World Ocean Day takes place tomorrow Saturday 8th June. The day is an international celebration of our oceans and a reminder that we all need to do our part in protecting them.
To mark this day there will be a number of fantastic events to celebrate our seas taking place around the coast. As part of World Oceans Day a number of famous buildings and landmarks across Ireland are set to ‘Go Atlantic Blue’ over the weekend to celebrate our connection to the Atlantic Ocean.
With so much happening why not get involved and join in on one of these great events or grab a few friends ‘Go Atlantic Blue’ and hold your own beach clean!
Here’s our top pick of events for World Ocean Day 2019:
Seafest in Cork
Where better to celebrate World Ocean Day than at Ireland’s very own maritime festival this year taking place in Cork. Throughout the weekend there are plenty of free family friendly events taking place on and off the water to all aimed at deepening our appreciation and understanding of our ocean and the role it plays in our lives.
More info SeaFest
Seal Rescue Ireland, Courtown Co. Wexford
Join Seal Rescue Ireland and take a tour of their centre. On Saturday for blue face painting and a discovery trail to learn more about the ocean, Blue face painting and a beach clean on Sunday at Courtown Main beach at 2pm.
More info: Seal Rescue Ireland
Beach Clean with Sea Life Bray, Co. Wicklow
A great way to get involved and do something postive for World Ocean Day is to get out and do a beach clean. It’s a great way to get out by the coast, meet new people and help keep our beaches looking beautiful. So why not join the folks at Sea Life for their cleanup on Saturday afternoon. All clean up gear will be provided, meet outside Sea Life at 3pm
Sea-Art Stories at Galway Atlantaquaria
Join Galway Atlantaquaria to celebrate World Oceans Day with a series of fun activities designed to help protect our ocean.
The Aquarium is planning a series of art inspired events in the Aquarium to enable young & older people to understand how important the ocean is to their health and well being. Join the amazing storyteller Rab Fulton for stories of the shore on Grattan beach, Salthill where there will be a workshop on how to create stories from the sea!
Other events in the Aquarium include; Beach Clean up, Molly & Marine friends Art, Susie Quinn Prints-piration Art, Down2Earth Table and a series of guided tours of the Aquarium.
More info:Galway Atlantaquarim
Dingle Oceanworld are to #Go Atlantic Blue!
In conjunction with the Marine Institute Dingle Oceanworld are organising to #Go Atlantic Blue! This involves getting as many maritime or coastal buildings to light up Blue in order to raise awareness about the Atlantic Ocean. The Blennerville Windmill will be lighting up blue at night for the weeknd of the 7-10th of June. Dingle Aquarium will be turning some of their tanks blue as well as hosting Ocean based activities in our Kidszone area all weekend and some of our staff may even be sporting blue hair on the weekend!
It is set to be an exciting weekend so do pop down to the aquarium for some daytime activities and keep your eyes peeled for buildings, statues and fishing boats that have gone blue in the evenings!
Dive Academy Lahinch Co. Clare
The Dive Academy are running an Art Competition at local schools around the topic “Together we can protect & restore Our Ocean. On World Oceans Day their qualified divers will dive at White Strand to collect underwater rubbish, there will be a public beach clean and swim/Snorkel in Dive Academy Aquarium to collect plastics („FREE for anyone who brings a wetsuit)
More info: Dive Academy
World Ocean day at Portstewart Strand, Co. Derry
The National Trust have teamed up with local schools in Portstewart at the start/launch of a new project to make Portstewart Strand free of single use plastic by 2022. Each year 400 million tonnes of plastic is produced around the world and 40% of it is single-use, meaning it is only used once before being thrown away.
In preparation for the official launch of this project at the Strand, over 350 children from St Colums and Portstewart Primary School were tasked with each creating eco-bricks (a reusable building block created by packing clean and dry used plastic into a plastic bottle to a set density). These eco-bricks have since been collected and taken to Dominican College where the pupils there will create sea sculptures to unveil and display on the beach for World Oceans Day on 8 June.
More info: National trust
Exploris Aquarium in Portaferry Co. Down
Head to Exploris Aquarium in Portaferry for World Ocean Day this Saturday. Protecting the world’s oceans is extremely important to everyone at the Aquarium and they want to share their knowledge on how you can help. On World Ocean Day you can do your part through workshops and craft activities throughout the day.
More info: Exploris Aquarium
