Join marine mammal researcher Dr Liz Hawkins and marine biologist Alice Forrest (along with our Captain – sea turtle researcher Joshua James) to learn more about our local dolphins and whales – who they are, the threats they face, and important science you can contribute to. Then head out to sea to put what you’ve learnt into action with a boat trip and snorkel in the Byron Bay Hope Spot (we’ll do a real dolphin survey, then snorkel at Nguthungulli/Julian Rocks).

When:

Thursday December 18th, 6pm – 8:15pm 

Friday December 19th, 8am – 12pm
You’ll need to be available for both these sessions – please only register if you can commit to these times.

What:

Part one (Thursday evening) is a classroom session, where you’ll dive into dolphins, learning about our local species, conservation challenges, citizen science and how to conduct a survey – we’ll give you all the tools you need to do citizen science anytime in the future.

For part two (Friday morning), we take the learning to the sea, heading out by boat to do a dolphin survey together on our local bottlenose dolphins, followed by a guided snorkel adventure at Nguthungulli/Julian Rocks where you’ll have a chance to learn more about our local marine inhabitants and other citizen science projects to help collect real marine science data. This course isn’t just a fun adventure, but a training session to equip you with the knowledge and confidence to contribute to science on your future beach walks, kayaks, snorkels, or however you like to be in the sea.

Who:

Anyone!* You don’t need to be a scientist, dolphin expert or marine biologist. All you need is passion for the ocean and a desire to give something back to this big salty playground that gives us so much! And you also need to be able to snorkel and comfortable on a boat to make sure this is a safe and enjoyable experience.
* Aged 16+, if you’re under 18 you’ll need to come with a responsible guardian over 18.

Note: this is an adventure, we’ll be spending around 3 hours on a boat doing dolphin surveys then snorkelling so you must be comfortable snorkelling as well as being on a small open boat. If you get sea sick – this workshop isn’t the best one for you as we will be stopping regularly for long periods to observe dolphins & marine life. Be prepared to feel the ocean swell & conditions.

We’ll be there to assist and answer questions, but this is not a learn-to-snorkel experience.

How Much?

The workshop costs $125 per person, and is limited to just 6 people.

Bookings essential – follow the link to our Humanitix booking page for more information https://events.humanitix.com/citizen-science-dolphins