George Loch
Mayor of Turtle Town
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The story behind the photograph
Several years ago, we had a dream trip to Maui. It was the first time we had been to tropical waters. It was the first time we had gone diving. There were so many beautiful experiences in this place. But one of our greatest hopes was to see a sea turtle. It seemed like it wouldn’t be that hard, but we were there for days without seeing one in the water.
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We snorkeled all over and saw some sleeping on a beach or off in the distance, but we wanted to see one up close. So we thought, what better place to go than to go to “Turtle Town”. This is the unofficial name of a stretch of the Maui coastline that is often frequented by the turtle kind. We went anticipating a turtle freeway of activity but, alas, we didn’t see any as we snorkeled back and forth around the coral. After an hour or so, we were about ready to pack it in when we heard a ‘squeak’ under the water. That sound came from my wife, who spotted a shape in the distance coming towards us.
Keep in mind that Maui has laws regarding contact with sea life, and turtles are no exception. We tried to keep a distance from this little fella, but he kept swimming right towards us and then followed us around for a bit. At one point, he got so close to me that he nose-bonked my snorkel mask. We decided that he was so eager to befriend us that he must be the Mayor of Turtle Town.