As educators, transformative learning is what we aim for. I can say, without a doubt, that this occurred to the twelve students that were part of EAC’s inaugural tour to the Lizard Island Research Station.

Our epic journey to the Lizard Island Research Station began at 2:30am with a bus trip to Brisbane from EAC. After an initial flight to Cairns, all participating students and teachers were flying across the Great Barrier Reef in two small ‘Daintree Air’ twin-engine planes. The views of the reefs from the air were spectacular especially when one of the pilots took their plane right out to the Outer Barrier Reef.

On arrival at the station, we unpacked, had lunch, and attended our introductory lecture by the Station Directors, Dr Anne Hoggett and Dr Lyle Vail. Here, we began to learn about the Research Station, its history, and its incredible method of maintaining its status as a sustainable, first-class, world-renowned research facility, to which we were about to become alumni.

Our first snorkel was at a place called ‘The Clam Garden’ in Watson's Bay. We were amazed by how healthy the coral was since there was a series of terrible events between 2014 and 2016 including two big cyclones as well as two mass bleaching events where Lizard Island was ground zero. The students were blown away by the diversity of fishes and coral as well as the five turtles that allowed us to get up close and personal; close enough for us to watch them grazing on seagrass. We then visited another site called ‘Granite Bluff’ that was a bit more exposed than the Clam Garden and had loads of crevices and swim-throughs. This exposure also meant bigger fish, sometimes reef sharks and once again, beautiful corals and fishes.

With the daily lectures, students were becoming familiar with the families of fishes and corals that they were seeing. From day three, they began to collect data using camera footage and underwater dive slates for their targeted research project. The teachers were so inspired to see the students race back to the library after each snorkel to identify and learn about the different species they were observing.

At the mid-point of our trip, we did a huge hike from the Research Station all the way to Cook's Look, following in the steps of Captain James Cook when he sought clear passage out of the Great Barrier Reef as the Endeavour kept getting beached on the reefs. Later in the afternoon, we wandered up to an isolated section of the beach that we had noticed had a lot of rubbish that had washed up. We collected a huge amount of single-use plastic and were astonished to find empty milk bottles that had floated all the way from Indonesia, Taiwan, and a lot of other nearby countries. It was really sad to see but really important for the students to directly observe the environmental impacts of humans.