or: Every dive there is something a little bit unexpected. On some dives, there is something massively unexpected.

Like many of my Sundays, I spent this morning underwater. 

It’s one of my favourite ways to spend a morning. It’s relaxing, I usually see a lot of different fish and I like to see what each species is up to on that particular day plus there is always some kind of surprise on every dive.

My first dive today outdid it on the surprise front.

We were at a dive site where we typically see turtles. No-one has told the turtles this though so we can’t guarantee it as they may like to visit other spots at the time we’re in the area.

That said, in all my dives in this area, there has only been one occasion where I haven’t seen at least a couple of turtles. That particular instance was a very poor visibility day (this rarely happens in this part of the island – it was the only time I haven’t been able to see further than two metres in any direction). 

Today I briefed those I was taking to let them know we may not see any turtles and what to do if we do so as not to scare them away. I also gave various other details but that’s not particularly relevant for this post.

And with that, we backward rolled into the water and began exploring.

We went to all the usual places where I expect to see them however there were none. 

This was the first time quite a few of them have been diving in this area and I really wanted them to see something of interest before we ascended so I took them to an area where I knew there were plenty of fish. 

Also because I like to look at the fish.

We then went closer in to see if perhaps the turtles had returned.

I looked up and there was one swimming to the surface from one of the perches we had seen earlier. 

I went in closer to see if it had any friends in the area and sure enough, it did.

I took some photos of that turtle with some of the divers and another group of divers from our centre saw it too and also asked for photos.

While taking photos of them, I could see a massive turtle swimming in towards us.

It wasn’t actually swimming towards us, it was swimming towards me.

And when I say towards me, I mean directly at me.

Did I mention it was massive?

It came so close that I needed to move to avoid it touching me!

We were eyeball to eyeball (perhaps it likes my pink mask) before it manoeuvred back on itself to then land nearby. 

What an experience!

What a great start to the day!

 

Thanks to Bruce Springsteen for the title to this post.