lucyinthesea's Favorites

This is a green sea turtle that saw its reflection in my camera's dome port. Out of curiosity it almost swam into me! I took this before I had to move from out behind my camera and look to see if it was going to hit me. In retrospect, I wish I had kept shooting. But, just observing these guys is amazing in its own right. Nowhere in the world have I seen as many turtles on every dive as we did in Palau. Repeatedly, we'd see at least 3 or 4 turtles on most dives and I remember one dive where we saw at least 10.

Palau was the first country to declare their waters a sanctuary for sharks and as a result of their efforts the fish and turtle populations seem equally healthy. Absolutely fantastic to see that their efforts are paying off with healthy reefs, healthy fish populations, healthy shark populations, and lots of turtles!