Wow! What an amazing end to our dive season! On our last 2 Richelieu Rock trips of the season we had sightings of whale sharks, black tip reef sharks, blue spotted stingrays, jenkins whip rays, hawksbill & green turtles. Full house for our Ocean Action Project research!

As well as contributing to our 3rd year of local research in Surin National Park, these sightings were also submitted to Shark Guardian, Ecocean/Wildbook, Shark Trust & Sea Turtle Organisation to support their international research.

We have already heard back from Wildbook that the 4m whale shark sighted on 9th April at Richelieu Rock was reported again still feeding there on 12th AND 21st April. That's a 2 week feast at Thailand's top dive site for this particular whale shark! This is an extremely interesting finding and a great example of how citizen science can contribute to research into whale shark migration, about which relatively little is currently known.

On our final 2 Richelieu Rock trips we had students learning more about whale sharks, manta rays & turtles by taking the PADI Whale Shark Awareness, Manta Ray Awareness & Turtle Awareness specialty courses. They learnt about these species' biology, distribution & behaviours; the threats they face; their conservation statuses and the actions they can take as individuals to help protect these vulnerable & endangered marine creatures.

No better end to the season than having conservation-orientated divers going back to their homes in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand & UK inspired to contribute to international research, participate in marine clean up events and help spread the word about not buying products made from sharks, rays or turtles.

With sightings from December through to April at Richelieu Rock, this has been another highly exciting whale shark season. Swimming with the largest fish in the world is always an awesome experience, no matter how many times you do so!