A chill start to Saturday morning saw the whole group on the way to Tofo for surfing and Mexican food, as well as exploring the local markets for souvenirs. A well-deserved relaxing Sunday allowed a few of our volunteers to catch up on their advanced open water theory as well as some time in the sea bodyboarding!

Team Coconut started the week bright and early at the Guinjata bay local fisheries which, whilst not busy, sunrise and close in humpback whales were a highlight of the morning. In the afternoon, a beach clean followed by getting creative with upcycled beach plastic jewellery producing.

Whale watching and hydrophone data collection on Tuesday saw the group listening to therapeutic humpback whale song for the first time whilst getting distant sightings of calf and mothers. In the afternoon, team Coconut switched up boat surveying for land-based whale watching and saw over 40 individuals including breaching juveniles!

On Wednesday the group had an early start at Paindane fisheries starting at 7:30am, where only a single group of brave fishermens’ catch was recorded for the whole day. Despite this, the group bonded over a cultural exchange in games and sports like Neca, Mathokozana and beach Rugby.

The group participated in a beach clean on Thursday morning which brought to light the scale of the global issue of plastic pollution on a serious note #stopplasticpollution. The collected beach trash was converted into cute marine themed jewellery at noon which group members took home as a keepsake. Groups were split up and mixed in the afternoon in preparation for a passionately argued marine conservation themed debate.

Friday ended the week with pottery lessons from a group of skilled local women Associação Josina Machel guided the volunteers to create a range of ceramic art and utensils. It was also one of the volunteer’s birthday and to celebrate a games night and talent show were had, looking forward to the rest of the weekend.