Is there such a thing as being lucky? I’ve heard from seasoned boaties that every now and then a sea turtle, normally a tropical creature, finds its way down to the southern coastline of Australia.

I’ve listened to these stories over all my diving years with a grain of salt and a handful of scepticism; content to imagine, maybe, but something I never expected to see.

Today, out on a local Adelaide waters dive site in about 20m of water, Andy and I rounded the stern of the wreck and there he or she was. In my 30 years of diving in South Australia, including hundreds of wreck dives, the last thing I ever expected to see was a hawksbill sea turtle.

Was this really our lucky day, year or decade? or just a happy coincidence of time, effort and persistence?

I feel so privileged to have seen a sea turtle while diving in South Australia – an experience I will never forget.