You're not supposed to chase sea turtles. But it's so hard to resist.

Cozumel is a nesting ground for two endangered species of sea turtles, loggerheads and green sea turtles, although leatherbacks and hawksbills are commonly sited by divers. We think the ones we saw were hawksbills. Sponges are the principal diet of hawksbills. We caught one casually (and quite audibly) munching on hard coral. The fish around him were having a ball picking at his leftovers.

We really enjoyed watching the turtles, and we also really enjoyed seeing octopus. When we saw one in Bonaire, we were completely thrilled. We saw a half dozen in Cozumel and loved it each time. The ones we saw were common Atlantic octopus. They frequently change their color and can raise bumps on their skin.

Imagine how we felt when a turtle swam right up next to the octopus we were photographing! This huge turtle just slowly swam into the frame as Chris was getting set to take another picture. It was the largest turtle we had ever seen, and he wasn't shy. It's like he wanted to see what was going on. (We're hoping to find a "world's luckiest amateur" photo contest to enter.) All this activity turned out to be too much for the octopus. He quickly slipped his way into the crevice.