Sea Turtle Rescue

Roopa and Varsha wanted to see a sea turtle, well we all got to see a sea turtle and more. Not long after leaving the marina one of the ladies spotted a sea turtle. I looked over to see the turtle and noticed its left flipper caught in a net. Then the turtle dove and we lost sight of it. We circled the boat around and looked for a long time before finally spotting the turtle again. I didn’t want to get too close with the boat.  I had Roopa drive into the wind and I set the bow anchor.  She put the boat in neutral and I slid over the side of the boat with my knife. I swim towards the turtle which seemed to take forever. When I got close everything seemed to go fast.  Something bumped my leg and the turtle dove.  Then I dove to get the turtle and started feeling for the back of the shell. My hand caught the net it was trapped in. I pulled the net up and realized it was a landing net for fishing. This turtle was swimming around with this landing net with a 6 foot handle. I used my knife to cut the net and the turtle swam quickly away from me.  I swam back to the boat where Roopa and Varsha helped get the net on the boat. It was quite the experience for all of us. Roopa did a great job driving and Varsha took pictures of the whole thing with her camera. They were both very calm and did a great job. We all got to see a sea turtle and will not forget this experience any time soon.