by Fiona Clements

Created on: March 06, 2009   Last Updated: March 29, 2009

Saving the life of just one turtle means you have potentially assisted in the birth of many other turtles assuming she is female.

This is the true story of one turtle's near death experience.

While working as a cook on a diving boat on the Red Sea in 1984, I had many experiences which I never expect to repeat again, ever. One of these, and I surprised myself here, was saving the life of a turtle. The night before had been quite stormy. The waves had tossed the boat around in the water and the feeling was similar to being on a fair-ground ride. You held on to whatever was available and waited. During this, I was stationed in the galley (kitchen to the uninitiated). There were five guests on board for a week and five crew. One of the guests, a large man came in and demanded a sandwich, toasted. Toasted! Didn't he notice the storm I wondered. Dutifully I lit the gas and made him a cheese toasty. I couldn't help noticing that some of the others were heaving over the side.

The next morning, things were calm again. It was early and I went out on deck to take in the view which was beautiful. The skipper and one of the crew-divers suddenly appeared out from under the water and came on board. With them was a large object. Being snap-happy as I was in those days, I asked them to pose for a photo. They obliged and proudly held up, by its back foot, a large green turtle. It took a while for me to register this as it was the last thing I was expecting. Then I said casually as I could: "What are you doing with the turtle?"

The Skipper grinned: "We are going to teach you how to make turtle soup." Now wait a minute. I knew I was a cook but I had my limitations. Strong emotion welled up inside me. "Oh no, you are not. Put that turtle back in the sea right now!" I heard myself sounding like an adult! I had never had to muster up this kind of courage before. I had no idea how they would react. To my astonishment, with disappointed expressions and a defeated look about them Danny took the turtle and threw it back into the sea. I sighed with relief and watched as my turtle swam off into the distance. I can say that it was up there with one of the best feelings I have ever experienced.

That evening the Skipper called me up onto the top deck. He was pulling in a large fish which turned out to be a tuna. This man was determined! He said: "Could you give me a hand here." I found myself helping to lift the largest fish I had ever seen. We carried it to the hull where I left him to it. I had enough high emotion for one day. I wasn't about to watch my dinner being killed. Even if I was going to have to cook the meal, at least it wasn't turtle soup.

Every so often when I need to give myself a lift I think back to my turtle, Danny and the Skipper. They could have argued with me and insisted we go ahead with the soup. But they didn't and I respect and admire them for that. These were seasoned hunters, but inside they had a soft centre, which lives on in my heart. It was really between the three of us that Lucky The Turtle swam free that morning.

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