If you can make the challenge and this cruise I would encourage you to do so! Several of us were able to meet on LI last year for the First LI LH Challenge and we had a great time. The cruise was also a fun time. Probably the biggest complaint I would have about the cruise was that sometimes the captain put the boat so close to the light that I had to switch from my long lens to the close up one . . . . . not too often you have complaints like that!