Blog Editor

Editing Post: 2026-01-12 Cancel

Title

Text

(pete here)
Just off Taiwan's coast lives an island where green sea turtles lay their eggs and frolic in the shallows. Despite it being January, we were told that one could snorkel year round. We initially had at least six takers, but when told that wetsuits were necessary, only Amy and I braved the slightly chilly waters. So we geared up and got on the back of mopeds to whiz to the shores, where we were slightly confused to not have swim fins. After much pantomiming, we understood we were to hang on to a small life buoy, which our guide would use to tow us around on the surface. What! Actually, there was so much coral and the sea so shallow, that this was not a bad thing. Our guide was very good about maneuvering us around the coral and towards the turtles. Once you get to the right place, the turtles basically surrounded us, seemingly unconcerned about big goofy humans swimming clumsily around them (I mean, we had no fins....). Our guide was very serious about getting us up close and trying to get us to make various hand signals, but we were more concerned with not inadvertently touching any.

All that being said, swimming with giant sea turtles in their environment is one of those memories that you know are not going to fade. The turtles were massive and graceful, beautiful and soulful. One of the craziest, most fun things we were able to do.

Mileage

Climbing (feet)

Latitude

Longitude

Visible