Biggest turtle I ever saw

[Tim Ingersoll]

I recently did a one tank dive in Playa de Carmen. I was only down there for a couple days and only had the opportunity to dive once due to time constraints. The dive site was called Tortuga and it was at the very southern end of the resort strip in Playa de Carmen. I was not impressed with the reef because there was none to speak of. Mainly sand dunes and sporadic small soft corals. The current was ripping. The depth was about 75 feet. I was just beginning to wonder what the hell I was doing wasting my time when the biggest turtle I have ever seen loomed up in front of me. He (or she) was on the bottom and not moving. A consenus on the dive boat after the dive was that the turtle was 6 feet in diameter. It blew me away. We saw five more turtles in the 45 minute dive but that one was by far the biggest I have ever seen. I really didn't think they grew that large.

 

[Spratman]

Ain't it great when that happens!? If you weren't down on the reef wasting a dive, you would have never seen the monster....

We had one like that on a night dive just off Cancun. It came in out of the grass and looked like a B-52 cruising over us. Simply amazing...

Glad you had a great experience!

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

My thoughts exactly. It all comes back to the fact that you won't see anything unless you make the dives!

 

[yak]

Yep, that's one great dive site. I've seen as many as 18 turtles on a dive there. Sometimes you'll also see a huge school of tarpon at the end of the reef.

 

[stortecky]

I think that is the reef that we dove when we went over to playa for a day. We saw over 20 turtles on that dive many were very large about 4 feet but non were that large. It is was just crazy to see that many in one dive.

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

I loved it and felt fortunate to see what I saw on the only dive I did there. A great memory in a small package. If you get the chance to dive jump on it - it may lead to one of the most memorable experiences you have ever had underwater.

 

[charlesml3]

:worthless:

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

It would have been hard to take pics in that current!

 

[Thalassamania]

What kind of turtle? Leatherback turtle? They can grow to about 10 feet.

 

[mexico984]

The dive in Playa Del Carmen, Tortuga, is one of the most popular dives due to the guaranteed turtle sitings. In the past 10 years since i have been diving here, there has never been a day on Tortuga when a turtle if not many turtles have been seen.

What is interesting about this reef is that it can be done at 60 feet, 75 feet and up to 90 feet so it can be done a few times on one trip and you see different things all the time, with turtles being the constant.

Right now, the Tarpons are in...these huge silver fish migrate into the area, specifically on tortuga reef, in the summer, and stay until winter kicks in. the schools get bigger as the weather warms and you can see up to 50 of these babies....it is an incredible site to see, turtles turtles everywhere and then wham...a huge school of tarpons.....man what a great summer dive.

Oddly enough, PDC has great summer diving, and the creatures that migrate in during these months make it a great place to be! Glad you had a great dive and hope you come back for some more...