Daydream Island’s unique conservation and education experiences

This Whitsundays island is pulling back the curtain on a groundbreaking project, offering visitors an exclusive peek into the future.

Daydream Island’s conservation week activities are all about education. Photo: Contributed

Visitors to the Whitsunday Islands will have the chance to get an exclusive glimpse into the world of coral restoration and learn all about keeping our oceans healthy in celebration of World Environment Day and World Ocean Day.

Guests, employees, and visitors to Daydream Island have the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to participate in vital conservation efforts, shaping the future of the ocean and reef.

At the heart of the experience is the resort’s ongoing coral restoration project, an initiative running since 2019 after the reef was damaged by Cyclone Debbie in 2017.

Daydream Island’s living reef manager, Lisa McMullen, said as part of the week’s special events visitors would have the opportunity to get a behind-the-scenes look at the coral restoration process at the resort’s onsite coral nursery.

Ms McMullen said part of what made the experience so special was the hands-on approach.

Daydream Island’s living reef manager, Lisa McMullen. Photo: Contributed

Guests would have the chance to see first-hand how corals are cultivated and replanted which is something typically reserved for marine biologists and researchers.

“This is about giving guests a chance to understand not only what coral reefs are, but why they matter,” she said.

“Every piece we out-plant is a small but powerful act of regeneration, and a chance for people to be part of something bigger than themselves.”

Fish feeding sessions will give people another chance to step into the shoes of the marine biologists and learn about the reefs special inhabitants.

She said the whole week would be about education.

“We’re all marine biologists in the living reef team, so you’re getting passionate people who have done the work and information is always key for us,” she said

“We’re always wanting to learn, we’ll have little sessions every day where we just end

up in a deep dive.

“So our information is usually pretty on point or up to date.”

Daydream Island’s team are eager to give guests an insight into the work they are doing in the conservation space. Photo: Contributed

The fun isn’t just reserved for guests though, staff will be involved in an exclusive tour as well, diving around the island for a marine debris clean-up as well as a big coral outplanting session on the reef with coral from the nursery.

Ms McMullen said while the coral restoration efforts were huge, it was just one part of a bigger picture

“We know as much as we can put the corals out in the ocean, the ocean environment has to be right for them to continue to survive,” she said.

That’s why they were putting on beach clean-up events, documentary screenings, and presentations all week long to educate visitors on environmental impact and the things people can do in their day to day life to have a positive impact.

“A lot of education is involved in that as well, like what the problem is with marine debris, why we want to take it out of our oceans and off of our beaches,” she said.

“You don’t have to wait for an event. Anytime you’re on the beach you can clean up something, you can pick up some pieces of rubbish.

“So even though it’s pretty exciting to join us and you’re going to learn from us as well [ …] you can do this yourself.”

Originally published as Daydream Island’s unique conservation and education experiences