DIVE LOG AUSTRALASIA FEB 2026

ELLIOT PETERS MASTER REEF GUIDE https://www.instagram.com/masterreefpanda/ Heron Island Activities Supervisor and Dive Instructor

Ornate Lobster, Panilurus ornatus.

Chevron Butterflyfish, Chaetodon trifascialis

From my first immersion into the underwater world, thanks to scuba in 2015, I’ve become a “tad” obsessed with the marine environment and all its inhabitants (okay, I live and breath it). I quickly became concerned for it all as well and started doing my bit, removing harmful debris during dives and eventually creating a community initiative to do this on a larger scale across the Sunshine Coast, QLD. After becoming a dive instructor in 2021 and joining the Heron Island Resort marine team in 2022, I was quickly recognised for my passion and knowledge of the marine world. This led to becoming the organiser of the resorts environment focused educational, general activity and citizen science programs in 2024. My focus is on conservation and empowering people to care and do more for marine environments. I was

also blessed to be selected as a Master Reef Guide by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority in 2023. Connecting me with experts all things GBR, enabling me to gain further knowledge and even represent the Southern Great Barrier Reef at DEMA in 2025. It is my great pleasure to be able to deliver two presentations for the Heron Island Dive Festival. I will be delivering a Reef Health Update, discussing the robust research methodologies used on the GBR, its prior and current status as well as future outlook. In addition I will deliver ‘Nesting Turtles of Heron’, a talk that Len Zell (Author, lecturer, and recognised as one of the foremost authorities on the GBR) witnessed recently and told me it was the best turtle presentation he had ever seen! This will discuss the process of turtle nesting, hatching, life cycle and

Much older female Green Turtle having a siesta

Very young Green Turtle resting on Sarcophytom soft coral

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DIVE LOG Australasia #416 - February ‘26

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