21/08/13 Having a whale of a time

My name is Rob, I’m a volunteer here at Cap Ternay and I’m in the last week of my 8 week expedition. I hate to be cheesy but I’m not sure that I can avoid it, the last 7 weeks have been absolutely amazing, not only have I been trained how to carry out scientific survey that will aid in the protection of the marine life in the Seychelles, I’ve also got to work with the local community and helped at Mahé’s first annual Turtle festival, and I’ve got to meet some great people, Dave, Jack (AKA Bauer!), Kerry, Nicole & Ali, and all of the staff of course! Far too many people to be able to list everybody, sorry folks!

During my time with GVI I have also managed to see some of the most amazing marine life that the Seychelles has to offer, I’ve seen loads of Turtles, Sharks, Octopus, Squid, Dolphins plus loads of beautiful fish, oh and a fair bit of Achropora (for the coral geeks!!).  This week has topped everything that I’ve experienced so far.  Whilst on a fun dive with the fabulous Kelsey, the staff manning our boat had the most amazing siting just of the coast of Mahé, a Humpedback Whale with her Calf.  Lee B and Brodie could not believe their eyes, and wanted to be able to get a picture of mother and calf.

With lightning speed they realised that I had my camera with me on my dive, so they proceeded to recall us to the boat as it was safe to do so. When Kelsey and I surfaced we could not believe our luck and raced to get on board. Keeping a safe distance to our fellow volunteers should they need help we edged closer to the area that the Whales had last been sighted hoping to glimpse them one last time. As it happens we get to see them twice more as they swam out to sea. I could not have hoped for a more amazing end to a wicked two months. Thank you to everybody at GVI that has helped my expedition to be all that it could possibly be, keep up the good work, much love Rob x

21/08/13 Having a whale of a time