The mask is on my head, the flippers are on my feet,
the underwater camera is on my hand! Ready to go! In the water now,
swimming for ten minutes, for twenty minutes, nothing yet.. Sand,
sand and more sand. Suddenly, a shadow in the very end of my visible
horizon!

I found a turtle! Finally! After all this swimming, I found one! And
I am all alone with her, maybe I could observe her closer without
scaring her!

Let's see what she is doing. She doesn't seem to move,
she just stays at the bottom of the sea without moving. She is a
tagged female, she probably laid her nest one of the previous days
and now she is resting, saving energy. She is going to need it in
order to lay her next nest. I move closer, she does not bother at
all. I wonder if she knows that I am there. Probably not...

I stay with her for some time. Of course I never touch her. Not only
because she is sleeping but generally sea turtles should always be
treated with respect. They are wild animals that travel thousands of
kilometers and it is a privilege for any human to swim with them.
Just observation then! She keeps being still, with her eyes half
closed. Suddenly, she makes a move, she is stretching her flippers
and her neck! She is awake now!

Her flippers are opening, she moves to the surface slowly. The best
word to describe her swim: harmony. Her body is reflected in the
surface of the water. Her head is out the water to take the so much
needed air! One breath, swim forward, second breath, she is diving
down again.

I decide to leave this turtle, one shouldn't stay with her for a long time, even if the turtle seems calm and not annoyed.

There we go again, with only water and sand in my vision. Not even 5
minutes have passed and the well known shadow appears again, it is
far away. But I can see four flippers, no five! Five flippers? No,
it is a tail, a big tail! It is a male Caretta Caretta! I am so
lucky! It is estimated that the Mediterranean loggerhead population
is female biased so it is not so usual to spot a male, especially in
July. I move closer. He seems to be trying to eat something from the
sand. It is a male foraging for sea shells. He is smashing them with
his powerful jaws. You can even hear the sound!

Wait a minute...This turtle seems familiar... This mark on his head,
this scar on his plastron (turtle belly!) He has even the same scute
patterns .. Yes it's him! The male I saw last year. He was eating
shells back then too! It's nice to meet old friends in Lagana Bay!

He seems very focused to his target. He doesn't seem to mind my
presence. From my experience, sleeping females and eating males
almost ignore the human presence as long as this consists of a
swimmer or two, who are very careful and avoid any disturbance. The
presence of many swimmers who swim fast and shout out loud can be
very annoying for the turtle. But he is not! He wants his food. He
is using his front flipper for momentum and balance!

Time to go though. I swim a bit further. I find
nothing, but I am quite happy now, I already saw two turtles. There
are a few places in the world where one can see turtles so easily.
Yes, there are many places in the world which host more nests than
Zakynthos but here the nest density is one of the highest in the
world. All the turtles are inside the bay, in quite swallow, calm,
clean waters. No big waves, no foggy waters

I can see some movement in front of me. Another turtle! This time four
swimmers are swimming behind her, trying to catch up with her,
making a lot of noise. The turtle seems anxious, she is taking sharp
turns, lot of breaths. She certainly does not feel comfortable.
Everybody should know that in that case she should be left alone.
I don't like when people are behaving like that. Sometimes they
touch or even grab the turtles who is trying to escape. They may
claim that nobody told them that they shouldn't do it.

But is common sense that grabbing a turtle not only makes her stressed and very
annoyed but it could also lead to egg abortion, if she is a nesting
female. But yes, if you come to Zakynthos you should definitely try
and see one. Not fit enough to snorkel? You can take one of the
turtle boat trips organised by local Zakynthian people. Just make
sure that the company you have chosen has agreed to the turtle
friendly code of conduct that restrict the number of boats per
turtle, limit the observation time and regulate the behaviour of the
boat drivers. They are some really bad drivers but there are some
really good ones that take care of the turtles, and even if it is
harder for them they are trying to spot their own turtle and they
don't follow another boat that is observing another one.

I will make one more effort to find one last turtle. Let's go near
Agios Sostis. Let's look for Sotiris! Sotiris is one of the resident
males of Zakynthos. He stays there all the time and he is like a
maskot. He likes to hung around near Agios Sostis being lazy. On the
way I find Dimitris, another Archelon volunteer who he is looking
for Sotiris as well. We swim together. After 15-20 minutes he is
calls me. He found him!

After seeing him every year for 5 years, I recognise Sotiris at the
first glance. He is swimming calmly and he is going towards some
rocks. He is going for a snack. It is an amazing experience to see
Sotiris eating! The best smorkeling ever! No more comments!

Kostas Papafitsoros