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Every sea turtle at the Two Oceans Aquarium is a rescue that is on the path of recovery. The goal is always to release these precious, endangered animals back into the wild as quickly as possible, but "quickly" is relative - sometimes healing can take years! For long-term residents of the I&J Ocean Exhibit, like Bob and Harry, it's easy to forget that these animals are actually undergoing constant care - so let's take a look at the progress of these two remarkable turtles, Harry and Bob.

Parents with young children know that the shiny exhibits, lights sparkling off of fast-swimming fish, and the "unique" smell of penguins can be quite distracting for a child - can you imagine what the Aquarium must be like for a dog? Turns out, this sensory wonderland is the perfect place to train search and rescue dogs, which need to be ready to face any distraction!Recently, the K9 Search & Rescue Association of the Western Cape made use of the Two Oceans Aquarium for some after-hours dog training!

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, especially if you're a growing and healing sea turtle! Food is one of the biggest expenses in our turtle rehabilitation centre, but it's an expense that's well worth it when we see a previously lethargic animal perk up, or a tiny hatchling grow to ten times its size by the time of its release back into the ocean. Let's see what goes into the breakfast preparation for these precious animals!

Jellies are pretty alien, right? Well, our resident jellyfish expert Krish Lewis is here to answer all your burning questions about these weird animals, and how we care for, breed, clone and study them at the Two Oceans Aquarium in an exciting online Q&A, with host Kirshia Govender, on 23 June 2021.

Many tiny turtle hatchlings become stranded on the Western Cape's coastline each year - only a few months old, these are hatchlings that begin life on the beaches of northern KwaZulu-Natal. Whether it's due to swallowing plastic and getting infected, being attacked by a predator or simply bad luck, these hatchlings are the ones that, for whatever reason, get ejected from the warm Agulhas Current and struggle to survive in the cold Cape waters.

The theme for World Ocean Day this year is "The Ocean: Life and Livelihoods." The idea behind this day is to look at how human actions impact life beneath the waves, and how this, in turn, affects the lives and livelihoods of the billions of people that depend on the ocean's resources. We see the effects of this every day at the Two Oceans Aquarium, where we share a precinct with a working commercial harbour, eco-tourism businesses, and wildlife like ocean sunfish, dolphins and seabirds - and we get to see the results of the interactions of these systems. It's a delicate balance!

Help the Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation's sea turtle rehabilitation programme reach its fundraising goal! Every year, dozens of endangered sea turtles become stranded on the Western Cape coastline - it's only through quick human intervention, care and treatment that they can have a second chance in the wild.

Last week, we bid farewell to a Two Oceans Aquarium legend, Iain Robertson, the long-time PADI scuba instructor here at the Aquarium, as he has retired. Many of us, and certainly many of you, have fond memories of taking our first breaths underwater under the cheerful care and instruction of Iain. A generation of scuba divers has you to thank Iain - we'll miss you!Iain's relationship with the Aquarium began long ago, when Iain became a behind-the-scenes volunteer and diver soon after the Aquarium opened to the public for the first time, more than two decades ago. It wasn't long before Iain's Scuba School became a popular fixture here, with hundreds of people completing their PADI Open Water courses with Iain, and even more experiencing the underwater world for the first time thanks to Iain. Iain has been a professional PADI instructor for a long time, in fact, he's one of South Africa's longest active instructors, and we are certain that the underwater community will still be hearing from this legend.

Followers of the Two Oceans Aquarium's social media accounts have almost certainly see video clips of our rockhopper penguins waddling about the Aquarium, wearing bring pink and blue "socks". You may be wondering, why?

Turtles only survive if they are actually rescued in the first place. Getting them from some random stretch of coastline to the Aquarium is the real first challenge... In comes Tracy Whitehead, a long-time volunteer and the brainchild/coordinator/creator/top supporter of the Turtle Rescue Network - a semi-formal collaboration of over 500 people, coastal organisations, companies, friends, truck drivers, and more that work together to ensure that turtles found anywhere on the Western Cape coast between Cape St Francis and St Helena Bay by members of the public can get the help they need - that's 500 people Tracy has personally formed a connection with. Bet you didn't know that over 1 000km of coastline's turtle rescues are coordinated by one awesome volunteer!

26 years ago, a legend by the name of Vincent Calder, started working at the Two Oceans Aquarium, which was at that stage a construction site. Vincent started as an aquarist and employee No.1, but it was soon realised that he was multi-talented and would do very well getting the Aquarium’s Technical Department and Workshop off the ground. His technical abilities, unique skillset, and know-how were, and still remain to this day, invaluable.

From 13 to 16 May 2021, 70 women walked 100km through rain and sunshine to raise funds for conservation and other excellent causes as part of the annual Lighthouse 2 Lighthouse Ladies Charity Walk. These women come from all over South Africa, from ages 21 to 80, but they share one thing - a love of the coastline and a desire to enact change by supporting impactful causes, like the sea turtle conservation work being carried out by the Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation. Joining this epic trek were Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation teacher Kirshia Govender and turtle rehabilitation team member Alexandra Panagiotou. This was an excellent opportunity for Kirshia and Alex to show their mettle and also teach the other women participating about the conservation work they are involved with, and the issues affecting South Africa's endangered sea turtles.