Those who regularly read Blue Guru's "My Ocean" blog on Project AWARE's website may remember that last month we were lucky enough to see fin whales. When I shared this blog on my personal facebook page, I said "It doesn't get better than this". I was wrong! It did get even better this month! 

On our last 2 day/1 night Richelieu Rock & Surin Islands trip there were lots more big & little special treats in store ...

Whilst snorkeling at Richelieu Rock on day 1 we spotted a juvenile hawksbill turtle. This is the first time I have ever seen a turtle at Richelieu in 7 years! It had probably swam 14km from the turtle nesting beaches at Surin Islands, luckily making it past all the fishing boats in between these 2 protected National Marine Park zones. 

In between dives at Richelieu, everyone was super excited when the "whale shark" shout went out. Oh yes, we had a 4m whale shark swimming round our boat ... and it's not even whale shark season yet! What a great way to spend your surface interval!!

On the next snorkeling session at Richelieu Rock I found a juvenile seahorse with its tail wrapped round a discarded bit of fishing line swimming close to the surface. Thankfully the fishing net debris did not seem to be doing him any harm. Normally we find seahorses in the depths at Richelieu but the divers didn't get to see this one! Just a little treat for those of us snorkeling.

As if the day's sightings hadn't been exciting enough already, Surin Islands had another surprise in store. The fin whales were still around and happily breaching as they swam along past the dive boat. What a show!!

After such an amazing 1st day of the trip I was thinking that day 2 might be an anti-climax. I was wrong again! On the last dive at Richelieu Rock the whale shark shout went out again and this time our divers & snorkelers were in the water. Seeing a whale shark from the boat had been awesome. However being motionless in the water observing the largest fish in the world gracefully swim past you, over you, under you and around you was an ultimately more thrilling experience. All the divers & snorkelers were grinning from ear to ear when they got back on the dive boat. 

Our interns were certainly kept busy submitting all the data from this trip! Not only did we have data on shark, turtle & fishing boat sightings to record for our Ocean Action Project research, we also had sightings to submit to Sea Turtle Organisation, iSeahorse, Ecocean, Shark Trust & Shark Guardian. We look forward to finding out from Ecocean & Shark Trust as to whether this particular whale shark has been reported before and if so where in the world it has been before visiting Richelieu Rock.

Surely it doesn't get better than this trip? But perhaps I will be proved wrong again ...