The Fantastic Grandmothers are proving to the world that age is just a number, and it won’t stop them from doing what they love - and for the name of science.

Every day, these women make their way to Baie de Citrons in Noumea, New Caledonia with their snorkels, wetsuits and flippers. But these seven amazing senior citizens are not there as tourists.

In 2013, Dr. Claire Goiran from the University of New Caledonia and Macquarie University’s Professor Rick Shine began documenting a 1.5 meter long greater sea snake, a creature that they saw only six times in the 15 years that they have been studying the reptile’s “small and harmless” relative, the turtle-headed sea snake.

Dr. Goiran recalled that it was only a “happy accident” that she stumbled upon these grandmothers in 2017 where they readily volunteered to help them in her ongoing study.

“It was not planned ahead, it was just by chance that those wonderful women came and helped me with my research,” Goiran told 10 daily.

Since then, they have been diving every day and helping the scientists by photographing these venomous sea creatures. It was also through them that Dr. Goiran and Professor Shine discovered that they are more than 249 greater sea snakes that lurks beneath the clam and serene waters of Baie de Citrons.

Goiran, the team’s lead researcher, said in a statement that she thought she “understood” greater sea snakes considering that she has been studying them for well over 20 years. It was only through the help of the Fantastic Grandmothers that she was given a new perspective.

She praised their effort, especially with the fact that the Grandmothers “transformed our understanding of the abundance and ecology of marine snakes in the system.”

“It’s a great pleasure and privilege to work with them.”

Professor Shine on the other hand lauded the efforts of the general public in researchers with their cases, and their increasing number proved to be “one of the most exciting new developments in science.”

As for the Fantastic Grandmothers, Shine described them as a powerful example, and that their support “shone a bright light” in their study of sea snakes in ways that they could never have imagined.

CNN said that there had only been six sightings of greater sea snakes between 2004 and 2012. The Fantastic Grandmothers, meanwhile, was able to photograph a staggering 140 of these creatures between October 2016 and November 2018.