My first month in Landaa went by so fast, and I’m back to tell you about my recent adventures. 🤿
I have started to lead snorkel and dolphin tours for the guests… my favourite activities include taking photographs of the dolphin fins for our ID Project. 🐬
Many Spinner dolphins later, I’ve been able to improve my photo skills, and now I even have a dolphin with my name! 📷
‘Teamwork makes the dream work’ is our monthly mantra! 🧘
It’s fun to have many hands underwater each day – transplanting corals, monitoring frames, and guiding snorkel trips (angry triggerfish aside!) 🐟
We all have individual responsibility to save this planet through our choices and actions, and together we achieve even more. 🤝
Our small team is but one drop in a vast ocean … 💧
May was a beautiful month, with both hot sun ☀️ and humid storms ⛈️ and we’re ready to embrace whatever the wind blows our way … good times ahead!
Many of the guests we interact with are on a marine mission to see megafauna! But sharing our passion for the tiny miracles in the sea is what really sets our souls on fire – a clownfish and its fluffy anemone, or the tiny polyps in a coral fragment. 💙
Hi, I’m Mônica, the new marine biology intern. Sea turtle conservation is one of my passions, and taking care of the turtles is one of my daily tasks here at Landaa’s Rescue Centre.
We currently have 5 patients, 3 Olive Ridley’s, an adult Hawksbill and a small Green turtle. Unfortunately, 3 of them cannot ever be released back to the wild due to permanent injury caused by entanglement in ghost nets.
Like an ocean dive with poor visibility, it can sometimes be hard to focus our work, so we concentrate on things that can make a real impact on the ocean. Our team works so well because we excel in both the office and the ocean, recognising that some calm water days might have sudden swells!
“Just as a wave is a movement of the whole ocean, you are the energy of the cosmos. Don’t underestimate your power.” – Deepak Chopra
So much has happened every single day this month, from a turtle nest rescue to epic guest excursions, to spending hours underwater transplanting corals… we are tired but wired! ⚡
We are truly blessed to call the Indian Ocean our home, rebuilding the reefs, focused on the moment when life becomes our playground. We are optimistic that all our new corals will thrive in these beautiful waters, expanding the biodiversity of the reefs. 💙
Our Reefscapers coral propagation program creates artificial reefs to extend the natural habitat for myriads of reef fish and countless invertebrate species.
Catch up with news of our Maldives sea turtle ID program, and meet our rescued sea turtle patients.
Then join us behind the scenes in the Fish Lab to learn about seahorses and jellyfish.
Updates from our resident marine biologists at Kuda Huraa and Landaa Giraavaru.
This month, we release our Green turtle patients from the beach, and our tiny coral polyps continue to thrive, as part of our pioneering spawning work.
Then join Helen down in the Fish Lab, to learn about our breeding projects for fish and marine invertebrates.
Join us at Marine Savers, as we celebrate Xmas and welcome in the New Year …
Enjoy the holiday decorations, our underwater coral-themed festivities, and a visit from Santa!
Meanwhile, work is continuing in our Fish Lab, you can catch up with the Clownfish, and wave a fond farewell to 2 of our long-term Hawksbill turtles. 💚
This month, we wave a fond farewell to 2 of our longterm green turtles released from Kuda Huraa beach, and extend a warm greeting to our visiting partners from SEA LIFE (UK).
Take a look at bioluminescent zooplankton down the microscope, and meet the fishy new residents in our marine aquaria.
We continue our exciting coral spawning research, and join ‘April’ on her journey-of-a-lifetime.
In our Fish Lab, you can take a closer look at microscopic creatures, as part of our ongoing zooplankton ID study.
Plus, during October, we were very fortunate to witness a mass coral spawning event! 🧡
After careful observations of the corals, and referencing of the October-November moon and tides, we successfully harvested coral spawn directly from our coral frames.
Meet this year’s Four Seasons Apprentices, who are learning how to grow live aquarium foods for our fish specimens (including the new Lionfish).
Our videos feature turtle experts Ale and Dafne, explaining how ocean swims are an essential part of rehabilitating injured turtles. Meanwhile, our Reefscapers teams are restoring reefs, one coral frame at a time …
Raai was found badly entangled in a ghost net back in June. After 2 months of care at our Turtle Rescue Centre, we fitted a satellite tracker and waved him a « Bon Voyage ». Follow his journey on our interactive map as he crosses the ocean!
This month, we also started working on a new initiative alongside national colleagues and IUCN experts: a Maldives Red List of endangered marine species.
All the latest monthly updates from our resident marine biology teams at Kuda Huraa and Landaa Giraavaru.
Our experts down in the Fish Lab are gearing up for a new Zooplankton Study, and we have some cool Reefscapers artwork to show you … from the air!
We also have news of our ‘Flying Turtles’ project, for our injured unreleasable Olive Ridley turtle patients.
June was a very busy month for our reef regeneration teams!
We transplanted thousands of coral fragments onto 120+ coral frames, photographed 380 frames, and relocated 400 frames to different sites around the island.
We also continued our ‘Coral Bleaching’ and ‘Coral Cooling’ experiments, and completed an extensive weekly Coral Watch survey, analysing 1200 photographs for signs of coral bleaching and recovery.
Find out what to do if you encounter an injured sea turtle, whether tired and floating on the ocean surface, or trapped & entangled in ghost netting (discarded fishing gear).
Meet our ‘Junior’ Marine Savers who are busy with educational activities, and wave goodbye to Amie, our Olive Ridley turtle successfully rehabilitated and released back into the ocean this month.
Come and see the jellyfish (Aurelia aurita) on display at our Marine Discovery Centre, and stop by to meet Luna, the newest patient admitted to our turtle rescue centre.
Learn about the latest NOAA coral bleaching reports as we enter the seasonally warmest time of year; read our coral propagation updates on ‘massive’ corals, and catch-up with our Instagram photo feeds.
This month, we invite you to an exclusive behind-the-scenes photo tour of our Fish Lab! 🐟
See the many weird and wonderful marine creatures inhabiting our aquariums and breeding tanks, and meet our marine biologists hard at work 365 days per year.
Then enjoy the latest photo, video and news roundups from our teams of Coral and Turtle experts.
Watch our latest Zoom video call to learn about all of our marine projects! Then join a live Q&A with some of the team, and enjoy the virtual tour of our Marine Discovery Centre at Landaa Giraavaru.
On Valentine’s Day, we transplanted two special heart-shaped frames with Pocillopora corals … made with love by Kuda Huraa’s Dive Team. 💙
This month, we have been upgrading our large ocean enclosure in the lagoon at Landaa. It enables our rescue turtles to improve their swimming and diving skills in a safe environment, before releasing them back into the ocean.
We also have news of our on-going “Flying Turtles” program, and you can read about the latest analysis techniques in our coral identification AI project.
