We’re in Little Farmer’s Cay and people have told us that we could swim with turtles here. So we finally did it. We went in, just past the government dock and tied our dinghy up to Captain Conch’s dock.

We met Deno Darville. He’s super friendly. He’s the man that feeds the turtles and stingrays. And he says he’s been feeding this huge porcupine fish called Stewie since he was a baby puffer.

We got our snorkel gear and fins on. And we all got into the water together. First I saw a stingray. Then I realized he didn’t have a tail. Only one stingray that I saw that day had a tail, and I avoided him.

Then we saw three green turtles. I liked the biggest one best. He kept coming up to my face, then turning off. I touch his shell. It feels hard like a solid rock. I grabbed his shell on both sides and held on. But when he started to speed up, I let go. I don’t think he liked it. There was another turtle. He was feisty and has two remoras under him.

We saw the big puffer fish named Stewie. He was awesome. He was so cute with his big eyes. He stared right into my soul in a good way. And he always had a big smile. He looked like a puppy for some reason. The way his tail fin wagged… it seemed like he was wagging his tail like a dog. He was very cool.

Then we swam under the dock. Deno was going to show us an octopus, but he wasn’t home. There were some sergeant majors, small snappers and lots of cracked out conch shells under the dock.

I had a lot of fun with Stewie, the stingrays and the turtles. It was the closest I’ve ever come to these three species.