A few years ago I had a belief that I had to travel to a place like Hawaii to have the experience I had yesterday, twenty minutes from my home. The week after we flew back here from Oahu, where we swam with dolphins in the open ocean and had many encounters with sea turtles on each part of the island, the water temperature in San Diego was warmer than in Hawaii, approaching 80 degrees Fahrenheit. In that week I saw someone post a photo of their encounter with a sea turtle in La Jolla. I couldn’t believe it, but the surroundings in the shot sure looked authentic. Browsing their feed I saw that they also scuba dive so I chalked it up to them being in locations on the sea floor I’ll never see.

Then, yesterday happened. The Z-man and I ventured out on the SUP to crystal clear, super warm water in La Jolla. There were leopard sharks everywhere, dolphins doing front flips alongside Z as he did them off the paddleboard, and sea lions cruising between us and the beach. As we explored the reef area, we hit the lottery. There, feeding on kelp was this beautiful sea turtle. It was super chill around us and we swam with it for twenty five minutes. What an amazing and peaceful experience and sweet memory for Z as he grows up. This all further plants the knowledge in his and my head that maybe we don’t have to fly far from home, we just need to get out and look more often.

📷 Shot with #GoProHero9

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