Ocean Connect

Ocean Connect Ocean Connect wishes to promote local participation in enhancing awareness on marine environments. Connecting communities to coast!

Ocean connect envisions to provide tools and services to the Gold Coast Community to increase their understanding and knowledge of the word "Coast" within City of the Gold "Coast". Our objectives focus on:

- Connecting the Gold Coast community to Coastal and Marine
- Providing environmental education programs for schools and community on coasts and marine environment
- Pr

omote environmental stewardship behaviours by giving the Gold Coast Community the capacity and awareness to practice marine and coastal conservation
- Organise community events to celebrate the uniqueness of the Gold Coast Marina and Coastal environment
- Mapping Coastal and Marine issues on the Gold Coast

President and project manager: Henry Hunt
Secretary: Casey Chu
Co-Founder, Treasurer & Program director: Maggie Muurmans
Co-founder: Tim Exley

🌊 June is here, and we’ve got an exciting month ahead at Ocean Connect! 🐋🐌🤿From citizen science surveys to community eve...
01/06/2026

🌊 June is here, and we’ve got an exciting month ahead at Ocean Connect! 🐋🐌🤿

From citizen science surveys to community events, there are plenty of opportunities to get involved, learn something new, and help protect our local marine environment.

Check out our What’s On page to see everything we’ve got planned and sign up for upcoming events!

We can’t wait to see you there. 💙

Despite low visibility, our incredible Sluggers had a hugely successful dive at Cook Island this weekend, recording an a...
01/06/2026

Despite low visibility, our incredible Sluggers had a hugely successful dive at Cook Island this weekend, recording an amazing **25+ species of sea slugs**! 🎉🐌

A huge thank you to all of our volunteer divers who donated their time, enthusiasm, and keen eyes to contribute valuable observations to our citizen science program. Every survey helps us build a better understanding of our local marine biodiversity, and we couldn’t do it without you.

📸 Photo 1: *Elysia* species by

📸 Photos 2 & 3: *Hexabranchus lacer* and *Ceratodoris hallucigenia* by

It’s always exciting to see what can be found beneath the surface, even when conditions aren’t ideal. These records will contribute to our ongoing monitoring efforts and help showcase the incredible diversity of marine life found right here on the Gold Coast.

Thank you again to everyone who joined us, and to the City of Gold Coast Community Grants - we’re already looking forward to the next slug hunt!

With it being National Volunteer Week  “Your Year to Volunteer” we want to take a moment to recognise and celebrate the ...
22/05/2026

With it being National Volunteer Week “Your Year to Volunteer” we want to take a moment to recognise and celebrate the incredible dedication, passion, and curiosity of volunteers who give their time to support marine conservation and community science 🙌

This is exactly the kind of community involvement that makes citizen science so valuable. Every observation helps us better understand and protect our local marine ecosystems, and volunteers like Lyn are truly what make Ocean Connect what it is 💙

Thank you, Lyn, for being such an important part of the Ocean Connect community and for inspiring others to get involved along the way! 🌊🐌

Two weekends of beautiful weather finally gave us the chance to get back out and  underwater 🌊☀️A huge thank you to our ...
18/05/2026

Two weekends of beautiful weather finally gave us the chance to get back out and underwater 🌊☀️

A huge thank you to our amazing volunteers who have been putting in the hard work to monitor sea slug populations along the Gold Coast, while also helping us kick-start the Wonder Reef Citizen Science Project over the last two weekends 🪸

We’d also like to thank for facilitating our offshore excursions, and the City if Gold Coast community grants for supporting our citizen science programs 🤝

Here’s to more good weather, more ocean adventures, and continuing to learn about and protect our local marine ecosystems together 💙

Interested in joining our citizen science programs? Send us an email at [email protected] or send us a DM to get involved 📩

Meet Carljin, one of Ocean Connect’s amazing international interns from the Netherlands 🇳🇱🌊Since joining the team, Carlj...
13/05/2026

Meet Carljin, one of Ocean Connect’s amazing international interns from the Netherlands 🇳🇱🌊

Since joining the team, Carljin has impressed us with her reliability, quick adaptability, and genuine willingness to help wherever needed. She has embraced every opportunity to learn, connect with others, and contribute to our conservation and citizen science projects with enthusiasm and positivity.

We’re so grateful to have passionate students like Carljin supporting our mission and bringing fresh perspectives to marine conservation 🧡

05/05/2026

What is our bag? seagrass edition! 🌱

🌊 May is looking BIG at Ocean Connect! 🌊After a wild weather month, we’re back and ready to dive into a packed schedule ...
01/05/2026

🌊 May is looking BIG at Ocean Connect! 🌊

After a wild weather month, we’re back and ready to dive into a packed schedule 🤿✨

We’ve got it all this month:
🔹 Monitoring projects
🔹 Sea Slug dives
🔹 Launch of our Wonder Reef Citizen Science Project

Whether you’re getting in the water, learning something new, or just coming along to connect, there’s something for everyone 💙

🌍💙 Earth Day 2026 – Our Power, Our PlanetProgress doesn’t happen in silence.It happens when people show up.And this week...
22/04/2026

🌍💙 Earth Day 2026 – Our Power, Our Planet

Progress doesn’t happen in silence.
It happens when people show up.

And this week, our community really showed up 👇

🌊 On Sunday (April 18), our divers were back in the water, contributing to sea slug monitoring and staying connected to our local ecosystems.
🐌 Yesterday, we ran another sea slug survey, documenting the incredible (and often tiny!) biodiversity right on our doorstep.
🔍 And we’re not slowing down… we’re heading out again next week to keep building on this work. With our Tuesday’s sea slug survey at 12.15 (April 28) in Burleigh heads and our Seagrass survey on Thursday (April 30) at Carters Bank at 12.45.

But none of this happens without you.

To our incredible members and volunteers, thank you 💙

Thank you for your time, your energy, your curiosity, and your commitment. Whether you’re collecting data, spotting critters, logging sightings, or simply showing up with a willingness to learn and help - you are what makes this work possible.

This is what environmental progress looks like:
A community of people who care enough to take action 🌏

Every dive, every photo, every record contributes to something bigger.
And together, we’re making a real impact.

✨ We’re so grateful to have you all as part of Ocean Connect.

Last week’s school holidays kept us busy in the best way 🌊We delivered a range of NaturallyGC sessions, including Kids’ ...
19/04/2026

Last week’s school holidays kept us busy in the best way 🌊

We delivered a range of NaturallyGC sessions, including Kids’ Rocky Shore Explore, Seagrass Meadows, a Morning in the Mangroves, and our Mini Marine Biologist programs alongside our regular surveys.

We were lucky with beautiful weather all week, and even luckier to spend our days teaching such clever, curious kids about the wonders (and importance) of our marine ecosystems 🐚💙

13/04/2026

🌊✨ Reminder: Sea Slug Survey Tomorrow! ✨🐚

Join us tomorrow, 14 April at 12:15 PM, for our Burleigh Heads Rock Pool Sea Slug Survey! Come explore the rock pools with us, help document local marine life, and discover the incredible sea slugs that call this coastline home.

Whether you’re a marine life enthusiast, nature lover, or just curious to learn more, we’d love to see you there 💙

📍 Burleigh Heads Rock Pools
🕛 Tomorrow | 14 April | 12:15 PM

Please sign up via the Eventbrite link in our public calendar 📅

See you by the water! 🐌🌊

Address

Gold Coast, QLD

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