Baby Green Sea Turtles can come to weigh up to 500 pounds and will not reach sexual maturity until an average of 25 years. At the time of nesting, it is believed they return to the same exact beach where they were born. Florida contains the second largest breeding population of Green Sea Turtles in the United States.  

  A visit to the Marine Life Center of Juno Beach offered us a close encounter with beautiful baby sea turtles such as the Loggerhead Sea Turtle and the Green Sea Turtle.  

  One of the many pleasures we often take part in is the release of baby sea turtles thanks to our good friends at Jim Abernethy's Scuba Adventures. Here I had just released a baby Loggerhead sea turtle into the gulf stream near a patch of Sargassum sea weed.  

  One of the neat features of diving Palm Beach, Florida is the abundance of sea turtles we normally encounter. Since many of them are accustomed to divers and their noisy bubbles, you can usually approach them for an encounter of the turtle kind.  

  This Hawksbill sea turtle was feeding of a variety of sponges as I observed and photographed him. It is amazing to wonder how these animals can survive on their very odd diet consisting mainly of sponges and jellyfish.  

  The resident Hawkbill Turtle on the USCGC Duane shipwreck swam down to the crows nest while we were diving the deck of the wreck.  

  Hawksbill turtles are listed as an endangered species. Despite many years of protection, places such as Japan, Cuba and places along the Caribbean still kill many turtles for their shells (as an ornament), their meat and their eggs. Many still die due to wreckless boating practice and fishing line. In fact, the Duane has an enormous amount of fishing tackle wrapped around it, which could easily snag this friendly turtle and easily drown it (turtles are air breathers).  

  Completely unaffraid of scuba divers, this friendly little Hawksbill Turtle began to swim up to me putting his flipper against the lens of my underwater camera.  

  Hawksbill turtles can be distinguished from other sea turtles by such characteristics as two claws on each flipper and a beak like that of a Hawk. They can reach a length of up to 3 feet and swim as fast as 15mph.  

  As I swam backwards down to the deck of the Duane, the friendly Hawksbill turtle followed closely. This was one of those rare encounters with a wild animal that I will always remember.  

  Hawksbill sea turtles are thought to feed mainly on sponges. They have the longest nesting season of all sea turtles lasting over 6 months. Nesting on sandy beaches, Hawksbills lay about 140 eggs that take about 60 days to hatch. The sex of the baby sea turtle is determined by the temperature of the sand.  

  Amazingly, this Hawksbill sea turtle followed me at arms distance from the crows nest of the ship wreck (seen in the background) to the bridge where it layed down to rest among the yellow cup corals.  

  Finally coming to rest among the beautiful yellow cup corals on the Duane ship wreck, this was my cue that the turtle wanted a little time alone so I kindly obliged. Hopefully the Rock Beauty and Hogfish left the little sea turtle alone too.  

  This tiny baby green sea turtle was one of a handful released during one of my trips with Jim Abernethy's Scuba Adventure  

  The photographic Gods were definitely with me this day when we released a handful of baby sea turtles into the ocean and I was able to capture this wonderful little pose with my underwater camera. Photographing baby green sea turtles is quite difficult because these tiny turtles can swim quite fast.

Every year a variety of sea turtles nest on the beaches in West Palm Beach, Florida. Approximately two months later the tiny baby sea turtles break out of their eggs, crawl out of their sandy nest and make a dash for the ocean. It is believed they swim for over 48 hours nonstop before reaching floating rafts of sargassum seaweed in the Gulf Stream. Unfortunately, many baby sea turtles do not survive to adulthood because of predation and human-caused dangers.