Imagine this: clear blue warm water.  Loads of fish, and a wreck or two to explore.  Sounds great, it is.  

We sailed a catamaran into Anguilla and tied off in a small bay waiting to go diving the next day.  Where we moored was near a small mini wall so we got out of the boat with our snorkels and explored the mini-wall.  There were a lot of fish, mostly sergeant majors, but some puffer fish and few grunts.   I was feeling lazy so I didn’t take the camera.  I figured I would wait until the next day to rig it and used it for the dives we would do the next day. 

In Anguilla they require that you use a local dive shop to lead the dives.  They say that it is required in order to make sure the divers don’t abuse the reef.  I suspect it is really more about keeping the local economy working.  

Nevertheless, we the following morning our dive guide arrived and we then went diving on the MV Commerce.   The Commerce had been sunk about 20 years before as a purposefully sunk ship.  It was a cargo ship before its sinking.  It was in relatively good shape for having been down as long as it had, but there were places where the hull had rusted away and there were many places where sponges and coral had grown over the hull.  As we were diving I noticed a turtle swimming over head and he appeared to be swimming to the bow of the wreck.  

I wasn’t quite sure where he went after he crested the top of the ship so I keep exploring the wreck slowly making my way towards the bow of the ship.  

After rounding the bow, I began swimming down the port side of the hull.  It was there I found the same turtle.  He looked like he was about the take a nap.  So as not to disturb him, I made sure that my approach was down below the top of the hull.  I estimated about how far down the hull I would have to swim and then I popped over the hull with my camera and took his picture.  

I got off only one picture before he swam away.  Sometimes it pays to be stealthy.