These days whalesharks are less common however some years are better than others. 2006/7 was a very good year with sightings most weeks. The ideal time of year to see them is March- April. If you are lucky enough to see a whale shark the best tactic is not to chase it but to hang in mid water and wait for it to come around again. Whale sharks are gentle giants and a wall of divers chasing them just scares them away. Whatever you do, never touch a whaleshark as you can remove the protective algae coating from their skin which leads to disease.
Even without whale sharks Richelieu is a truly awesome dive. With no other land for miles around all marine life is attracted to this point. Other large visitors are dogtooth tuna, mackeral and schools of chevron barracuda.
Richelieu is covered in soft corals, sponges, anemones and sea fans and the biodiversity of marine life is amazing. Moray eels and lionfish are everywhere. Schools of snapper carpet large areas of the wall. Glass fish fill in the gaps hiding critters like shrimp and pipefish. Harlequin ghost pipefish are often found as are yellow tigertail seahorse. There is a resident seahorse on the south west side of the horseshoe which is well known by all divemasters. The poor fellow is probably blind from all the camera strobes flashing in his face each day. Other seahorses can be found in the small caverns at the bottom of the rock as can harlequin shrimps. Frogfish and leaffish are also to be found and mantis shrimps can be seen scurrying about in the rubble.
Octopus are a common sight although they do their best to hide from view. Couples of cuttlefish are also seen just above the sandy bottom.
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