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"As an animal keeper, I've come to appreciate the fact that I've been able to spend lockdown caring for and interacting with the animals I've come to share a bond with," says aquarist Ayrton King of the Two Oceans Aquarium. "I know that spending time with the precious penguins has helped get me through the stress and uncertainty of the lockdown period and the coronavirus pandemic at large - I know that these birds cheer me up every day, so I hope that I can share some of that with everyone."

Our extraordinary ocean explorer, Yoshi the loggerhead sea turtle, is doing really well and is clearly enjoying her time along the Western Australia coastline. She is venturing past the beautiful and remote Eighty Mile Beach, a 220 kilometre stretch of mainly pastoral and indigenous land. This area is an Australian state marine park and historically, and still today, used to collect natural pearl oyster shells. She has travelled a total distance of 38 898 km (24 158 miles) over the last 860 days, which still gives an average of 45 km per day, for 2 years and 131 days straight.

The Two Oceans Aquarium is excited and proud to announce the online presence of the Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation with its own new social media platforms. The Aquarium Foundation will be launching its own website in the very near future. This means more great stories about the ocean, incredible conservation initiatives, passionate people, informative and educational resources, fascinating research and so much more.

Dive into online learning with the Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation’s brand new online learning platform!The Aquarium Foundation is launching its e-learning platform by offering an online course for Grade 8 and 9 students. This course covers topics covering biology and oceanography within the marine sciences.

Missing the Two Oceans Aquarium's adorable rockhopper penguins? Here's a craft that you and your little ones can complete together to make a rockhopper penguin of your very own!

It’s lockdown in South Africa and everyone’s at home (well, almost everyone). But that doesn’t mean you can’t still explore the ocean and all of its wonders from the comfort of your favourite chair in the house, while doing the dishes, or – if you’re lucky – on your stationary bike or treadmill. This is your nearly-definitive guide to ocean-themed home entertainment. The lists are by no means exhausted, so let us know in the comments section if we’ve left out your favourite!

Talitha Noble draws her inspiration from sea turtles and has previously shared some of the life lessons she has learned from these animals. The little turtle hatchlings that wash up on our shores have more lessons for us, especially during this time of lockdown. These little guys are often dehydrated, weak, injured and suffering from hypothermia – after all, they prefer the warmer waters further up our coast towards KwaZulu-Natal. After hatching on the beaches there and managing to clamber their way across the beach, dodging predators and avoiding the heat of the sun, hatchling turtles bravely pitch themselves into the waves of the ocean and are carried out, away from the beach by the currents. The start to their journey is already filled with uncertainty and danger and yet off they go, filled with anticipation of where they might be heading. Of course, turtles do what turtles do without emotion or thought as we know it, but when we think of the obstacles, like plastic pollution, that these little guys have to overcome in order to survive to adulthood, we could pause and reflect on the lessons they can teach us, especially when we are faced with a crisis in our own lives.

Here is a selection of physical and print-out activities from the Two Oceans Aquarium's I&J Children's Play Centre, to keep the minds of young ocean lovers-active. These activities have been designed for children aged 3 to 10, and have interactive elements to keep parents and guardians involved too.

This is a time not only about keeping our physical distance and living in lockdown, but also about community, sharing and caring for others – there are examples around the world of communities and neighbours coming together to support one another in different ways. The Italians singing from their balconies is just one example of many. For some people this time has opened up opportunities to think about others, to share and to break down some of the barriers, some physical and some not, which exist between people. In South Africa, many people already live with a community spirit and there is much to be learned from them. How has your community or neighbourhood come together in unexpected ways… any act big or small? One of my neighbours made chilli chutney and left a bottle at each gate in our street.

This is an unusual time for many of us as we remain in our homes, taking refuge from the outside world and the dreaded coronavirus. Some are finding the home-stay easy, being comfortable with their surroundings, while others are quickly feeling the ever-dreaded “cabin fever”, a hankering for something else, something outside.Eventually, we will all experience this. And eventually, we will be able to satisfy our longing for something other than the four walls that surround us, when it is once again safe to venture out. In the meantime, we stay put and we learn from this experience. For some animals in the marine environment, “home” is more often than not, a loosely defined term.

The annual FET Marine Biology course, run by the team of teachers of the Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation and sponsored by I&J, has always been popular with students who have an interest in studying Marine Biology and wish to continue their studies at a tertiary level. The course introduces them to terminology and greater detail about organisms they will learn about in their future studies and careers.

To our visitors, the Two Oceans Aquarium is a wonderous place to go for adventures. While you explore the exhibits and everything that the Aquarium has to offer, behind the scenes a whole team of people is constantly at work to ensure that each and every visitor has an amazing experience. Just like any other business, the Aquarium team consists of various departments – finance, marketing, curatorial and a whole lot more. With the Aquarium temporarily closed to the public, the majority of this team is working from home, with only the core, essential staff looking after the animals onsite. But, as anyone who works at the Aquarium will tell you, being away from the Aquarium, is an adjustment of note. What do those who are working from home miss most about the Aquarium?