Recollections of the Past 30 years pursuing Coelacanths
Jerome Hamlin, creator dinofish.com
We carried letters of introduction with us as we ventured to this for us, unknown destination.
A Letter of introduction from the President of the Explorers Club for our first visit in 1986
And a letter of introduction from the director of New York Aquarium for our first trip to the Comoros in 1986
This was still in the days of traellers checks. The U.S. Consulate helped us with banking matters and petty cash expenditures.
Paul's Travel Agency set up our tickets to the little known Comoros.
Paul was shown a letter from a French marine biologist. Paul was fluent in French and said, "We're F....D!
As it was only to be a photographic visit by a submersible, I didn't see the conflict of interest.
We visited Dr Barnet in the Comoros. He had sent a frozen coelacanth in a sleeping bag to Shed Aquarium, Chicago.
At this time coelacanth catches were documented on a form in this case kept by dive master Jean Louis Gerod, who as luck would have it worked out of rooms at our hotel, Le Coelacanthe.
