Carpe Diem Education is an American organisation that provides gap year programs to students wanting to explore the world while learning more about themselves. The programs focus on community, cultural immersion, service learning, and adventure.
Tangaroa Blue joined forces with Carpe Diem Education to provide the students with an in depth look at the issue of marine debris and what Tangaroa Blue and ReefClean are doing to combat the issue. They joined us for two GBRCU events and one ReefClean community Clean-up.
Day 1
Day 1 was a theory day where they learned more about the mission of Tangaroa Blue, the negative effects of marine debris on the environment, and the importance of data collection and the Australian Marine Debris Initiative (AMDI) Database.
Day 2
The group then joined Project Coordinator Hannah and the Gunggandji-Mandingalbay Yidinji Peoples PBC Rangers at Jilji and Ganyjira Beaches on day 2 where they spent the morning cleaning both beaches and sorting the 71.86kgs that were removed.
After a refuel with a BBQ lunch, the group spent the rest of the afternoon with the Rangers swapping stories, playing games on the beach, learning how to operate a drone, and throwing traditional spears!!
Day 3
Our exciting week with Carpe Diem Education continued north into Daintree National Park where Day 3 was spent at Cape Kimberley.
The students had an authentic Wet Tropics experience, persevering through multiple rain squalls to collect 323kgs of rubbish!
Most impressively, they rallied together to carry it all back from the far end of the beach so it could be sorted and removed.
Several large items included 2 pallets and 10m of very thick rope, in addition to 49 shoes, 613 plastic lids and over 1200 pieces of hard plastic.
What an incredible effort! A huge thank you to Jabalbina Yalanji Aboriginal Corporation for their assistance with debris removal. We’re excited to continue to work together on future projects!
Day 4 (last day)
On our last day with Carpe Diem Education, we had an incredibly special opportunity to visit and clean a new site on the Land and Sea country of the Eastern Kuku Yalanji People as part of the Great Barrier Reef Clean-up.
Ernie, the local owner of Cape Tribulation Wilderness Cruises, took us across the river mouth of Cooper’s Creek to the remote southern end of Thornton Beach.
In just a few hours, the students collected 127kgs of rubbish! After a relaxing picnic lunch and a quiet moment appreciating the beauty of this unique place, we were transported back across the creek to sort what was removed.
With several days of experience, the students smashed it out! Over 200 pieces of foam, 149 shoes and 137 plastic drink bottles were just a few of the items collected. All data for this new site was entered into the AMDI database.
A huge thank you to the Carpe Diem Education students for your hard work, passion and great energy which made this week such a special one!
