I will never forget the first turtle I laid eyes on. I was new to diving and underwater photography. It was on a reef in Boca Raton called the Trench, and I was diving with six very experienced divers. As they led me along this ledge, I remember one pointing out this beautiful but prehistoric looking "dinosaur". I was amazed, dumbstruck, I couldn't believe this huge thing was alive, right there below me. As I stared on I realized the group of divers had left me, and I now had to choose between chasing off after them, or diving down deeper than I had ever been, on my own, to get pictures of this magnificent creature. My decision made, I was alone with this huge turtle. He allowed me to swim right up to him and almost seemed as if he was enjoying my company. His smile was almost puppy like.

And so he just sat there and looked at me, and I looked at him, and I shot a whole role of film, and then I had no film left. No longer able to shoot film, our connection seemed stronger than ever, so I reached out my hand, very slowly, to pet his head.. He let me, and I proceeded to rub his shell. He seemed very happy about it. From that day on I fell in love with sea turtles.