Rescued a Sea turtle yesterday - must see pics!!

[MindyN]

Well my obsession with ocean life is finally paying off - I can actually say I made the world a better place yesterday! Pics are incredible!

Here's the short version -
We were fishing (sorry) in the Gulf of Mexico about 5 miles off shore.
We saw a loggerhead trapped in a crab pot line, he had been there for a few hours (we didn't know he was stuck the first time we rode by). My boyfriend's brother is the captain of a yacht down there and said that if the crabbers came to get the pot that night and he was still on there they would probably shoot him just to reclaim the pot. We didn't have a GPS or any way to give rescuers the exact location of him so we decided we had to do it ourselves.
We would get about 2 feet from him and he would dive away from the boat, so we would wait for him to resurface, try to grab the marker, miss it and him dive off again. This lasted about a half hour. It wasn't working, so I actually DOVE in after him trying to snag the line - I am a Turtle Hugger and nothing was going to stop me.

This is me diving in after him trying to snag the line - he was a better swimmer so it didn't work - but at least I can say I did my best there!
The bubble of water next to me is where he kicked up the water when he dove to get away from me diving at him!
(See pic below next thread)

We realized we were going to have to get the line with something else since he was still pretty fast.
We finally snagged the line with a grappling hook and pulled him back to the boat. You can see the line is caught around his arm pit, Tom is holder the marker in his hand.
(See next thread)

We were able to cut the rope half way through and had to lower him again because he was scared and fighting, he kept turning and trying to bite and that made it difficult to cut the rope and not hurt him in the process
(See next thread)
He looks like he's being hurt but he's not - I swear. We got a good grip again and cut the line free and he darted off.
Can you believe this is the one day in 7 when I left the video camera and diving mask at home?
Honestly the best day in my life so far! Hope you enjoyed the story!

[Ranran]

Outstanding job! A lot of people would of just kept on boating.

[MindyN]

Are my pics showing up? I'm having a hard time getting them to post.

Ok, I think I need help.

[dobejazz]

No pics for me

[irish02bk]

No pics

[ScruffyRubicon]

No pics.

It is really cool to see a turtle that large. Living in Missouri you just don't get to see something like that everyday. I was in Florida for just a few hours in 2003 and that was the highlight of my trip. The laggerhead was very graceful in the water.

[tashier]

Love to see pics. Try them again.

[MindyN]

How's this?

[tashier]

NICE WORK! Bet that guy was happy to be out of that!

[Reef-Keeper]

nice !! let me speak for the turtle ... "thank you"

it is great to see people who WANT to make a differance.

[bosscrab]

Good save! he's pretty big watch out for that beak,ouch.
)<((((">

[TheReefer12]

That is incredible. I am glad you guys stopped to help. I am sure the turtle is happy too.

[dobejazz]

Thanks for the pics Mindy Great save on the turtle

[Loverotties]

Great Job!

[reefermike1]

nice job mindy, its great u decided to go out of your way to help. and finally another michigander on here!!!!