As part of every PADI IDC I donate funds to an organization with strong ties to marine conservation activities. In the past I have donated funds to PADI Project Aware, Tangaroa Blue and we have adopted turtles in the Conflict Islands of Papua New Guinea. Since moving down to the Sunshine Coast and basing myself at Mooloolaba I have teamed up with the awesome people at SEA LIFE Sunshine Coast Aquarium.
I have made my living out of the marine world for most of my life and seen some amazing things. As an amateur photographer one of my most loved images was of this incredible green turtle shot at Turtle Bay at Komodo in Indonesia. For a species their survival rate past the first week of life is estimated to be 1 out of 1,000. Predators make an easy meal of the slow moving hatchlings and with their nesting grounds being threatened they face an uphill battle.
SEA LIFE Sunshine Coast’s mission is to inspire a love of the oceans and all of its inhabitants, and to encourage people to preserve them for the future. Through their registered charity, The SEA LIFE Trust, they support projects and campaigns that make a measurable difference to the protection of marine wildlife and habitats.
Everything they do at SEA LIFE Sunshine Coast is about celebrating the sea. The team is passionate about preserving marine habitats and protecting the incredible species that live in them. Marine conservation is at the heart of everything they do and something very close to my heart is the Turtle Rehabilitation Centre.
I was lucky enough to visit the hospital recently where I saw first hand the effort and care given to these favourite marine creatures of mine. A dedicated team of professionals care for and nurse injured turtles back to health. Looking closely here you can see Sky, who was found up at Gladstone as a floater. Turtles will eat plastic bags which they can not digest, which results in gas build up in their stomachs. This will prevent them from diving down to feed. Turtles are susceptible to the effects of consuming marine debris. Turtles have backwards facing spines in their throats which makes regurgitation almost impossible. The plastics get trapped in their stomach, which prevents them from properly swallowing food.
The larger green turtle had discarded fishing line wrapped around its front fin which had to amputated to save the turtles life. Nursing these wonderful creatures back to health to the point where they can be released again is a mammoth effort and I applaud all the crew at SEA LIFE for their incredible dedication and as such I am proud to have partnered the #IDCwithKAI programs offered by Dive Instructor Academy with SEA LIFE
To find out more about the PADI Instructor Development Courses (IDC) I offer and through which 5 star IDC centres I run my programs please visit the website www.diveinstructor.com.au contact me on 0419172910 or email me at kai@diveinstructor.com.au
