Monroe County, Florida ---- Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, senior Member of the Florida Congressional Delegation, will be diving down o the Aquarius ocean laboratory this afternoon of Monday, August 4^th. Ros-Lehtinen will be accompanied by her husband, Dexter Lehtinen, and her Washington, DC Chief of Staff, Art Estopinan, on this exciting dive.  

Scientists and educators from NOAA’s National Marine Sanctuary Program are operating the world’s only undersea scientific facility with the goal of investigating changes to corals and overall marine life in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. 

The Congresswoman is a fierce supporter of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and votes for continuous and federal protection for these fragile marine ecosystems.

The Congresswoman and her diving party will leave the dock at 2:00 PM today, dive down to the base and inspect the surrounding seal life with a tour of the inside of the laboratory and will return to the Key Largo Base by 5:00 PM. NOAA’s Aquarius Home Base is located at 515 Caribbean Drive, Key Largo, Florida.    

The activities of Aquarius’ inhabitants have been webcast in real time to students and general audiences via the OceansLive.org education Web portal.  Ros-Lehtinen’s last dive to Aquarius in September of last year was broadcast live to 3^rd through 6^th graders at the Montessori School in nearby Islamorada, Florida.

Aquarius is owned by NOAA, administered through NOAA’s National Undersea Research Program, and operated by the University of North Carolina Wilmington’s National Undersea Research Center.

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