Harvey

Yesterday, while we were loading up the boat for a dive, I noticed a small Hawksbill Turtle floating on the surface at the dock. It looked to be in very poor condition, sick or injured, because it wasn't moving much. It barely responded when we scooped it up for a closer look. It was definitely weak, but alive, and it had injury on it head. We decided to call the local turtle researchers, who we thought might be able to help.

Harvey the Hawksbill

He arrived in minutes and was really excited when he saw what we had found. Apparently turtles in this "size class" (about 10 or 12cm) are extremely rare. In fact, he'd never seen one before. You can find an occasional hatchling (which are considerably smaller than ours) and young turtles (which are around 20cm and up), but turtles of this size are usually out in the deep open ocean.

There's no saying how this little turtle ended up here and in the condition its in, but we've had a couple days of rough weather and it might have drifted in during that. The researchers are going to try to help nurse our little turtle back to health and treat its wounds before releasing it. In the meantime, I plan to suggest naming it Harvey.