Today, 9-25-09, I swam down to check out a coral head I have seen any number of turtles either resting under or using as a back scratching/ cleaning station. As I approached it from the north, I saw a hawksbill approach it from the south. This was a hawksbill that seemed to look familiar from the past but not one I have come to know by name or scale identification.

I decided to hang around for a while in hopes she would surface and allow me some better shots. Fortunately she didn't keep me waiting too long.

It didn't take me long to notice that she was sporting some shiny tags on her flippers. Unfortunately they are not easy to read and I could only hope that getting the camera close enough would allow me to make them out later on the computer. Fortunately that was the case in the zoom in of the above shot, posted below:

It appears she is known as 3-M in addition to what ever other name she has been given.

With the shots I got today, I was able to compare them to a photo a friend Bob took of a Hawksbill using the same coral head as a scratching post, 20 days ago and they are one and the same.