Marine Education in action!
Time goes so fast. It has already been one year since I began working as a WiseOceans Marine Educator at Four Seasons Resort Mauritius at Anahita. During these 12 months, I have been lucky enough to have taken part in a lot of different activities including getting the chance to join the marine education team at Four Seasons Resort Seychelles for a short while.
Taking over, after the departure of our previous Marine Educator Jo Eames it was inevitable that I was a bit nervous to take over but after a few snorkel trips, I got more comfortable talking to guests. I had so many types of snorkelers from beginners to professional divers and each time going out with guests was a great adventure and inspired me to write a guide on how to be a good snorkeler. But my best snorkeling experience was the time where I spotted a seahorse in the mangroves. The guest who was with me was a young girl studying marine biology and we were just so amazed to see this rare little animal. On the reef, the guests and I saw ourselves surrounded by a huge school of big eye barracudas and, we always found the same hawksbill sea turtle near the anemones chilling or feeding when we have a calm water.
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A bigeye gives me the eye
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My best marine sighting this year!
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The anemonefish in its anemone
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February 2017, I saw myself on an Air Seychelles airplane on my way to join the WiseOceans marine education team based at Four Seasons Resort Seychelles. This was a great few weeks and gave me the opportunity to meet some of the rest of the team face to face and experience the Marine Discovery Programme there.
Beach profiling with the team in Seychelles
My office in Seychelles
It was a great to experience the Reef Discovery Snorkel in Petite Anse, Seychelles and I also worked on the Reef Restoration Project they have there. While taking to guests out on guided snorkels I encountered some fish that we don’t often see at our regular snorkelling site of Eau Bleu in Mauritius such as the batfish, adult great barracuda, and spotted eagle rays. The after-work routine was also different from home and I enjoyed spending time with my colleagues, meet new people working at the resort and visit the beautiful island of Mahé.
Back to Mauritius, I start going out of the resort and promoting the collaboration between the Four Seasons Resort Mauritius at Anahita and WiseOceans to the community by participating in two open days organized by local NGOs. Firstly, I attended ‘Anou al Decouvert nu Fond Marin’ organize by Eco Sud where we shared our marine knowledge with participants of the event. Staff from the resort also created some lovely cakes and were on hand to offer marine themed face painting. The second event was on the west coast of the island where a group of kite surfers called ‘Enn Locean Vivab’ organized a watersport activity day and used this event to raise awareness on pollution. I was invited to do a speech about the threats to the ocean and what can we do to protect it.
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The reef at Eau Bleu, Mauritius
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Rick with the boathouse team at the beach
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A friendly visitor to my desk
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If I can sum up what I have been doing this year, I can say that it has been busy but fun. I have done so many snorkels and each one was special and exciting. I met so many people from so many countries. Sharing experiences and fun stories about the best snorkel they did around the world. I did lots of fun activities with the Kids’ Club that came to the beach, explained to the people about marine biodiversity and inspire them with the different materials we have at the resort and I have seen so many types of fish that I can almost tick off every fish in my fish list!
I’m excited about my second year with WiseOceans!
