The Turtle Adventure

“Ready, Emma?” her older brother's voice echoed through her ears as he jumped off the side of the boat. She took a deep breath into her lungs before stepping out to join him in the water. The salty seawater stung against her raw, burnt skin. The plastic snorkel found its place between her teeth while her body clenched in reaction to the ice-cold water. Emma glanced down into the depths of the ocean, a deep blue hue radiated around her. Schools of snapper and kingfish swam past her as a hard fin smacked her crown, “ugh, James” she thought while looking up to get him back, but James was far gone.

Emma started kicking at a rapid pace as she ventured into the small cove where there was an amazing array of colourful fish. As she swam closer, she dove down to see a swarm of tiny fish, about the size of her pinky finger, hanging out at the roots of the leathery kelp which held onto the stone wall with all it had, preventing it from being tugged away with the tide. She swam further into the cove and watched as the highway of fish darted to and fro. 

“Emma, Emmmmmaaaa” James's long moan snapped her out of the moment, “Look over here!” he exclaimed as her eyes scanned along his outstretched arm. There it was, about the size of a football, intense greens and blues reflected of its hard-shelled armour. Emma couldn’t believe her eyes, she’d swum with dolphins, manta rays and sharks before but never a turtle. She took a deep breath in while lifting her legs to the surface, as she tipped her head under her body and kicked her legs up, her body slowly sunk towards the wise creature, she gently kicked using the force of her flippers to guide her body to the level of the turtles. 

She froze as her eyes locked with the turtle’s, taking in all of its beauty. Sea moss covered the turtle’s hard back indicating he had been a local of these waters for a long time. It slowly opened its mouth and swam forwards taking in a mouthful of green sea lettuce. Emma felt her chest tighten and she knew she was going to lose air soon, she tipped her head up towards the surface, allowing her body to float up, once above the surface she stuck out her tongue into the salty water and blew with all the air she had left to empty her snorkel. (New paragraph)

She quickly shoved her head back into the water, reassuring herself that she wasn't in a dream. She watched as James did the same, he had worked on his dives way more than she had, so his technique was on point. “DAD!” Emma shouted back to the boat, “COME OVER HERE, WE’VE FOUND A TURTLE!” James popped up beside her and watched the chaos on the boat as the rest of the family organised themselves to come and see the creature of awe. They both looked back down with smiles plastered on their faces as they soaked in the amazement of the grand creature.