Sea Turtle

We're currently in La Cruz (just a hop, skip, jump north of Puerto Vallarta). We motored the entire way down from Chacala. There was NO wind and being less die-hard sailors than we are die-hard-to-get-to-our-next-stop we chose to motor the entire way atop the glassy, smooth, flat sea. That's when our fishing line went zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

What does an excited fisherman do when he realizes that what he has caught is a tremendous mistake? Turtle soup didn't even come to mind, I might add. Never had it; never will. What can you do other than cut the line? Well, let me tell you...

Tim suggested that we lower the dinghy that was raised at stern on the davits. Since it was so glassy smooth we decided that it was worth a try. So, Tim and I boarded the dinghy each with a pair of pliers. Jim stayed on deck with the rod and reeled the diving turtle up to the surface. She was a large turtle with a head the size of a melon. A Loggerhead, perhaps?

Having never wrestled a sea turtle before and not feeling inclined to do so now, Tim and I both just tried to keep our body parts out of her snapping jaws. Our Rapala had embedded itself in her thick, leathery back flipper. Trying to free her was not as easy as it looked. She kept turning her head towards us and when she couldn't reach our hands she began biting at the inflatable dinghy. Jim said to us, "You might just have to cut the line." But Tim and I were determined.

Finally, Tim wrenched the pliers upwards and the turtle's flipper was free! She glided on the surface momentarily and then slowly turned her huge melon head towards us to get another look. She took a deep, loud, long breath and then disappeared down below.

We didn't get pictures or video of the release mainly because we were all very upset about having snagged one of nature's most incredible and endangered species and we were more concerned about getting her completely free. When we saw more turtles bobbing at the surface further south we pulled in our fishing lines and called it quits. No point in reliving that experience even if ours did have a happy ending!