Turtle time

Today we explored mangrove water trails to look for turtles. Our trip was a success! We saw more then ten turtles, big and small. 

I noticed that some of the bigger turtles had shells that looked like they had little rainbow designs on them. I wonder if they were tricks on my eyes or actually on the shells. I think the most likely factor would be the sunlight and the water were making rainbows above the turtles shells and it looked like they were on the turtles. 

Before we went to the mangroves swamp trails we went to a place my Mom called the turtle sanctuary. But the trails had more turtles than the sanctuary! 

At one point a big turtle came by Mr. Flowerpot and I tried to get an under water photo of it but it went too fast. 

That’s my paw in front of the lens with a turtle at the bottom left of the picture. Underwater photography is tricky when you are sitting in a dinghy.

That made me wonder why people say that turtles move so slowly. Or do they just say that about tortoises?

Then that made me think about the book Flush by Carl Hiassen and how you could risk the lives of baby turtles by dumping sewage. Did Dusty Muleman not know about the turtles or not care? (Dusty Muleman is in the book Flush) 

I think it might be fun to be a turtle in clean waters. You would be the center of attention when tourists came. You could disguise your self as a rock if predators came, you’d have a long life if It all went well as a hatchling, and you would have the mangroves for shade. Plus, bugs probably don’t like turtles. I wonder if sharks eat turtles. 

At some point in the turtle trails I spotted a turtle with two shark sucker friends on its shell. That would be another benefit to being a turtle: Cleaners that travel with you. One of the shark suckers was darkly colored and big. The other was one lightly colored and small. 

Now that I think about it, being a hatchling turtle must not be fun. There are the challenges of hatching, not getting chomped on or washed away, or choked by bottle holder togetherers. 

But cruising in a mangrove swamp in the water must be fun.