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Sea turtle spotted in Falasarna

Sea turtle Caretta caretta in Falasarna

This morning we went to Falasarna beach for a swim.

It was a beautiful day, with crisp air and clear water. The sun was out. A breeze was blowing.

I put my wetsuit on and swam North along the coast. After about 15 minutes, I turned back and swam towards the surface flat rock lapped by the waves, where I had a sea rendez-vous with Fiona.

I swam around the rock and then stood on it. I saw Fiona coming from shore, so I swam to meet her. We met and we proceeded to swim again towards the rock, our focal point. After a few strokes, I heard her call: Look!

She spotted a sea turtle on the bottom, some 6-8m deep. The turtle, a Caretta caretta, was not moving. It looked like she was sleeping, head tucked in between some rocks. I took the camera from Fiona and dove to take some shots, but I couldn’t really get deep with all the buoyancy from the full wetsuit. It looked like the turtle had a big tail curled under her body, which would make her a he. A good size animal, probably and adult. We left him there to rest and swam back towards shore.

We enjoyed the bright clear water on the way back, and even basked in the full sun once we got out.

  • Winter Swimming in Falasarna
  • Falasarna Beach
  • Caretta caretta Sea turtle in Falasarna bay
Total distance: 1.45 km
Average speed: 2.97 km/h
Total time: 00:35:46
Download file: Swim-Falasarna-Wetsuit-Turtle-Short18022020.gpx
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Turtle swim!

This is my first real swim after my chest infection was almost gone. I took it very easy, and still found it hard to breathe. With Fiona.

On the way back we saw a female turtle, and followed it for a little while doing breast stroke.

Total distance: 1.66 km
Average speed: 2.78 km/h
Total time: 00:41:48
Download file: Swim-Kissamos-Convalescent-Short040618.gpx