Logbook: Swimming into the Light

Logbook: Swimming into the Light

16th of October, 2023 / Marsa Mubarak, Egypt

We sink seven metres to a sandy bottom, brightly lit by sunlight and fin onwards in the hopes of seeing turtles. We’re diving a seagrass site and within minutes the sand is sprawled with flecks of green. In front of me are countless sand mounts covered in short patchy seagrass. It looks a little bit like a secondary school football field; only the mole mounts are white sand instead of dirt. We bimble around, eyes scanning the topography for movement. A Giant Trevally swims behind us, edging our impatience. We pass a small pinnacle surrounded by Schooling bannerfish, Threespot dascyllus and a couple of Threadfin butterflyfish. Then, the instructor points a finger towards a sand mount. Fellow divers pick up speed and I try to understand what they’ve seen. Moving closer I see a large Green turtle and I watch as it ascends gracefully to the surface. We sport more, chomping away at the seagrass, each one with two remoras attached to their backs. I stop next to one of them in awe. Intricate hexagons cover the turtle's face and flippers and it lifts its head momentarily to look at us unbothered. It goes back to eating whilst crawling forward slowly. Still advancing, I realise it’s coming straight towards me and without wanting to scare the turtle with my movements, I freeze and brace myself to get squished by the most graceful creature I’ve ever seen. An arm's length away, it pushes its flippers together and begins to ascend over me. I roll onto my side watching the belly of the turtle rise over me. Swimming into the light.

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To read my dive report about the rest of my Red Sea experience, click here