The state of weightlessness, freedom, liberty, movement in 3D space. Scuba diving is amazing and, in addition to freedom under the water, we enjoy meetings with a variety of underwater life.
Dives with turtles are one of our best unforgettable moments, what we experience while scuba diving.
We love sea turtles and have spent a lot of time underwater with them. Their beautiful inquisitive faces, when they slowly swim up to you, they look at you curiously and sometimes try to nibble on your gear or cameras. Or when they are resting stuck in a coral reef, in sea sponges or in other unusual places.
Sometimes they swim around us and we admire how beautifully they move, we swim with them to the surface, where they take a breath and then come back and we accompany them.
You can also go snorkeling with turtles and it will be a nice experience, but scuba diving is so much better.
With the scuba tank, we have the air with us and we have a wonderful unlimited experience while swimming with the turtles. We enjoy these moments and the time spent with the sea turtles under the surface while scuba diving. Dive with us at least in this article and enjoy the experience with turtles!
Great places for scuba diving and snorkeling with the sea turtles:
* Red Sea, Marsa Alam, Abu Dabbab bay
* Curacao, Playa Piskado / Playa Grandi bay
* Bonaire, localities 1000 Steps, Karpata, Salt Pier
* Philippines, Apo island
* Indonesia, Bali, Amed
Sea turtles are cute and unfortunately endangered creatures. If you want to really enjoy your time in the water with sea turtles and treat them with respect, here are a few tips:
- try to be in the water with as few people as possible, the quality of the experience will be much higher if there are a few of you there and not 40 or even more
- never touch the turtles
- if there are only a few of you in the water and the turtle is swimming freely, do not swim in front of it, move to the sides and leave it a free path
- in a large group, stay away, do not surround the turtle very closely, do not stick selfie sticks at it
- if the turtle speeds up its swimming and tries to get away from you, do not chase it, let it swim away
- be quiet, do not kick, do not shout, do not splash on the surface
- the turtle needs to breathe regularly, so let it clear path to the surface
- do not swim around the turtle quickly and chaotically, if you are in shallow water, try not to kick up the sand on the bottom
- if you are in the small grou and the turtle is feeding and stay on the bottom, you can carefully approach and take a photo or video from very close distance
- from our experience, scuba diving with sea turtles is significantly better than snorkeling
Some places try to educate tourists and inform them about how to behave underwater. Pay attention to this information. Some diving centers directly help with the protection of turtles or nature, look for the Green Fins label, for example. Try to support such a diving center or eco-tour operator on a boat with a small number of tourists, instead of going into the water on a large boat in a crowd of several dozen people. The quality of the underwater experience with fewer people will be significantly better.
Unfortunately, sea turtles are a critically endangered species and their numbers in the oceans are rapidly declining. Sea turtles are an important part of the ecosystem and have a major impact on the health of coral reefs.
If you want to help sea turtles, check out your local dive club website or websites of conservation organizations.
Here is a short video from our scuba diving on the island of Curacao, Kate with a camera enjoys a dive with a turtle. She doesn't touch anything underwater, she leaves the turtle space, she doesn't swim anywhere fast and she doesn't dig her fins into the sand on the bottom. This video is also a perfect example how to scuba dive. There were only 2 of us in the water, it was an absolutely fantastic experience. At the end of the article, you will find more videos of scuba diving with sea turtles.
Red Sea - Egypt. Abu Dabbab Bay is one of the amazing places, easily accessible from Europe, where you can dive and snorkel with sea turtles. We definitely recommend the bay, it is a fantastic place and diving with turtles is a wonderful experience.
Another wonderfull place for scuba diving with the sea turtles is the caribbean island of Curacao.
Peter and Kate
