Are you interested in sea slugs, macro photography and/or citizen science? Participate in the Gold Coast Sea Slug Census!

"The Gold Coast Sea Slug Census is a photographic contest with a touch of science along the way. Divers in buddy pairs are asked to take a photo of every sea slug found on their dive and to note the approximate size, depth and site information. All divers who provide photos and notes are then eligible for prizes." 

The plan

Weather permitting, the plan is to do a double-dive at Cook Island to look for sea slugs and take the Club Challenge.

The cost will be around $120-$130 incl. tanks and weights (but excl. gear hire). The dive day will start around 6.00 am (time TBC closer to the date) at the Unidive shed to arrive at Tweed Seasport dive shop by 7.30 am.

We will meet at the shed on Thu 26th September at 6.30pm for a trip briefing. 

We will be a group of 12 Unidive divers.

Important points

• If you plan to look for the friendly turtles that make Cook Island famous and explore a large part of this reef, this is not the trip for you. This trip is all about finding sea slugs, which often means a slow dive scanning a small area to spot them.
• We will be diving from 5m to max 18m deep, so the trip is open for Open Water divers. However, we need divers with good buoyancy control to spot and photograph sea slugs without damaging the environment.
• You can join the trip even if you don't have a camera, but you will need good eyes to spot the sea slugs so your buddy can photograph them! It's not easy: sea slugs can be just a few millimetres in length and can be found in a variety of colours and shapes. This website shows photos of many species of nudibranchs found in the Gold Coast area. And if we're lucky, we may even find a new one! We do need one camera per dive pair for the competition.
• This trip is organised by volunteers, and each team member is expected to assist with the day's operation. We'll also need drivers for carpooling (we try to look after the environment and will take as few cars as possible, so if you decide to drive by yourself, you will not get fuel contribution!), and a couple of volunteers to organise snacks and writing a trip report.

• Gear hire is the responsibility of each individual diver; except for weights and tanks which will be provided by the charter boat. You can hire gear from Unidive (check the website for the full list and gear hire costs) but you will need to have your own mask, snorkel, and fins, cutting device, safety sausage....

• All divers must sign a form to enter the Sea Slug Census event - the form will be provided by email and must be returned to the trip organiser asap.

• All divers must sign the waiver from the charter boat - the form will be provided by email and must be returned to the trip organiser at the trip meeting

If you have any questions regarding this trip, please email Eloise at mii.eloise@gmail.com

Why sea slugs?

"The short life cycles of the sea slugs (up to a year) makes them ideal to track changing environmental conditions and to monitor human-induced changes – including climate change."

Plus, with their vivid colours, intriguing patterns and slow movement, nudibranchs are fun to photograph!