Swimming with Sea Turtle at Turtle Point at Perhentian Kecil
I was already quite excited to be able to see a sea turtle in the wild. I was lazily floating on the surface of the sea just content to observing what the sea turtle was doing. The more able bodied tourists were able to dive up close to the turtle. All of a sudden our boatman was shouting “It’s coming up!” That meant that the turtle was surfacing to breathe. Sea turtles though they practially live their entire lives in the sea, are still reptiles, and they still need to surface to breathe, much like aquatic mammals do, like dolphin and whales. The announcement by the boatman triggered us to try to get closer to the turtle, this is especially good for those who were unable to diver deeper.
Sea Turtle Preparing to Surface at Turtle Point at Perhentian Kecil
The mad rush to get near the turtle seems to confuse the turtle a little, it was trying to find a place to surface when it would find out that there were stupid humans in the way. It was searching for a while until it finally decided to surface – almost right in front of me! The sea turtle surfaced for only a few seconds but I managed to get a good look at it. Our boatman was also able to get some fantastic shots of us as well. Our boatman was yelling at us not to touch the turtle, but that was probably not the only thing would should not have done. In hindsight, the mere act of chasing after the sea turtle has already altered its behavior. The stress of having to hold your breath while trying to find a breathing hole should be a lot. It won’t be surprising if the turtle were to try to find a quieter place to forage.
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