Just the standard Marine day?!

I was one of three new interns on marine this week... and what a week it was!

Our first day on the boat was quite surreal, and apparently not the standard Marine day! Whilst out snorkelling transect 10 we had an up close and personal encounter with a group of bottlenose dolphins. We had been in the water for around 15 minutes when shadows moved in the water beneath us. They seem curious and we remained still and calm until they got bored and moved away. It was a very rare and moving experience.


Curious Bottlenose dolphins approach snorkellers



We got back on to the boat and moved on to the next transect, after just having one of the most amazing experiences ever no one was expecting to jump in the water again and find a Hawksbill turtle very calmly swimming around... especially after already seeing two green turtles mating on the boat journey there!

Hawksbill turtle swimming on the reef - Transect 9

Although it was a fantastic day, we did however spot some tourist dhows not following KWS’s Code of Conduct. Hopefully for the remaining 11 and a half months I have here we will see the tourist dhows continuing to improve their attitudes towards following these rules... not only benefiting the dolphins, but educating the tourists in understanding what is appropriate and what is not when out on a dhow in the future!

Just the standard Marine day?!