In A Sea Turtle's Face...

    Today, I was working on a photo shoot for an upcoming catalog... I happened to lay down on a deep wreck next to a couple of turtles as a sub approached. One turtle was fast asleep and another one seemed calm, but intensely interested in me so I got up close with it. Then it tried to bite my nose. Almost got it too, but I moved back quickly enough that it's jaws snapped shut on nothing but water.


    A few seconds before the bite attempt:


    So how strong are those buggers' mouths? Would I have lost a nose? I think it just wanted to taste my mask as it did not seem to be behaving aggressively and remained calm/interested in me for the next couple of dives I made to check it out some more. I even took a video clip in case it tried to bite again, but we only ended up in a staring contest. It no longer wanted to bite or taste my mask again...
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTKsb7VQGB4&hd=1



    Here are some of the other photos I got...






    -Paul

    Cool clip Paul, I watched it 5 times, I especially like the still image of you side by side with the turtle.
    Thanks for sharing mate.


    Mahalo, Don

    "Great mother ocean brought forth all life, it is my eternal home'' Don Berry from Blue Water Hunters.


    Spearfishing Store the freediving and spearfishing equipment specialists.

    wonderful photos Paul. I love turtles. I hope we can save them from extinction ( all species are on the endangered list).

    Very cool video no doubt about that. But i think it's a little too reckless. Be careful.


    It was reminding me of that video where the guy lost his thumb feeding moray. It was very cool until he lost his thumb. Just remember that these are wild unpredictable creatures, and you are risking serious permanent damage by doing this. A turtle can crush a conch shell like nothing.

    Nice video, thanks for sharing. I think if you shave the goatee, you guys are mirror images :D.


    I felt a bit of anxiety watching the video too although instead of thinking of the moray incident, I thought about Steve Irwin. Be safe dude.

    Quote from O2 deprived

    wonderful photos Paul. I love turtles. I hope we can save them from extinction ( all species are on the endangered list).


    In Hawaii they are apparently just "threatened" but they do enjoy the same protection status.



    Quote from attan

    the last pic with the turtle besides you is epic....thats the technisub micromask right?


    Yep. Been using the micromask for a couple or so of years now ever since they came out. Best mask ever for me. Love it.



    I stay the hell away from eels. I no longer carry a spoon (my flasher) tucked part-way into my gloves anymore after realizing that my hand might look like a tasty octopus, and coupled with a shiny flash, could entice an eel into taking a bite.


    -Paul

    those shots are amazing paul...i would just echo the concern that others have raised...even an exploratory bite could have cost you a lot of your nose....and that kind of trauma at depth could make it very difficult to safely surface.



    thank you for sharing the beautiful images with us....we just want you to be around longer to keep 'em coming.



    I love the sub shot....so cool

    i like to spear fish

    I was LOL at the captions :thumbsup2: nice work Paul and thanks for the laugh. I'm no expert on sea turtles but after reading what you said happened it looked to me like he was poised to snap again. Maybe it had something to do with seeing his own reflection in the mask.

    Quote from Paul

    I stay the hell away from eels. I no longer carry a spoon (my flasher) tucked part-way into my gloves anymore after realizing that my hand might look like a tasty octopus, and coupled with a shiny flash, could entice an eel into taking a bite.


    -Paul


    Great idea, I know a very good chick diver in Bora that lost part of her hand 20 years ago to a huge ''friendly Snowflake''
    she was feeding for the carmera .


    Cheers, Don

    "Great mother ocean brought forth all life, it is my eternal home'' Don Berry from Blue Water Hunters.


    Spearfishing Store the freediving and spearfishing equipment specialists.

    Well I just showed it to my GF , She loved it but now she wants a sea turtle tat swimming around her ankle.:D


    Cheers, Don

    "Great mother ocean brought forth all life, it is my eternal home'' Don Berry from Blue Water Hunters.


    Spearfishing Store the freediving and spearfishing equipment specialists.

    The visor on my hood can help with contrast when peeking into dark holes from the outside. I pull it down all the way so that a bit of it hangs over the mask and it helps minimize the light that hits my mask lens. Yes, it's a surfing suit. 3/4mm one-piece 2011 Xcel Infiniti Drylock. I'm given the choice of various dive and surf suits to use at no cost and this is far by my favorite. It's so good I'd buy one if I couldn't get it for free. If you want to know more, somebody asked me about it a few days ago on Hawaii Skin Diver and there's a thread about it now at: http://www.hawaiiskindiver.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=11903


    I hope linking to HSD was OK - if not, let me know and I'll remove and try copying/pasting and quoting the relevant info here.


    -Paul

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