Freedive Aotearoa
Te Wheke Moana — Marine Education Programme for Schools
Te Wheke Moana is a full marine education programme built on freediving, marine science and kaitiakitanga — woven through with mātauranga Māori, and built so rangatahi come out the other side knowing the moana physically, culturally, and scientifically.
The ocean is the classroom; the destination is a real job in Northland’s marine economy. It flexes to fit your kura — as outdoor education, marine biology and science, or hauora — with real career paths, tangible outcomes, and internationally recognised certifications along the way.
The eight tentacles
Eight dimensions of growth we weave through every programme — from first breath to teaching the next one.
Ocean Connection & Hauora
The foundation: confidence, breath, and feeling at home in te moana.
Safe Ocean Practice
What every rangatahi needs before they’re in the water.
Citizen Science & Surveys
Hands-on marine monitoring with real data.
Sustainable Kai
Mahinga kai, fish ID, size and bag limits, kaitiakitanga.
Ocean to Table
From the sea to the plate — processing and preparation included.
Breath & Nervous System
The breath tools of our tūpuna.
Identity & Leadership
Finding your stance, your reo, your role.
Belonging & Giving Back
The loop closes when you teach the next one.
Real skills. Internationally recognised. Transferable anywhere in the world.
Freediving, snorkelling, mermaiding, and the snorkel instructor pathway. Scuba available as an add-on.
Boat handling, seamanship, and basic marine engineering — plus sea time towards maritime tickets, signed off by a skipper, towards their skipper tickets.
Underwater photography and video — telling the story of the moana.
Mātauranga Māori, scientific surveying, data collection, and hauora moana — ocean-health monitoring.
Marine ecology and blue oceans — fish, coral, invertebrates, nudibranchs, sharks, marine mammals, sea turtles, and manta and ray ecology.
Kai collection, sustainable harvesting, and regenerative practices.
Designed to grow with your rangatahi, year on year.
The marine-trades pathway is built for Years 11, 12 and 13 — an entry point into a journey that deepens each year. Rangatahi build genuine, transferable skills and certifications that mean something anywhere in the world.
Ākonga learn alongside the people who do this mahi for real — plus hapū and Māori-led initiatives, restoration projects, and hands-on data surveys in the field. Delivery runs from Paihia across Te Tai Tokerau — the sheltered bays of the Bay of Islands, the clear freshwater of Kai Iwi Lakes, and out to the Cavalli Islands and the Poor Knights Islands for senior groups.
The moana teaches them, and they grow to teach the moana.
Not a one-off experience — a pathway with real, tangible outcomes. Rangatahi move from first breath in the water through to the marine trades, and on to instructor training, where a learner becomes a teacher. And every one becomes the seed of the next cohort.
Get your ākonga in the water.
Wahine Moana spaces
A programme for your wahine, funded through the Tū Manawa Active Fund — in school hours or after school, at no cost to your ākonga. Discover freediving and mermaiding, learn to survey and read the health of the moana, gather kai with care, and connect to te taiao — alongside breathwork and nervous-system regulation.
Term 4 short courses
Applications are open for our Term 4 short courses and micro-credentials — internationally recognised, and real, transferable credits on the path to a marine career.
Year-long courses
Short courses, micro-credentials and full year-long courses, as part of the marine trades programme we’re developing now with the Ministry of Education.
We design Te Wheke Moana in your rohe, with your people, for your rangatahi.
We can help you access the Tū Manawa Fast Fund (Sport Northland) for rangatahi recreation outcomes — and we’ve delivered on the Te Taitokerau Trades Academy pathway.