When a Florida family booked a beach photoshoot on Sanibel Island, they expected a peaceful evening of ocean breezes, soft sand, and sunset smiles.
They didn’t expect to share the spotlight with a massive, pregnant sea turtle.
On July 3, as the family waded into the surf for their first shot, something stirred in the water beside them.
“I was shocked at what I was seeing,” said photographer Brooke Benjamin, co-owner of B+A Coastal Photo & Video.
A large sea turtle’s head suddenly surfaced just a few feet away — and before anyone could react, the graceful creature bumped gently into one of the family members’ legs.
“He thought it was a rock at first,” Benjamin laughed.
But it wasn’t a rock at all. It was a mama loggerhead turtle, on a determined mission to reach the perfect nesting spot — which, by pure chance, was right next to where the family stood posing for photos.
Everyone quickly stepped back, giving her the space she needed.
“She was completely unfazed by us,” Benjamin said. “Once we moved behind her, she didn’t pay us any attention at all.”
In less than a minute, the turtle made her way up the beach — strong, steady, and majestic — to dig her nest in the warm sand. Benjamin snapped a few quick photos of the rare encounter but made sure not to disturb the turtle’s journey.
“We respect the fact that the beach is her home,” she said.
By the time the session ended, the family could still see the sea turtle at work, carefully covering her eggs in the fading light.
Benjamin later shared the photos on Instagram, calling the experience “a once-in-a-lifetime moment.”
“Seeing her beauty and size in person was absolutely mesmerizing,” she wrote.
According to the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation, nearly all nesting turtles in the area are loggerheads — a vulnerable species that usually lays eggs only at night. Spotting one nesting in full daylight like this is incredibly rare.
Over the course of the nesting season, this mama will lay between three and six nests — leaving behind hundreds of eggs that will soon hatch into tiny hatchlings making their own journey to the sea.
For Benjamin and her clients, the unexpected encounter was nothing short of magical.
“We were all startled by her massive size,” Benjamin said. “But mostly, we were grateful — grateful that she felt safe enough to share that moment with us.”
