Turtle Week: Day Two

 After the crazy first day of Turtle Week, the second day was a little calmer. The heavy rain that we experienced on the opening day meant that not all of the local children who wanted to get involved in our beach clean could participate. However, we witnessed an inspiring sight when all those who could not get involved in our first beach clean turned up wanting to try again. Occasions such as this show us that, in conjunction with the local community, we are capable of making a real difference to the beaches of our island.

The rest of the day involved a lot of underwater action. The day begun with our staff developing our coral transplant programme. They took a boat around Pulau Mabul and collected fragments of coral. These fragments were then relocated to our coral nursery. Our aim is to create an environment in which corals can develop easily and without harm. Not only is this beneficial to the coral, but also to the many other marine species that rely upon the coral to survive.

After this we had staff and some enthusiastic customers get involved in a reef clean. We are huge advocates of reef cleans here at Scuba Junkie, and to see guests give up their fun diving days to take part was incredible and we are truly grateful to all those who were involved. Reef cleans are so important to the health of our reef and the presentation given by Dave on our first night provided an insight into their importance. We look forward to more people joining us on these dives, especially on our upcoming continuous reef clean which will be taking place towards the end of this year’s Turtle Week.

In the evening we had another captivating presentation from Environmental Officer Dave McCann. This time he talked about the biology of various species of turtles, especially those that frequent the waters of Malaysia. We are lucky enough to regularly see Green and Hawkbill turtle around Mabul, Kapalai and Sipadan. However, these are listed as ‘Endangered’ and ‘Criticallly  Endangered’ respectively on the IUCN Red List. This fact is the driving force for us at Scuba Junkie in terms of why we place so much emphasis on our conservation programmes. We were given fascinating information about these species of turtles and informed of the awful threats that they face.

The success of the first few days of Turtle Week has been impressive to say the least, and we can’t wait for them rest of the week’s amazing activities. From reef checks and cleans to presentations and completions, we’re confident the action packed and fun filled week will continue in spectacular fashion!