Year 6 /Sustainabilitly Captains Report

On Wednesday the 16 March, the five Sustainability Captains went on a boat trip in Sorrento with the ‘I Sea I Care’ program and the Dolphin Research Institute. They provided us with wetsuits, snorkels and flippers. We left the Sorrento boating pier at 9:30 on a boat named the Moonraker.

After we left Sorrento pier, we drove to Chinaman's hat off the coast. Chinaman’s Hat is a place where the seals like to rest and swim around. The crew gave us a rundown on the safety calls, and we safely slid into the water. The water was freezing but luckily, we had long and thick wetsuits to keep us warm.

There were about 60 seals in the little hut and some in the ocean. Once we jumped in, we swam around, the seals swam really close to us, underneath and around us. We even saw a giant Sting Ray swimming below our legs, feeding on crabs from the sandy bed of the ocean. This was really exciting but a little bit nerve wracking.

The seals stank like rotten eggs!

Pope's Eye Marine Sanctuary

After Chinaman's hat we sailed past Pope’s Eye and the staff told us a bit about it. Pope's Eye is found 5 km northeast of Portsea. It was constructed in the 1880’s under the supervision of Sir William Jervois, by dumping bluestone boulders on a submerged 12-metre (39 ft) deep sandbank until they formed a horse-shoe shaped reef. The sanctuary includes giant leathery kelp that sustains a range of fish and marine plants, including sponges and soft corals. Unfortunately, we could not snorkel here as the current was too strong and the waves were too big.

After our first swim with the seals at the Chinaman's hat structure, every marine ambassador was given a hot chocolate as it was extremely cold with the wind blowing through the boat. The boat was relatively large, holding about 30 people at one time.

There was a downstairs outdoor seating area and a ladder leading up to the roof. It was very windy on the top, so we all put our stuff downstairs. There was food available to buy on the boat too, like hot jam donuts. While everyone was waiting for the second swim, we were talking excitedly about how we might see some dolphins! Sadly, we didn’t find any, but we were lucky enough to see some beautiful Weedy Sea Dragons.

After snorkeling at Chinaman's hat, we headed off to the coast of Sorrento and jumped back in the water to try to find a Weedy Sea Dragon. These creatures camouflage in the kelp and weeds underwater and can be hard to spot. We managed to find one and it was super cool. Unfortunately, it’s a nearly endangered species of Sea Dragon so we were lucky to find it. Here is a picture that we took of it.