Captain Lachy

Lachy To confirm with Lachy: full name is the captain and owner of Cooly Eco Adventures To confirm with Lachy: confirm you are the founder and owner, and the year the business started. He runs our 32ft open ocean RIB out of Chinderah on the Tweed River, about 10 minutes drive from Coolangatta, taking guests whale watching, swimming with whales, snorkelling with turtles at Cook Island and on our dolphin and turtle safari. To confirm with Lachy: approve the portrait photo for this page

Our home page counts more than 15 years working and diving with whales, more than 15 years of diving and commercial tourism experience, and more than eight years contributing to whale, dolphin and turtle research To confirm with Lachy: are the home page counters 15+ years (live site) or 20+ years (new design), and how many of those years are yours personally. To confirm with Lachy: the years you started diving, working with whales and running whale swims

Lachy spent five winters learning this coast before he ever took a guest out To confirm with Lachy: confirm the draft line that you spent five winters learning this coast before taking a guest out.

All of our crew are trained in First Aid, CPR and oxygen, and advanced resuscitation, and our skipper and crew have extensive experience in the local area and expert knowledge of whales and whale behaviour. Oxygen, a defibrillator and a comprehensive Australian Maritime Safety Authority first aid kit are kept on board. To confirm with Lachy: your skipper licence, dive certification level, and first aid and oxygen training provider

Lachy has written for our site about what the crew sees on the water. In a 2022 article on the Gold Coast Bay becoming a birthing and nursing ground for humpbacks, he wrote that "we have found them calving 1,000km further down south, here, in the Gold Coast Bay". A second article, on how whales see, draws on the crew's experience of studying and swimming with humpbacks off the Gold Coast.

The business shares humpback tail photos with Happywhale and leopard shark photos with Leopard Sharks Wildbook. See conservation at Cooly Eco Adventures for how tours are run. To confirm with Lachy: which organisations receive your research contributions besides Happywhale and Leopard Sharks Wildbook, since when, and what the 8+ years counts from

These are guest reviews, quoted as written:

• "Lachlan the captain and Kas the guide were amazing with how they ran the whole tour and their knowledge of whales and the area. They knew which whales to just watch and which ones to jump in the water with." Rob Barbuto
• "Lachie is so knowledgeable and was committed to giving us the best experience possible. The whales welfare was also paramount, as it should be." Joanne Aldridge
• "Lachy and the team were *amazing* their knowledge and being a smaller boat (max 12ppl) made it a truly intimate experience and ensured everyone was able to have an uninterrupted view." Vanessa Hall Boman

To confirm with Lachy: which crew to feature (Kas, Julia, Anthony), their roles and consent to be named

In 2021 the business took Juice 107.3 hosts Elerrina and Jodie to swim with whales off the Gold Coast, and the station published an article on the experience. To confirm with Lachy: special guests you have hosted, and were you the skipper on the Juice 107.3 swim To confirm with Lachy: any researchers, universities, conservation groups or media (beyond Juice 107.3) who have been on board

Cooly Eco Adventures displays the Tweed Business Awards, Sustainability Awards Winner 2025 and Best of Queensland Experience 2026 badges To confirm with Lachy: Tweed Business Awards year and category, and the awarding body and link for the Sustainability Awards 2025 and Best of Queensland Experience 2026.

To confirm with Lachy: a few sentences in your own words on why you do this, and one signature quote