Mr. Turtle

"On this day, I was freediving in Freeport, Grand Bahama, working on a new photo series with a Bahamian freediver to raise awareness about the damage caused by climate change to coral reefs. I needed to shoot the photos in the early morning to take advantage of the sunrise lighting, so we finished around 10 a.m. Since we had chartered a boat for the entire day, I asked the captain to take us to a dive spot with a small blue hole nearby. The blue hole was said to be only the size of a dinner table, but from my experience in the Bahamas, I knew that blue holes often attract a healthy population of stingrays and turtles. I jumped into the water at the designated spot but didn't see anything initially. I told the captain I would swim around to explore and asked him to follow me in the boat. The water was about 50 feet deep, and the visibility was excellent, enhanced by the bright midday sunlight. While searching for the blue hole, I stayed vigilant in case something interesting appeared. Sure enough, something did. Rising from the depths, a giant Loggerhead turtle, about 4 feet long with a head bigger than mine, swam toward me. The turtle came straight up to me at full speed. I turned to face it at the surface, holding down my shutter button to capture the sequence. However, the turtle never veered away. It came so close that I had to turn my lens away and gently push the turtle from its shell to avoid scratching or breaking my camera dome. The turtle then circled around me at the surface, watching closely and taking a few breaths before returning to the depths."