One day last spring we decided to dive on Molasses Reef in the Florida Keys. It was a blustery day and the currents beneath the surface were strong. Nevertheless, we made our way from the stern of Blue Pearl to the anchor line and descended to about 60 feet to check out the wonders below. Don was off photographing some fish among the corals when all of the sudden an ENORMOUS loggerhead turtle came up to Denise for a visit! With Don’s back to the scene she was able to photograph this beautiful animal with her GoPro. What is particularly special about this visit was the fact that this loggerhead is an adult male (see if you can tell – LOL) and was obviously (!!) out looking for some female companionship.
Loggerheads are an endangered species, and seeing a full grown adult which may weigh between 300 to 450 lbs, is an especially rare event in the Keys.
In 2012 Scientific American published an interesting article related to what we saw here. If you would like to read more the link is here:
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/tetrapod-zoology/terrifying-sex-organs-of-male-turtles/#.
