Exploration Institute last Friday for the world premiere of a marine science documentary filmed on the Island.

The movie, filmed entirely off the coast of the Island, was made by Greg Stone, Peter Benchley and Teddy Tucker. To accommodate all the children, several screenings took place in the BUEI's auditorium to rotating school groups.

BUEI hosted an educational outreach programme for the entire afternoon to afford students the rare opportunity to meet first hand with an array of the world's leading marine scientists.

The event was possible as the international advisors to BUEI were on the Island taking part in their annual conference.

The children were able to hear from and meet with leading shark expert Eugenie Clarke, Steve Blasco, a diver and marine biologist who has dived the Titanic and helped with the making of the film, whale expert Steve Katona and Phil Nutyen who has designed a special suit pressurised to 1,000 feet.

Local expert Jack Lightbourne was on hand in the shell exhibit to talk to students about the collection, and Billy Gllies -- a home grown authority on artifact restoration -- was in the shipwrecks section to answer questions on that area.

Teachers and students alike appeared enthralled with their visit. Makeba Stowe who teaches Primary Five at Somerset Primary hailed the afternoon an overwhelming success.

Ms Stowe brought 23 of her students who all busily discussed what they had just seen and heard.

"It was excellent,'' she said, "they had three world renown speakers, the first Eugenie Clarke on sharks, then Greg Stone with the documentary "Keepers of the Reef'', and then Titanic expert Steve Blasco.'' "It was very good exposure and particularly useful for studies of the ocean,'' she added. "It served as a good introduction for classes getting ready to study the ocean as we are, but was also useful as a review for students who may have had the class already.'' Teacher Lori Robinson, of West End Primary, brought 40 ten year olds to the event. She echoed Ms Stowe's view when she noted that some of the information imparted brought to light classes her students had already had.

"The afternoon has been very interesting, looking at the coral reef, sharks, and the Titanic ,'' she said. "My class that did the Titanic were able to recognise what they had already learned, rounding out their experience.'' "The boys in particular enjoyed it,'' she added, "I think they enjoyed it better than the girls.'' Ten-year-old Javar Place, one of the 40 West End Primary students, was only too willing to tell The Royal Gazette how he felt about the afternoon.

"It was very interesting. The films were nice,'' he said.

"I learned a lot of things about certain fish, including the sleeping shark.

And I was taught about the reef and how the reefs are decreasing -- a quarter of them by ten percent.'' "I like when they taught us how to take care of the earth,'' chimed in ten-year-old George Hassell also of West End Primary, "and how far a submersible can go down and how dark and very cold it is down there. I didn't know that before, and I've never seen an octopus like that before in my life.''