Ok, truth to be told, we were both interested in marine conservation already before our “turtle experience“. Still, it pushed us the last meters into the direction of finally taking action and joining forces to raise awareness for marine conservation.
We were snorkeling in the waters of Fernando de Noronha national park, enjoying the company of sting rays and colorful fish, when we discovered leftovers of an old ship wreck. Freediving the wreck, we found a green sea turtle which seemed to be stuck. Since we are both scuba divers, the rule of not touching any animal or plant in the ocean was pretty present in our minds, but after a few times diving down to the turtle and getting closer with every try, we agreed that this was no normal behavior and the turtle was indeed stuck in the ship wreck. So, Michal gently pushed it forward with his snorkel and as soon as it was able to move its right flippers again, the turtle immediately swam up to the water‘s surface to breath air.
This was just a few minutes experience, but it changed us. The moment when we found ourselves making a big impact with a quite small action and actually saving the life of this turtle empowered us to start Cyan planet. We are aware of the fact that it is not a solution to try to save every animal’s life, since this is not a natural process anyways. Also, we are aware that we as single persons cannot change the whole impact of humanhood on the oceans. But we can take you with us under the surface of the water and show you the beauty of the marine world, hoping that you will feel the same need as we do to support the efforts of marine conservation and to keep this habitat diverse and protected.