It just floated there, a turtle huddled in the black corner of the wrecked ship's bow. Its head, melon-sized and scaled, was about all I could see, as it dipped in and out of the torch beam. My partner and I were in Barbados in 2023 on a holiday we could barely afford but had booked through a veil of grief, after the death of my mother-in-law eight months before...
I had never considered that turtles this big existed. As it shifted in the shadows, its true, colossal size was revealed it was about 1.5 metres (5ft) in length, and 1 metre across. A veritable monster, trapped in a wreck at the bottom of the ocean. All my training deserted me, and I screamed a mixture of fear and awe into my oxygen regulator. The creature pivoted, moving towards us...
Finally, the beast burst out to join us. It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. The turtle and I, now chest to chest, ascended together. I experienced pure euphoria, with all the confusion, awe and fear that entails. We entered into a kind of odd aqua waltz between man and beast. Time appeared to have stopped...
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