by Lazaro Ruda

September 28th, 2003

The sun was setting as I drove south along the Florida Turnpike. Admiring the beautiful pastel-colored sky above, I watched as a flock of birds – just like the ones I saw earlier this morning during sunrise – fly high above me. Smiling at this strange coincidence, I realized the message that nature was once again trying to tell me.

It was earlier this morning at 5:30am when I loaded all my scuba and underwater digital photography gear onto my truck and headed north on a ninety minute expedition to Jim Abernethy’s Scuba Adventures in West Palm Beach. Along the way I enjoyed the peaceful and desolate road trip not often experienced in these busy metropolitan cities. All the while, all my senses absorbed the beauty of Florida’s wildlife.

Having the opportunity and pleasure of diving the previous day with Jimmy and a couple of my dive buddies in what could best be described as a fantastic Florida muck dive, Jimmy’s generous nature once again shined through. This time he had invited me to go on a special dive with him and a few other of his good friends. His description of the day’s diving was nothing more than what is a typical day out scuba diving with Jimmy.

Arriving at the dive shop at 7:30am, I checked into the office and then drove my truck towards the dock in order to unload my dive gear and my underwater digital camera. As I usually find him, Jimmy was surrounded by a group of divers who watched and listened in awe at Jimmy and the 40+ miniature divers who would be joining us on our scuba diving adventure – about thirty baby loggerhead sea turtles and ten green sea turtles. These baby loggerhead and green sea turtles would soon enough be released out in the Gulf Stream.

It wasn't long before I was onboard the boat with five other divers and Jimmy captaining the boat out through the glass-calm waters of Palm Beach. Along the way out to our first scuba diving destination I set up my gear and spent the rest of the trip taking part in the always enjoyable diver chitchat. With other underwater digital photographers and videographers onboard, the occasional techno babble was inevitable – always enjoyable and packed-full of useful information.

As the boat motored closer to our destination, out in the horizon a herd of fishing boats drew closer. By the time we reached our destination, it was obvious by the number of fishing boats and a couple of dive boats that this was a popular spot, and with reason, for this was the realm of giants – a dive spot known as Hole In The Wall.

Suited up and with my underwater digital camera in-hand, I took a giant stride into the water followed by three other divers and swam towards the ocean floor – 140 feet below the surface! As the reef below slowly materialized through the sapphire blue water, so did the giants we were all excited and hopeful of seeing.

As far as the eye can see, these enormous Goliath
Groupers hovered in midwater prepared to spawn
at any moment.

Like I’ve never seen them before, a huge aggregation of these Goliath Groupers hovered in midwater. These enormous fish, weighing between 100 and 600 lbs., swam near each other for one reason – spawning! We had come across a special place in this vast ocean expanse – the spawning grounds of giants. I hovered a couple of feet off the bottom and gazed out into the distance at the large school of these Goliath Groupers (one of the divers counted over thirty).

The rest of the divers soon continued to descend until all three disappeared into the reef. As I descended, I realized they had entered an enormous swim-through. With about 20 feet in width and stretching for about 30 feet long, this monstrous swim-through was the largest I had ever seen. As the other divers moved through it, even more Goliath Groupers swam out from inside. Carefully entering, the narrow beam of my underwater flash light illuminated a few other Goliath Groupers still inside.

While the rest of the group exited out the other end, I paused for a few seconds and turned around only to watch many of the Goliath Groupers return into the swim-through.

The dark silhouette of these Goliath Groupers
slowly blended with the darkness of the large swim-through.

I turned around and as stealthy as possible I approached the entrance of the swim-through to get a better view of these enormous fish. Reaching the outside of the swim-through, towards my right, a monstrous Goliath Grouper hovered in midwater while tightly encircled by a large school of swirling baitfish. It is believed these baitfish do this as a means of protection from being preyed upon by predators such as jacks – one of the food sources of the Goliath Groupers.

Out of bottom time, the slow ascent back to the surface had my eyes glued on these marvelous creatures. It is believed that they return to this same spot once a year in order to spawn. I wondered how they can find their way to the same exact spot every year in such a vast ocean – only nature knows the answer.

On the slow ascent, at about 35 feet, my focus switched from afar to up close as a tiny speckle of what looked like debris suddenly bursted into life. Just slightly larger than the head of a pin, upon closer inspection this semi-translucent creature’s shape took form.

Even in its tiny size, the intricate details
of this animal is breathtaking.

After recently watching a wonderful film on plankton life, Ocean Drifters by National Geographic, its apparent shape and design appeared to very much coincide with the planktonic stage of a Mollusk – possibly a type of snail. These crustaceans actually develop wing-like appendages which they use to move through the water. The actual identification of this creature still remains unknown.

As I continued towards my safety stop at 15 feet, suddenly where I was only a few minutes ago in the realm of giants, I was now surrounded by some of the smallest but most prolific animals in the ocean. Although not giant in size, their abundance is enough to be the main dietary source of the world’s largest animal – the whales.

Hovering at my safety stop, different species of jellies and even what looked like a lobster or shrimp in its planktonic stage revealed themselves before me. The task at hand of photographing these extremely small creatures less than an inch away from my underwater digital camera while hovering motionless quickly became one of my toughest scuba diving feats to date. I pointed out these small creatures to my dive buddy, Doug Ebersole, who then used his underwater digital video equipment to capture these little miniature marvels in motion.

My fascination with these elaborately detailed creatures
continues to grow with every single encounter.

Back up on the boat, the excitement of the dive was apparent as all the divers shared in their experience. Jimmy’s face appeared like that of a young child who is captivated by a wonderful fairytale story as he listened to us describe our encounters with these real-life giants – both large and small.

The day was far from over with over 40+ miniature divers anxiously awaiting their turn. The captain drove the boat some distance from our previous dive location where we entered the water again – this time with only mask, fins and snorkel. Releasing only a few of the 1 – 2 inch long baby loggerhead turtles at first, I swam next to one of them while watching its clownish movements propel it through the water. Some of us also took advantage of the moment to photograph or video tape them as they began their life-long journey across the ocean’s of the world.

This tiny baby loggerhead turtle swims in the ocean
for the first time in its life.

Jimmy had insisted that we take out a few of the loggerhead turtles out first. These turtles are very photographer friendly as they moved at a pace that was easy for us to keep up. Having swum with Spotted Dolphins numerous times, I felt quite confident these little turtles could not possibly match the speed and endurance. Enter the sleek and beautiful baby green sea turtle. Only slightly larger than the loggerhead turtles, I carefully lowered the turtle into the water and FLASH!!! The baby green sea turtle took off faster than a race horse. My legs kicked as quickly as possible only to stay faltering behind. It was then very clear to me why Jimmy had insisted on photographing the loggerhead turtles instead. These little racing machines required me to exert as much effort to keep up with them as it did to swim with the Spotted Dolphins in the Bahamas.

I would not give up though. I huffed and puffed while occasionally gulping some salt water through my snorkel but my legs continued to kick. The whole time I enjoyed watching this little marvelous engineering feat of nature slice through the water at an amazing speed – much more gracefully than the underwater digital camera toting, clumsy human beside her. All the while I thought about how I could capture a photograph of this little baby green sea turtle. Then it occurred to me as she stopped for a gasp of air…

…as soon as her head went back underwater, off went the baby green sea turtle again like a flash. I tried feverishly to keep up and took advantage of those pauses for air to capture some photographs of this little wonder.

This sleek looking baby green sea turtle is capable
of some amazing speed.

After a couple of photographs and a couple of leg cramps, I slowed down and watched as the little turtle glided through the water out into the open ocean. Wishing the little turtle Godspeed, I hoped one day I would once again see this little green sea turtle return to these same waters to bring with her new life.

Exhausted, I began my swim back to the boat where I collapsed on the deck jokingly stating, “I tired that little green sea turtle out!” Everyone onboard laughed as it was quite apparent that it was actually the other way around. I had barely started to compose myself when Jimmy said he would release the rest of the baby turtles together – typical of Jimmy to exhaust you in such a wonderful way. Like swimming with Dolphins in the Bahamas, I shunted off all the warning messages my body and mind were sending me as to how tired I was and prepared for some more turtle fun. With all the snorkelers in the water, Jimmy carefully released the rest of the baby sea turtles.

Like a group of children scattering in every direction while playing Hide-And-Seek, the thirty or so baby turtles swam at warp speed in every direction. After a mild state of confusion, we all seemed to have settled on one baby turtle. I, in a state of self-destruction, once again chose to follow another baby green sea turtle. This time armed with a little extra knowledge that would make keeping up with the little turtle seem slightly easier.

With an elegance all its own, this beautiful green sea turtle will
hopefully survive to reach adulthood where it will continue its trait
as one of the most beautiful sea turtles in the ocean.

A couple of high-energy drinks and some of my favorite lemon cookies and I was once again back on the boat recouping my energy loses from the baby turtle release. On our way back to the Hole In The Wall, we prepared our equipment for one last dive at this magical place. Descending through the water onto the reef below, we traveled along the edge of the reef. Along the way a large loggerhead turtle appeared to be moon-walking on the ocean floor. We stopped at a small cave where a monstrous Goliath Grouper in the range of 600 lbs. resided. Reaching the large swim-through, a lot of the Goliath Groupers had gone but a few remained.

Coming out through the other end of the swim-through, I slowly began my ascent. With no more than 20 feet from the bottom I signaled to Doug to look down as a large shark slowly entered the cave where we had just exited. I thought how exciting it would have been to encounter this animal in the dark confines of this swim-through with only my small pen light to illuminate the way. Although I’m sure it would have startled me to some degree, knowing quite well that these animals are not the dangerous, man-eating creatures they are depicted out to be, there was a certain amount of adrenaline rush imagining the encounter. We watched as it slowly disappeared into the large swim-through with a large jack shadowing it. Had this jack known there were fish larger than this shark waiting inside, he would have high-tailed it out of there faster than those speeding baby green sea turtles.

Being face to face with these massive, powerful creatures
makes one realize that humans are definitely not
king of the beasts in the ocean.

The slow ascent found me, once again, enjoying the planktonic life drifting all around me. Like the plankton – the larvae stage of the giant Goliath Groupers, the baby turtles and even the flock of birds now flying above me on my return trip home – nature once again made her point clear to me. We are all drifting somewhere. To where exactly… Who knows? To quote Robert Frost, “Two roads diverge in the woods and I, I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” This direction in which we drift on the Earth – whether thought out long and hard or done so whimsically – defines our very existence. Thankfully, the decision of Jim Abernethy to invite me on this wonderful adventure and my willingness to brave through it (Tough work! LOL) made this day’s drift a memorable one. Spending time with some of my friends – both human and fish – offered me the distinct pleasure of sharing in yet another wonderful scuba adventure.

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See our baby sea turtle photo gallery here