We don't see these guys everyday.

[campbellc0321]

Pretty cool and not to shy. 1 mile off Oceanside.

[Bill McIntyre]

Neat! I love to see them.

[Travis Jones]

I swam with one at Catalina once. Coolest thing to see. They just bumble through.

[5869]

Wow! That is the coolest. I can't think of anything I'd rather run into other than a mermaid.

[yakfisher]

One swam past me in La Paz last month. I was about 35 feet down retrieving my flasher and I saw something big out of the corner of my eye. I thought I was going to shoot dinner but it was a big turtle. He was about 20 feet below me and cruising along. It was beautiful to see blue abyss in every direction with this lone large turtle peacefully moving along.

[NPRelentless]

Thats cool. I have only seen one in california.
About 10 years ago I just barely missed one with the boat all the way up here in Goleta. This one was about a mile offshore as well.

[cdog3]

That is really cool!

[Tom Hall]

Did you see that this year?

[ApneaAddict]

We saw one out at San Clemente over memorial day weekend. The girlfriend was out with us for only the second time ever and said "Hey look, a sea turtle!" I responded "Its probably not a sea tur.... hey it is a sea turtle!" Haha. She still gives me grief about it :p.

[deuce]

thats awesome, It just sucks that most of them get hit bye boats. 10 years ago we used to see them at Catalina around 4th of july cove.

[ApneaAddict]

thats awesome, It just sucks that most of them get hit bye boats. 10 years ago we used to see them at Catalina around 4th of july cove.

I saw one while diving near Cherry Cove years ago. I don't think that the reason we don't see many is due to boat collisions, I think its more that this is the Northern-most edge of their range and not many venture this far north... I could be wrong, but that's my hunch.

[Bob Ballew]

neat photo...swam with one at SCI once and saw a giant one some years back, with a 6 to 7' shell off San Pedro a mile or so out..

[32Juan]

I had the pleasure of diving with one a few years back out of shark harbor. It was a great dive, shot a 4 lb calico, a nice bonito, and a 12 lb YT. Swam with it for a few minutes then it darted off. One of my best dives to date :)

[Smudge]

Man I've gotten spoiled in Hawaii! I think I saw over a dozen yesterday! Had one come check me out while I was busy missing another shot at a fish...

[Bill McIntyre]

Man I've gotten spoiled in Hawaii! I think I saw over a dozen yesterday! Had one come check me out while I was busy missing another shot at a fish...

Shows to go how everything is relative. I used to see them all the time when I was stationed in Hawaii. It was just normal. I used to see them all the time when I was stationed in NC. When I took my kids to Key West, I dove down and grabbed one to show to them. (That was probably illegal in the mid-70s, but I didn't know no better.) But when I see them here, its a big deal.

Same with dorado (mahi). I came here straight from NC, where a lot of people, including the charter boat captains, considered them something of a nuisance. I used to stay a hundred yards away from Sargasso weed lines on some days to keep them from hitting my marlin lures and wasting my time. But in SoCal, we are on the northern edge of their range, and everyone thinks they are a big deal. I've bought into that to some extent, but not enough to waste a bunch of gas running around looking for them under paddies.

That frustrates my dive buddies some times. I'm willing to stop and look for dorado under paddies on the way to an island, but I'm not willing to go much out of my way.

[campbellc0321]

This is the second one i've seen here in 20 years offshore. The first one was 3 years ago in the carlsbad canyon shark fishing and it was about 5 times bigger.
Leatherback I think. Looked at a few books and it says their range is from Baja to BC. The one we saw on Sat. did not look like a Leatherback but I could be totally wrong. And like Cater said, I was just sitting around and my girlfriend said look a turtle I was like nah!

[surfsk8boy]

Thats just about as cool as it gets. I would love to swim with one of those little tykes. What kind of turtle would that be?

[Steve Fletcher]

I took two girls snorkeling in at LJ Shores last October and we saw one. It just swam with us for a few minutes. Awesome experience!:thumps:

[have2fish]

I got to dive with a bunch when I was in Maui 5 years ago..... super cool and chillaxed honu's.....

Whenever I hear about divers seeing them or see them, I think of these guys....:

YouTube- Finding Nemo - Fin, Noggin', Duuude!

totally aaaaaawesome dude!!!!

You sooooo totally rock, Squirt! Fin, Noggin.... Duuuuuude!

Marco Farrell
Santa Barbara

[campbellc0321]

Old thread. But I found another one.

http://youtu.be/uJt88q9cgD0

[filletofish]

When did you find this guy?.. recently local? And hot damn that water looks nice

[campbellc0321]

When did you find this guy?.. recently local? And hot damn that water looks nice

A little over a month ago. A little north of Oceanside.

[Bill McIntyre]

That turtle sure wasn't spooky. I thought it was going to puncture your inflatable.

[Brandiego]

Last time I dove out there I was buzzed by a 7 foot mako. I'd rather get buzzed by a turtle.

[baja haha]

Speared two turtles, caught one, dove with two turtles

Speared two turtles in Mexico. One on mainland, one in Baja. Used Cressi point, BS long gun, both gave me a ride and tussle. Gave to locals in trade for a meal.

Caught one by hand in Vera Cruz. Dropped a Sampson camera to catch and control it to surface, recovered the camera. Gave turtle to locals.

On two separate occasions in 1965 dove with turtles off Laguna; Woods cove and Cress street.

Also in 1965 Al Carpenter, LA Co UW instructor, captured 120 pound turtle at Catalina. Gave to Marineland of the Pacific. The donation ade local news; Pacific Underwater news, local newspapers & TV--It was a very news worthy event

A few years later MPA came in to effect --No more turtle spearing or grabbing, but they are still around

SDM

[campbellc0321]

That turtle sure wasn't spooky. I thought it was going to puncture your inflatable.

I saw it from a pretty good distance away. Check the current to see which direction it was heading then got into position slowly, then drifted right up on him. Gave him a little spook but he seemed not to mind very much.

[Bill McIntyre]

Speared two turtles, caught one, dove with two turtles



Killed two turtles when I lived in Hawaii in the early 60s, dove with hundreds of them. I grabbed the two I killed- it really wasn't necessary to spear the poor things.

Frankly, the main reason for taking them was to get a shell to display. I screwed up the first shell and didn't do a very good job cooking the meat either, so I grabbed one more. As I recall, I still didn't do a very good job cooking the second one, but at least I preserved the shell well. Its almost 50 years old.

Its still hanging in my garage. For decades it always had a place on a wall inside the house, but my wife finally banished it to the garage.

I'm older and more enlightened now, and would never take another one. I'm sorry I took the ones that I did.

[JDC 92]

Shows to go how everything is relative. I used to see them all the time when I was stationed in Hawaii. It was just normal. I used to see them all the time when I was stationed in NC. When I took my kids to Key West, I dove down and grabbed one to show to them. (That was probably illegal in the mid-70s, but I didn't know no better.) But when I see them here, its a big deal.

Same with dorado (mahi). I came here straight from NC, where a lot of people, including the charter boat captains, considered them something of a nuisance. I used to stay a hundred yards away from Sargasso weed lines on some days to keep them from hitting my marlin lures and wasting my time. But in SoCal, we are on the northern edge of their range, and everyone thinks they are a big deal. I've bought into that to some extent, but not enough to waste a bunch of gas running around looking for them under paddies.

That frustrates my dive buddies some times. I'm willing to stop and look for dorado under paddies on the way to an island, but I'm not willing to go much out of my way.

totally know whatcha mean bill, sea turtles are pretty durn common here and dolphin(mahi) are practically a nuisance to anyone who spends a lot of time offshore. my buddy was drum fishin in the pamlico a few years ago and accidentally caught a sea turtle...also know a long liner that sees tigers kill turtles all the time. im sure its pretty cool for yall to see those big fellas though, i was amazed the first time i saw one

[thedodd87]

Thats rad I saw one this year in the kelp at Crystal cove

http://youtu.be/l6Zfna4RNgo

[campbellc0321]

[QUOTE=thedodd87;1577197]Thats rad I saw one this year in the kelp at Crystal cove

Nice video, great breath hold.

[Bill McIntyre]

Hm, that guy didn't look like he was doing so hot. Floating that high in the water and apparently unable to submerge? I would guess that were seeing one of that turtle's final days. :(

I had the same thought about his floating so high. I don't think I've seen one like that.

[Scott Diego]

I literally just talked with someone at Sea World about the local sea turtles we sometimes see (all are Green Sea Turtles). She commented that since sea turtles are cold blooded, a turtle that has found its way to colder than normal water (i.e. San Diego) will often be high on the surface and will not be able to get under the water. Sea World will literally take them out of the water, warm them up, then put them back so they can submerge again.

Also, the 'turtle rescue' exhibit at Sea World was pretty cool. Little did I know that almost all of the Green Sea Turtles in the tanks were inherited when they bought the park in 1964! (apparently, the upward limit of age is 80-100 yrs)