World Oceans Day is a UN-designated official day to celebrate the oceans, their importance in our lives and how we can protect them. Of course it is one of our favourite days of the year!
Celebrations for World Oceans Day with WiseOceans and Four Seasons Resort Seychelles began long before the official date, 8th June. With the theme ‘Healthy Oceans, Healthy Planet’ we launched a photo festival in which guests past and present, staff, and the larger WiseOceans community could enter. All the entries to the photo festival were displayed in honour in the Coral Cabana on the day. We had some great entries of ocean scenes, marine creatures and people enjoying the ocean. This made it really hard to choose the winner…. but congratulations go to Abdullah Taher for this beautiful pipefish photo, which will now be proudly made into the official Four Seasons Resort Seychelles postcard.
Many other activities and events took place across the resort reaching out to as many people as possible. We offered a complimentary snorkel and marine quiz for those at the beach. Guests could order our ‘Go Green’ cocktail: a healthy blend of kiwi, coriander, cucumber and apple, on a special offer in the bar with all proceeds supporting the environmental work WiseOceans and the resort carries out. Back in their villas they happily tucked into a chocolate coral reef (delicious!). These were created especially by the pastry team and delivered with a short informative card about the occasion.
At the staff housing, home-made marine creature cookies were offered to those who joined us in watching documentaries and ocean-themed kids movies. On the canteen tables, information about marine life and World Oceans Day were available for a dinner time read.
Tying in nicely with the day, several local community groups paid a visit to the resort. The WiseOceans team helped students from the Maritime Training Centre and those studying environmental science at the university to discover the great marine life of Petite Anse: following a presentation on coral reef inhabitants and the Reef Restoration Project the students got to experience it first hand with a guided snorkel across the reef and the coral nursery. For many, this was their first ever snorkel and an opportunity to ask lots of questions.
What better way for the Marine Educators to spend the morning than diving in our healthy ocean. As much as we enjoy diving it really is part of our job. WiseOceans conducts numerous scientific research dives within the bay to monitor the coral, fish and invertebrate populations. On World Oceans Day we surveyed for crown-of-thorns sea stars which suited the theme of the day as the population size of these predatory corallivores can impact the health of coral reef ecosystems.
Overall the extended day was a huge success with hopefully many more ocean enthusiasts aware of the event.
