Nelly Noo

Nelly Noo is another special Ao Pakad turtle, originally reported and named by Alex Rhodes after his niece, as the sighting happened to fall on her birthday! What a truly unforgettable gift – a once-in-a-lifetime birthday surprise. In this first magical encounter, Alex recalls that Nelly was cruising along at 12m when she paused to sit with the group for a brief photo shoot, before carrying on her way. Clearly unfazed by the Big Blue divers also exploring the reef, she made for a calm and memorable encounter.

Nelly is one of five unique hawksbills recorded at Ao Pakad during Andaman Turtle Watch’s first season. She has been reported twice at the site, both sightings by members of the Big Blue team. The second sighting came from Sam Hunt on a particularly memorable dive – part of Big Blue and Andaman Turtle Watch’s first dedicated turtle trip, a citizen science liveaboard experience focused on sea turtle photo-identification. On that dive, Eve from Andaman Turtle Watch joined the team and together they observed three unique hawksbills foraging in the shallows of Ao Pakad – Nelly Noo, Leah, and Andy.

It was an incredible encounter and the first time a multi-turtle sighting had been recorded in the Andaman Turtle Watch database. Big Blue looks forward to continuing its collaboration with Andaman Turtle Watch, documenting sightings at Ao Pakad and beyond to strengthen citizen science research and inform effective conservation management across the northern Andaman Sea.