That's a wrap on July!
Turtle Fun and Eco Travel Guide!
July 24th 2017 | Lyds
We started off our fourth week by getting amongst it at the turtle sanctuary. The turtle crew did a fantastic job informing Isla’s tourists about the local species and promoting best practice when viewing our reptilian friends.
The rest of us went about doing our weekly tasks, which ranged from grant research, creating GIS maps showing the routes we take during our manta expeditions as well as social media and outreach activities.
A lot of our outreach work involves thinking of ways we can spread environmental and conservation messages to the public. Infographics are a fun and user-friendly way of getting such messages out there. Check out our new Eco Travel Guide, available in English and Spanish.
Offshore Adventures: Last Research Trip of July
July 25th 2017 | Lyds
We had another fun day bobbing about on the big blue in search of our beloved manta rays. We were treated to beautiful conditions for our last research trip of July. It’s so crazy how time zooms by, as we are now officially half way through this season’s research program! For a couple of the volunteers it was their last trip as they will be leaving the project at the start of August.
Unfortunately, we didn’t find any mantas, however we had lots of lovely ocean encounters in the form of whale sharks and dolphins to keep us occupied and our spirits high. At the end the trip we had a cool snorkel session to freshen up and enjoy the crystal-clear waters of the Mexican Caribbean.
Mangrove Clean Up Day
July 26th 2017 | Lyds
In celebration of International Mangrove Day we joined island locals, businesses and community groups for Isla’s annual Mangrove Clean Up. Mangroves are one of the most threatened ecosystems on the planet, constantly being modified or destroyed for land use.
Fortunately the mangroves around Isla remain plentiful, however they are regular used dumping grounds by misinformed locals and tourists alike.
We joined forces with the Turtle Sanctuary crew and together we collected over 10 big black bags full of trash along a 200m strip of mangrove. It was really great to be involved in an awesome conservation movement and to give the nearby mangroves a jolly good clean!!
School Camp Ocean Fun
July 27th 2017 | Lyds
Today we all went to visit a school holiday camp run by Volunquest, an international not for profit organisation. Our mission was to meet the local kids and share our ocean knowledge and enthusiam. Getting the next generation passionate about the marine environement is so very critical and we were all eager to get involved, encouraging others to love their ocean.
There were 60 kids, aged between 7 and 10; the perfect age to spread some knowledge and excitement. We split the kids into two groups, half of us gave a presentation introducing the ocean, highlighting key local species as well as threats and what we can all do to help protect our oceans.
The other half of the kids played ocean themed games which were ran by the remaining volunteers. We also gifted the children with ocean masks; manta rays, fish, turtles and plankton.
Such a cool experience!
Plastic Ocean Mural at Tortugranja
July 28th 2017 | Lyds
One of our side projects during our land based days has been to design an educational mural for the Turtle Sanctuary, Tortugranja. We decided to create an ocean scene made completely out of the volunteer house’s recycling to highlight the issues surrounding marine debris and ocean plastics. Today we made good progress completing the base coat and beginning to add ocean creatures to the wall. Watch this space as we keep you posted over the coming weeks!
