LAUDERDALE-BY-THE-SEA SPONSORING 4TH ANNUAL BUGFEST (JULY 25 - AUG. 1, 2015)

The Town of Lauderdale-By-The-Sea is again sponsoring BugFest-By-The-Sea, a week-long series of fun events for scuba divers centered around Florida’s annual two-day lobster mini-season (July 29 & 30). BugFest this year is July 25 to Aug. 1, 2015.

More than $10,000 in cash, dive gear and other prizes will be given away during BugFest, which attracted 300 scuba divers in 2014. The event is called BugFest because divers commonly refer to Florida spiny lobsters as "bugs."

The BugFest dive festival includes the following:

- Mini-season kick-off party on Saturday, July 25 with music, drinks and dive equipment giveaways.
- Expert lobster hunting class with Jim "Chiefy" Mathie on Saturday, July 25! Mathie, a retired Deefield Beach firefighter, is the author of Catching the Bug, The Comprehensive Guide to Catching Spiny Lobster.
- A one-day wreck dive workshop (includes two dives) on Saturday, July 25 with wreck-diving legend John Chatterton, one of the world's top wreck diving experts and the main focus of Shadow Divers, the best-selling book about the efforts to identify a World War II German U-boat found 60 miles off New Jersey.
- The Great Florida Bug Hunt Contest on July 29 and 30. Divers can win cash and prizes in several categories, including biggest bug, the biggest bug caught on a midnight beach dive, and $1,000 for the dive buddy team that bags the biggest 12 bugs on mini-season opening day. The $20 registration includes a BugFest T-shirt and goody bag.
- A spiny lobster chef competition on Thursday, July 30.
- A beach and underwater pier clean-up on Saturday, Aug. 1, followed by a Scuba Cowboy concert.
- Free underwater photo and video contests!

With a reef just 200 yards off its beach, Lauderdale-By-The-Sea is Florida's undisputed Beach Diving Capital.

Now in its fourth year, BugFest has become one of the biggest dive events in the state. BugFest sponsors this year include numerous Florida companies, including Reef Safe sun care products (Daytona Beach), Scuba Radio (Orlando), ScubaNation TV (Miami), and South Florida Diving Headquarters (Pompano Beach), as well as several Lauderdale-By-The-Sea firms: Gold Coast Scuba, Deep Blue Divers, Windjammer Resort, By The Sea Realty and Lenore Nolan-Ryan Cooking School and Catering.

Located just north of Fort Lauderdale, the Town, which has 6,000 residents, oozes with Old Florida charm. Visitors entering the Town on Commercial Boulevard are greeted by an 18-foot tall sculpture of a coral reef. With reef-themed artwork dotting our downtown district, casual restaurants with live music and hotels right on the beach, divers will feel right at home in a Town that celebrates its amazing offshore sea life.

The BugFest Web site is at www.bugfestbythesea.com.