Conservation at Cooly Eco Adventures

Our mission is simple to say and harder to live up to: to be the most environmentally conscious, informative and fun seafaring adventure company in Australia.

We love the ocean and the marine life within it, and we want to share that with you. With a love of the environment comes a strong devotion to sustainability. Our goal is to help stop further deterioration of our planet and its oceans, by educating and encouraging a shift in human behaviour toward a more symbiotic relationship with nature. Every tour, from whale watching to snorkelling with turtles at Cook Island, is built around that goal.

Our tours depart Chinderah on the Tweed River, about 10 minutes drive from Coolangatta, and run in the waters off the Gold Coast and the Tweed. Responsible whale watching here means a few firm habits:

• The boat stays at least 100 metres from a whale, and swims use a 30 metre approach, as published in our FAQs.
• We do not chase, touch or disturb whales to get closer. The whales decide if they would like to interact with us.
• A no touch, no take policy runs on every tour, and every guest is briefed on the marine life they will see in and out of the water.
• We run one whale swim tour a day, with a maximum of 9 swimmers in the water accompanied by an experienced guide.

Read more in how we run our tours and swimming with whales, respectfully.

Our 32ft open ocean RIB runs two 2025 Suzuki 250hp engines with ultra low emissions, serviced and updated regularly. The company Troop Carrier runs a hydrogen enhancing fuel system. On board we use biodegradable, reef friendly cleaning products and provide reef safe sunscreen. We compost food scraps, leftovers and coffee cups, have cut single use plastic wherever we can, dress the crew in recycled, fair trade certified uniforms, and send old wetsuits back to brands that recycle the rubber.

The full list is on our eco credentials page.

We have been contributing to whale, dolphin and turtle research for more than eight years. Guests who photograph the underside of a humpback's tail can send it to Happywhale, and leopard shark photos taken at Cook Island go to Leopard Sharks Wildbook, which collects data for the east coast of Australia. See how tours contribute to research.

We team up with brands that share our commitment to sustainability and quality, from gear suppliers to fair trade uniform and merchandise providers. Read about our partnerships, find simple ideas in what you can do, and see why we run as an eco operator and what that means for your tour.