An incredible journey..

just found this article via the national geographic blogs.. awesome story i have to say - but read & see yourself..



Lost Camera Travels 1,100 Miles With a Turtle's Help

We're big fans of our National Geographic Crittercams, and we always love to hear about a camera lost on vacation being returned to its owner. So naturally, when we heard that a little red camera that had been lost at sea took a remarkable journey on the back of a turtle, traveling 1,100 miles from Aruba to the Florida Keys, our interest was officially piqued.

The Daily Mail reports that Royal Dutch Navy sergeant Dick de Bruin lost his camera while diving off the coast of Aruba in November of last year. A curious sea turtle found the camera in January, and the yellow strap of the waterproof case became entangled around its flipper. The turtle ended up taking about five minutes of video footage as it attempted to untangle itself (which is noisy and a bit hard to watch, and, I couldn't help thinking, an excellent example of how important it is to keep our oceans clean). Over the next four months the camera made its way north to the Florida Keys, where it washed up on a rocky outcrop of a marina on May 16.

Paul Shultz from the U.S. Coast Guard found the camera, then used a series of CSI-worthy tactics to track down its owners, posting on message boards, tracking down the number from a tail of a plane, and using Google Earth to identify landmarks in the photos. He eventually posted photos of some of the people in the pictures, and a woman on a message board identified the children as some of her son's classmates. She made contact, and the camera was reunited with its owner.

Which serves as a reminder to all you travelers -- be sure to always take a picture of your name and email (or other contact info) on your digital camera, or put a sticker with your info on the case. You won't always have a turtle on hand to help get your camera back to you.