Learn To Sea has had a great new aquatic adventure! Now, Maya has teamed up with Anna Turns from Whitestrand Boat Hire to run Salcombe Sea Safaris. Salcombe estuary is a very unique and special place - so much so that it's classed with the conservation designation - a Special Site of Scientific Interest (SSSI). It has a whopping 6 m tidal range and boasts some incredible marine wildlife. It has seagrass beds, corals - yes corals!, dolphin visitors, 4 of the 14 found Bristish intertidal fan mussels, mackerel and scallops all residing in it's safe and salty waters! (It has no river input but is a sunken valley - it's this sheltered salty area which makes it such a great home to so much wildlife.)We had a great day out with some visiting families and were even able to show them some plankton from a special net which we had dragged behind a boat. The "soup" which we found was amazing - teeming with widlife which is shown in the image with the small pot. It had mini jellyfish (in image above), lobster looking creatures, fish eggs, phytoplankton - responsible for producing more than half of our atmospheric oxygen. I was even able to bring the plankton home and put it under the digital microscope and take some pictures - not great ones. But it does give you an idea of what's all around you when you take a dip!
Fred the Monkey & his albatross friend even made an appearance to talk about marine conservation & the effect of litter in our salty world. It's sad to think that there are places in the world where there is more plastic than plankton!
It was a brilliant day out, or "best day ever" as young Jake said. We hope to run more through the Summer holidays too!
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