Sea turtles

A couple of times a month, the Sea Turtle Program folks will go out and try to catch a few in order to measure and weigh and tag them (then release them, of course) to learn more about the habits of these amazing creatures.  They called us one morning to see if we were available to come down and observe while they cataloged the six they had snatched that morning.

A. held this one, then released it back into the water.  They can reach up to 35mph speeds

They take "mug shots" of the turtles, and photos of their shells since each pattern is kind of what
a thumbprint is for humans: individual and unique

Okay, but here is one of the coolest things about how they go about doing this: the man on the right, who is holding that fatty in front of us, is Jesse.  Jesse's main contribution, and the entire reason that the Program here in the CNMI can do what it can do, is that he knows how to free-dive down and sneak up on the fellows, then grab them before they know he is there.  Barehanded, at dozens of feet of depth.  How cool is that?
They invited me to serve as a volunteer sometime.  Along with other duties, I will evidently get to swim along in the water with Jesse and watch underwater while he does his thing.  Yes, please!