus. 

Emma Harrison 
currently works as the research officer for the St Eustatius National Parks Foundation (STENAPA).   She has been living on Statia for the past 18 months and her primary responsibility has been the co-ordination of the island’s Sea Turtle Conservation and Monitoring Program.  Her interest in sea turtles began in 1998 when she was a volunteer on a turtle monitoring and research project run by the Caribbean Conservation Corporation in Costa Rica.  Ironically, Emma was taking a break from writing her PhD thesis, which focused on butterfly behavior, not turtles!  During this time, she had her first encounter with a sea turtle.  After three months of hands on research, she was totally captivated by these amazing marine creatures.  Once her thesis was completed she turned her back on butterflies and returned to the turtle research center in  Costa Rica--this time to run the program she had previously volunteered for.  The majority of her experience has involved studies on nesting beaches.  Over the years, Ms. Harrison has walked literally hundreds of miles, mainly at night and in all kinds of weather.  But this effort has not been in vain.  Though she has witnessed it on countless occasions she is still awed by the sight of a female turtle crawling ashore to lay her eggs.  Emma has participated in satellite tracking projects of leatherback, green and hawksbill turtles; monitoring the migration of individuals between their nesting and foraging grounds to better understand their movements and so improve conservation efforts.  

Ms. Harrison will be Sea & Learn's opening night speaker.  Join her for an interesting evening and the kickoff to our event:
Sunday, October 1, 2006: Tropics Cafe @ 5:30 p.m.

Emma will also be diving on Saba Divers and Sea Saba boats Sat Sep 30 and Sun Oct 1.  Join her and learn more!

Scott Heppell 
has been studying grouper in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean since the mid-1990's.  Now an  assistant professor of fisheries at Oregon State University, he team teaches with his wife and shares their marine laboratory.  Link to the Heppell Lab to read more about their work with coastal ecology and resource management, fishery biology, sampling and analysis of marine fish stocks, and fish physiology. The Heppells work with the Cayman Islands Department of Environment and the Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF) to study the Nassau grouper aggregation on Little Cayman Island. Their focus on the interactions between fish, fish life histories, and the impacts of fishing on the long-term sustainability of populations directly relates to the issue of grouper populations on Saba as well.  The ultimate goal of their project is to prove that protecting the aggregation is a good idea. Join Scott on a snorkel trip or dive to investigate the habitats  of Nassau grouper around Saba.  By doing so, you can contribute to Scott's work in determining the health of Saba's grouper population and understand how to balance the demand for this tasty fish without depleting the populations in the long term:

Scott's first presentation is scheduled for Tue Oct 3 @ 5:30 p.m. at Tropics Cafe.  An encore presentation w/additional information is set up for Sat Oct 7 @ 5:30 p.m. @ The Brigadoon.  Join Scott for his field projects:
Wed Oct 4 @ 1:30 p.m. Sea Saba boat
Fri Oct 6 w/Saba Divers--time TBA

Tom van t'Hof
is a marine biologist recognized worldwide for his designing of marine parks. Tom is to be given credit for the design of Saba and St. Eustatius's (the more common name for our neighboring island St. Eustatius is "Statia") marine parks but also for Bonaire, Curacao and other parks from Kenya to Indonesia. Choosing Saba as his home since 1986, Tom was the original director of Saba's Conservation Foundation for its first ten years. As an active environmentalist, author and consultant, Tom is never at a loss for something to do. The Nature of Saba, Guide to the Saba Marine Park, and Guide to Saba's Nature Trails are just the books about Saba which Tom has written or co-authored.  He and artist wife Heleen own Saba's Eco-lodge Rendezvous.  Meet Tom on Wednesdays throughout the year for a pre-dinner slide presentation about Saba's montane forest given at The Rainforest Restaurant.   At Sea & Learn 2006, join Tom for his updated presentation on cloud forests.  For a special treat, Tom will conduct a few hikes during the month to Saba's cloud forest areas.  Sign up for his field trip to better understand what makes Saba's forest unique, the traumas it has endured and nature's magnificent healing process.  
Learn more about Saba's cloudforest, its uniqueness and its evolution on Thu Oct 5 @ 5:30 p.m. @ The Ecolodge.  Interested hikers can join Tom on Saturday, October 7 @ 8 .m.

Karen Eckert
started her quest to improve Caribbean conservation when she wrote her thesis entitled, “Multilateral Conservation - A Critique of Past and Present Efforts in the Wider Caribbean Region”.  For the next 20 years she dedicated her life to sea turtle research and international conservation policies.  She is currently Executive Director of the Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation Network (WIDECAST) and an Assistant Research Scientist on the faculty of Duke University, North Carolina.  WIDECAST embraces the largest network sea turtle research and conservation projects in the world, and is tasked with preventing the extinction of six species of endangered sea turtles in the Caribbean basin.  Karen's achievements range from being inducted into the “Global 500 Roll of Honour for Environmental Achievement” to her most recent publication:  “Sea Turtles: An Ecological Guide”--with many things inbetween.  Be awed by turtle stories and photography and join Karen's team on Saba to learn more about turtles in our region and what the local communities and you can do to protect these fabulous creatures.

Karen will be the guest speaker on Sun Oct 8 @ 5:30 p.m. @ The Ecolodge.  We hope to schedule Karen on Friday and Saturday afternoons for interested divers and snorkelers.  Check the Sea & Learn Tent for an update.

Giovanna Bernardini
is known on Saba simply as "Gio". Working as a dive instructor for one of Saba's dive shops fulfills her passion to be in the sea continuing her self education while sharing her knowledge with others. Gio's Natural Science background was earned in her native country of Italy.  During her university years, she traveled to the Maldives island to study the 1998 coral bleaching event.  From this work she has received accolades for her Thesis entitled “Coral builders’ mortality and recovery modulated by climatic events".  Her paper outlined the patterns of coral mortality and the  survival and recruitment in Maldivian coral reefs.  Her work was presented to the ISRS European meeting in Cambridge, England.  Since that time she has also participated in the “Recifs Coralliens”, project organized by the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes of Perpignan (France).  She next switched continents to participate in GBRMPA ‘BleachWatch’ program for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority of Townsville, Queensland, Australia.  Gio is an active member of the ISSD, International School of Scientific Diving in addition to her professional credentials as a dive instructor.  
Join Gio to understand more about Saba's reefs and their recovery from the Caribbean-wide coral bleaching in 2005 on Monday October 9 @ 5:30 p.m. @ The Brigadoon.

Stewart Chipka
is now a familiar face on Saba known as "Th'e Orchid Guy".  Chipka's interest in orchids began as a boy, when he accompanied his Czeh immigrant grandfather on trips through the Florida Everglades to gather various specimens.  Schooled as a structural engineer, but now retired, he has developed his love of orchids into a serious avocation.  Stewart is the former president of Encyclia Enthusiasts, Inc., an affiliate of the American Orchid Society.  His work has been published in lay and scholarly journals.  Stewart is now living permanently on Saba where he is preparing a book on the Encyclia species of the Caribbean Basin while creating a scientific map of the location of wild orchids on Saba.  He has already identified 24 species representing nine genera and hopes to track down many more during his ongoing orchid population survey.  In 2005, Chipka launched www.sabaorchidresearch.org, a website dedicated to his program now in place on Saba. 
Learn plenty about exotic orchids at Stewart's presentation on Wed Oct 11 @ 5:30 p.m. @ Tropics Cafe.  Better yet, join him for his hands on guided orchid hikes: 
Sat Oct 14 @ approx 8 a.m. 
2nd presentation to be announced week of Oct 22-27  

Jorge Brocca
Jorge is currently a Director for the Sociedad Ornitológica de la Hispaniola in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. His primary research interests are ornithology and herpetology within the Caribbean. Jorge has worked throughout the islands as a researcher with the Nature Conservancy researching songbird biology in the Dominican Republic, Ducks Unlimited studying overwintering duck populations in Hispaniola, the Searching for Hope Expedition in Haiti looking for rare birds within Haiti’s National Parks, as well as with EPIC researching the relationships between birds and habitat on St. Martin. Jorge’s main passion is conservation biology, and it is from this perspective that he can share his keen insight into the importance of mangroves within the Caribbean ecosystem.

Join Jorge for an interesting and important discussion that effects our region:  Fri Oct 13 @ 5:30 p.m. @ The Ecolodge.  Field project shall be Sun Oct 15--Time and place TBA

Gayle Pugh
Gayle is a benthic ecologist working as a Science Assistant for the Biological Oceanography Program at the National Science Foundation (NSF).  NSF is an independent government agency that provides grant money for basic scientific research to academic institutions and other
organizations in the U.S.  Gayle received her Master's degree in Natural Resources from Virginia Polytechnic Institute studying blue crab habitat and management strategies in the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem.  Her experience at NSF has provided broad exposure to research projects in
biological oceanography and marine ecology, having helped to review and fund research projects ranging from harmful algal blooms in the Northeast Pacific to hydrothermal vents near Fiji to seamounts in the Northwest Atlantic to Caribbean coral reefs and the Great Barrier Reef.  As a result, she will be giving a presentation on two topics: crabs and sponges. The presentation on crabs will provide a comparative analysis
between swimmer crabs (like the blue crab) and land crabs found on Saba.  For the presentation on sponges, she will draw on her recent research cruise experience and provide insight into the important research being conducted by scientists on sponges that thrive in Caribbean coral reef ecosystems, including Saba.
Understand why 1200 year-old sponges are essential to our reef cycles: Sun Oct 15 @ 5:30 p.m. @ The Brigadoon.  
Find out how Saba's crabs climb mountains:  Tue Oct 17 @ 5:30 p.m. @ Tropics Cafe.  
Field projects:  Mon Oct 16 w/Saba Divers--time TBA
Wed Oct 18 w/Sea Saba @ 1:30 p.m.

Craig Berg
works as a curator at the Milwaukee County Zoo.  He is responsible for everything in the collection that isn’t warm and fuzzy (invertebrates, fishes, reptiles and amphibians).  Although his formal training at the University of Wisconsin involved aquatic ecology his recent endeavors are terrestrial based.  His interest in practical applications of conservation biology have led to the development of successful reintroduction methods for snakes and turtles. He also served as the technical advisor for a series of publications about herpetofauna for the Wisconsin Bureau of Endangered Resources, intended for the general public.  He recently returned from Panama where he assisted in international efforts to help save several amphibian species from possible extinction (Go to www.waza.org for more information about amphibian declines).  Craig first became interested in Caribbean reptiles and amphibians in 2003 while assisting Robert Henderson of the Milwaukee Public Museum with Grenada bank tree boa surveys.  Since that time he has worked with Johnstone’s frog (called treefrogs on Saba) on both Grenada and St. Vincent.  While on Saba, Craig intends to measure and photograph Saba’s treefrogs to compare them to populations on other islands. Craig enjoys working with people and invites you to learn about his work with frogs and join him in the field to learn more about Saba’s only amphibian species.
Join Berg Mon Oct 16 @ 5:30 p.m. @ The Brigadoon for his photo-filled presentation.  
Craig plans two field projects and follow-up lab work you can join him on:
Tue Oct 17 following the presentation--time and location TBA
Thu Oct 19 following presentation/dinner @ The Ecolodge

David Bass
David Bass is a Professor of Biology & Curator of Invertebrates at the University of Central Oklahoma where he teaches eight different courses in the fields of ecology and invertebrate zoology.  He received a Ph.D. (Zoology) from Texas A&M University and M.S. (Biology) and B.S. (Science Education) degrees from Lamar University.  He also served as a Fulbright Professor and Visiting Research Fellow at the University of the West Indies (Barbados) during the 1995-96 academic year.  His ongoing research efforts focus on the ecology and biogeography of aquatic invertebrates 1) on small islands in the Caribbean region and 2) in aquatic environments of Oklahoma, Texas, and Colorado.  These have resulted in numerous publications and presentations at scientific meetings.  Join David on Saba as he continues to explore Saba's fresh water areas (like the pool on the Sandy Cruz trail in the photo at the left) and understand what creatures live in these fragile environments.
Learn about Saba's fresh water critters at  David's presentation on Thu Oct 19 @ 5:30 p.m. @ The Ecolodge.  Sign up for his field trip 
Fri Oct 20:  time and location TBA

Jan Post
is a Dutch marine biologist who credits his dedication to conservation back to his spearfishing days.  In 1967, Jan was chosen to represent The Netherlands  at the World Spearfishing Championships in Cuba.  Once Jan saw the devastating effects of  spearfishing on Cuba's residential fish fauna, he realized his true course in life.  He traded his speargun for a camera and began his crusade.  In 1970, Jan wrote the spearfishing ordinance for Bonaire which is still in force today.  Jan's colored career spans from Israel to Holland to South America with hats worn from marine biologist to ecologist to his final position in the Environment Department of the World Bank in Washington.  Jan is officially retired but works as a consultant to Marine Program of IUCN.  The ultimate goal of IUCN is the implementation of the four volume report "A Global Representative System of Marine Protected Areas".  When not busy with marine work, he focuses on saving the rainforest through innovative forms of sustainable use.  Jan promises an interesting lecture and field project focused on lizard habitats and behavior--specifically territorial defenses and endemism.  Click to read more about Jan's work.
Jan's presentation is scheduled for Mon Oct 23 @ 5:30 p.m. @ The Eugenius Center in Windwardside.  You can join Jan for his field project with lizards the following morning:  Tue Oct 22;  Check with the S&L Tent for time and location

Matthew Potenski
is currently a graduate research associate with the Guy Harvey Research Institute at the Nova Southeastern University Oceanographic Center in Dania Beach, Florida.  Matthew is currently the co-principal investigator for the Cayman Islands Stingray Ecology and Conservation Project.  His masters thesis focuses on the effects of supplemental feeding by humans on stingray biology and ecology.  In the past seven years, Matthew has done marine biological work in eight countries and encountered over fifty species of sharks and rays.  Although his primary interests are sharks and rays, much of Matt's work involves full ecology of the study organism.  This approach demands a scientist to have a good comprehension of entire marine systems so Matthew's varied background from seagrasses and coral to invertebrates, telost fish and even water chemistry are most helpful.  Join Matthew as he re-examines Saba's stingray population and discuss how this natural environment compares to that of Cayman where they receive supplemental feeding.
Matt's presentation is tentatively scheduled for Tue Oct 24 @ Tropics Cafe--monitor this site for any update.  Matt will be on dive boats throughout the week of Oct 23-27.  Check the Sea & Learn Tent for updates and field project scheduling.

Arlington James
was born and raised on the Eastern Caribbean island of Dominica.  Scientists tout Arlingtion as "one of the Caribbean's best naturalists", regularly making use of his vast local knowledge when conducting their own research on the 'The Nature Island of the Caribbean'.  James is employed as the head of Forestry Department on Dominica.  He is co-author of "Guide to Nature Sites" as well as collaborating on numerous other books, articles and projects.  In 1990 Arlington received the prestigious Euan P. McFarlane Environmental Leadership award for his work with Ronald Charles.  Together they researched alternatives to bio pesticides in order to protect Dominica's agricultural economy as well as the environment.  As an active advocate of Caribbean conservation, he his writings range from the documenting the status of Dominica's famed boiling lake to mudslides, volcanoes, and his most recent undertaking:  palms.   Join Arlington while he's on Saba to better understand the diversity of Caribbean palm trees and their present threats.  

Learn about Saba's palms and their role in our forests:  Wed Oct 25 @ 5:30 p.m. @ The Brigadoon.
Join Arlington on a rain forest hike Thursday @ 3 p.m.  Location TBA

Dean "Sharkman" Fessler
is the Education Director for the Shark Research Institute and calls Princeton, New Jersey home when not traveling.  Dean has dived and researched shark species around the world including:  Sand tiger sharks off the North Carolina coasts, Bull sharks and Caribbean reef sharks off the Bahamas, Black tipped reef sharks off Palau and White sharks off South Africa.  He has worked with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and was recently elected in to the Explorer's Club.  In his spare time, he is authoring a children's book about white sharks.  Dean was scheduled as a speaker for 2004 and 2005 when other life issues prevented him from attending.  Dean promises the third time is the charm!  
Join Sharkman for two different presentations:
Sat Oct 28 @  5:30 p.m. @ The Eugenius Center and 
Mon Oct 30 @ our Grand Finale evening @ 5:30 p.m.

Dean will be on a dive boat daily; check at the Sea & Learn Tent for timing and sign-up sheets

Jan den Dulk
Jan was born and raised in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada on the shores of Lake Huron.  He obtained his Batchelor of Science degree in Fisheries Biology from the University of Guelph in 1989 and has worked all across Canada for the past 17 years conducting a wide variety of environmental projects.  This work has taken him to the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic oceans, the Rocky Mountains, the central prairies, eastern and northern forests and well above the Arctic Circle and tree line.  In August 2006, Jan, his wife Shelley and their dog Zack moved to Saba where he is now the manager of the Saba Conservation Foundation which includes Saba's Marine Park.
Join Jan for as he narrates a recap of the month's events at Sea & Learn on Saba's Grand Finale evening:  Mon Oct 30  @ 5:30 p.m. 

Roger Hanlon
(last minute research grant approval has forced Dr. Hanlon to cancel this year but monitor this site for news on his research and 2007 plans for Sea & Learn on Saba...)
has made over 5,000 research dives during his 30 years as a marine biologist. He was inspired first when an octopus on a coral reef in Panama scared him out of his wits during his junior year in college. He survived that experience - and an athletic scholarship - to receive a B.S. Degree in Biology at Florida State University. He then served as Lieutenant in the US Army for two years before obtaining the MS and PhD degrees from the University of Miami, and conducted a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Cambridge, UK. Field work combined with laboratory experimentation has helped to satisfy his continuing curiosity about how cephalopods (squid, octopus, cuttlefish, nautilus) survive and thrive in an ocean dominated by fishes and mammals. Along the way, he has been employed in academic research centers, first at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston (where he achieved full professorship in the School of Medicine) and since 1995 at the nation’s oldest marine laboratory, the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole on Cape Cod. Dr. Hanlon is a Senior Scientist in the Marine Resources Center at the MBL and still follows the mantra of Louis Agassiz, whose famous quote hangs in the library in Woods Hole: “Study nature, not books.” Roger's first trip to Saba in December 2004 served as a reconnaissance trip for the first octopus monitoring work in the Caribbean by Hanlon.  He has already identified 5 species of octopus around Saba.  In 2005, he and his team documented the mimicking behavior of Octopus vulgaris for the first time in Caribbean waters.  Join Roger and become part of the Saba research team.