The Sea Turtle -1976

My dad was a spear-fisherman and would go diving as much as his time would allow. Granted having a family cut into that time, but he would be gone for hours on the weekend. Sometimes diving for as long as 8 hours. He would come back with Yellowtail, Calico Bass, Halibut and Abalone. As a kid, I hated seafood. I wanted a McDonalds burger like all my buddies...I was so dumb. During my time growing up, he would share many stories with me and they became treasures that I now share with my kids since he is not here to tell them himself.

Anyway, One day he comes home from diving one day and we come running out to see what kind of stuff he had caught and we see something moving under a towel. He always had beat to shit cars. They had fish gut stains in the trunk and always smelled like bad feet. So in the trunk of his stinky VW bug is a sea turtle flopping around around. He takes it out of the trunk and puts it on the grass to wash off. We were tripping! No way, we got a turtle! I thought I had the sickest new pet and would be the envy of all my classmates! Neighbors came out, me and my brother were riding the poor creature like a mini horse. That poor creature...

One poor turtle wasnt so lucky

Our euphoria was soon blown up by one simple question. My mom asked "What are you going to do with that turtle?" Duh mom...we had a new pet I thought to myself. How did she not know that. I would name him sparky and take him to school and maybe we could buy a little pool for him so he wouldn't miss the ocean? Ah... the dreams of children are so simple.

But instead of any of those sweet sentiments my dad responded with a "Were eating it for dinner". What did he say... Eat it? Holy shit. My brother and I started crying...well I did anyway. We didnt want this new pet to be cooking in our house. For one, gross...but for two, it wasnt like the fish he brought home, this little guy was taking deep breathes and had big beautiful eyes. It was just felt wrong. We pleaded with our mom, begged our dad and sobbed like little babies for the freedom of the turtle.

Finally, my dad, who was known for his extensive vocabulary of foul language, short fuse and tough demeanor said "Goddammit!! If Sea World isnt here in 30 minutes the turtle is dinner... thats it"! He was so pissed. I believe the words Bullshit and sonofabitch were in there somewhere as well.

La Jolla Cove 1960

I was scared for the turtle so bad. My mom called Sea World and they came out with the nets and wrangled the turtle and put it in the back of their truck. We were so happy but my dad was inconsolable. Years later he told me how you have to shoot a turtle in the flipper instead of the head. If you shoot it in the head, they sink. Some 150lb turtle sinking sucks but if you shoot it in the flipper, you can steer it and swim it up. He said that Sea Turtles have these crazy organs and that the meats all taste different and they have a weird gelatinous texture. Sounds so disgusting to me but if it crawled, swam or flew, my old man was down to eat it.

Baby Sea Turtles on Tavarua. Watching them hatch was amazing!

I have no idea if it was legal but personally I think it sucks. My dad was from a different time though. Those first spear divers from the 40's and 50's were hunters and they shot and ate everything in the sea. To them im sure it was acceptable. Ive since got to surf with Sea Turtles in the water and watch them lay their eggs. One time I was lucky enough to see a nest hatch in Fiji. It was amazing. My love for sea turtles started for sure during my experience with my dads turtle.

Dad with huge yellow tail and shitty VW bug

It ended up at Sea World. We would go to there and check up on him from time to time. Back then, they had these cool entrances that looked like a South Pacific hut. When you went in you crossed a bridge over a small pond filled with sea turtles. These were rescued and rehabed sea turtles. we would stand there and look for our turtle, we knew we found him when we spotted the one with the hole in its flipper. For the first year or so it would still seep out a little blood trail as he swam. Eventually my parents divorced and we stopped visiting the turtle. Im not sure what happened to him but whatever it was, I'm sure it beat the hell out being served for dinner.