Today is World Turtle Day, and to celebrate, check out this green turtle I encountered while snorkelling in Hawaii. I hadn’t seen very much until this guy started swimming towards me! I could almost hear him say “You lookin’ at me?” but I think he just caught his reflection in my lens and wanted to have a look. This left me with a great opportunity for a close up!
A picture cannot capture how large a whale shark is. To swim next to one of these animals is simply something else, and I’ve never experienced something else like it.
On a recent snorkeling trip I ran into this stingray. He looks menacing, but was more interested in hiding on the bottom than he was in messing with me.
I immediately forgot about the long, rough boat ride as soon as I spotted my first whale shark. A wide angle lens masks just how massive these guys really are. Despite their size, they weren’t very interested in me, and swam on by looking for more tiny bits of food to filter out of the Caribbean Sea.
The sea turtle is a very majestic creature. It can also be quite intimidating when you see one close up, and watch it use its powerful jaws to chew a huge clump of grass right in front of you. This was taken in Akumal in Mexico in a spot where people came to snorkel just to see the turtles. They were everywhere. The younger ones were a little skittish when you got close, but the older ones could really care less if you were nearby or not. This particular one let me dive down and hang out with him long enough to get plenty of good photos.
