After spending several months with the Marine Savers team at Landaa Giraavaru, I can say for sure it was one of the best experiences of my life! I was able to help with the variety of different projects at the Marine Discovery Centre, and had the pleasure of working with an amazing team of dedicated biologists. One thing I really liked about my internship was being able to work independently and to have a lot of responsibility from the beginning. Very soon, I was guiding guest excursions, and it was very enjoyable to show them the beautiful reefs around Landaa. It was great to see guests engage in and care about the conservation of our reefs and its inhabitants.
Caring for the turtle residents, feeding them, and carrying out maintenance work on their pools was one of my main tasks. I quickly learned that every turtle has its own personality and food preferences. It was great to learn how to treat injured turtles – wound debriding, applying antibacterial creams, and giving antibiotic injections. A weekly Spa treatment, scrubbing algae from the carapaces, was also part of the turtle programme!
Three new turtle patients were admitted to the rehab centre during my stay, and kept me busy with their medical treatments and pampering. I also had the exciting task of picking up an injured sea turtle hatchling that had been found left behind in its nest in Finolhu Resort. It was interesting to follow the progress of Faaz (a juvenile Olive Ridley turtle), as his condition improved a lot within the few weeks I spent with him. The little turtle had been found entangled in a piece of net at Blue Beach, with lacerations on his swollen neck and front flipper. His wounds were healing amazingly well, and hopefully he will be released soon. The work with the turtles was definitely very rewarding; I couldn’t wait to see their cute faces every morning!
During my time at the Marine Discovery Centre, two turtles – Chip and Ummeedhu (an adult male and a sub-adult female Olive Ridley turtle) – were also released. I cared for Ummeedhu from the first day I arrived at Landaa; she was not an easy patient, and taking her weight and size measurements was quite a challenge as she regained her strength. For sure I will never forget the moment when I sat her down on the beach and she instantly made her way into the turquoise waters and disappeared beneath the waves. It is fantastic to see our hard work pay off when a healthy turtle is finally released back into the ocean.
Additionally, I spent a lot of my time working on Cetacean ID – a project aiming to identify Spinner and Bottlenose dolphins using identification photos of their dorsal fins. The outline of the dorsal fin is individual to each dolphin. I was in charge of starting a completely new database (which involved going through a lot of old photos and excluding low quality ones) and added quite a few new individuals to it. We now have 31 Spinner dolphins and 11 Bottlenose dolphins in our database.
The best part of it was of course going on the dolphin cruise and taking ID photographs! I had some truly mesmerising encounters with a pod of over 50 Spinner dolphins, with perfectly calm conditions and the Spinners showing off their whole range of acrobatics – jumping, spinning and bow-riding. Back in the office, I compared the new ID shots to the database using our identification software, and it was always great to see the new fins of previously unidentified individuals.
Fish lab sessions with Carla and Aku were always informative and a lot of fun. From measuring juvenile clownfish to health assessments of larvae under the microscope – I have definitely learned a lot! I was impressed to see the cultivation of algae, rotifers and Artemia in the lab – basically a whole food chain has to be created to feed the hungry clownfish larvae. Right at the start of my internship, we went out to collect wild anemones for the anemone project. I learned how to carefully remove and handle anemones, and was shown how to bisect this animal to create two individuals. A very exciting day was when we found a lobster carrying eggs! Soon after, thousands of eggs hatched in the blue outdoor tank and we could observe the larvae under the microscope.
I also had the chance to assist the Reefscapers team Sara and Monty with their remarkable work. At this point, there are over 3200 coral frames around Landaa Giraavaru! We recycled old coral frames (removing dead colonies and replacing them with new ones) and moved newly transplanted frames from shallow water to the final site, as well as relocating shallow water frames to deeper sites during the bleaching months. Carefully selecting and fragmenting donor colonies during snorkels and dives was also an important skill I learned during the fieldwork. I also helped to prepare sponsored frames with the guests. If guests decide to sponsor a frame, we prepare the coral fragments and equip the frame with cable ties, so the guests can help us fix the coral and move the new frame into the lagoon.
In my free time, I had the privilege to join the Manta Trust team on their research boat and on several guest excursions in search of manta rays. I helped them take ID shots of the underside of these gentle giants and got a glimpse of their daily work. One of the best moments was observing four mantas at a cleaning station, with two small males eagerly following a large, pregnant female. We also encountered a huge number of feeding manta rays, which was absolutely breathtaking. Watching the magical ballet of chains of feeding and barrel-rolling mantas is something I will surely never forget!
I want to thank the fantastic team at the Marine Discovery Centre for this incredible opportunity and this amazing time working together. I will miss paradise and all of you … a lot! ♡
All the best
Vanessa ☺
Release day for a rehabilitated turtle (Top left)
Coral fragment close-up on a Reefscapers frame (Bottom left)
Treating our turtle patients (Above)
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