Meet Virgil the Turtle

Many divers tell us the best part of their visit to the Grotto was getting to meet and interact with our resident softshell turtle, Miss Virgil. Here are a few things not covered in the video:

• Virgil was into her 40s before she had the opportunity to interact with fish and other turtles of any size. She is far more accustomed to being around people.

• In 2022, Virgil became old enough to qualify for Medicare and, in 2023, Social Security. She is old enough to have lived through most of the Vietnam War, the moon landings and Watergate.

• Virgil will sometimes disappear for weeks or even months at a time. When this happens, we suspect she is burying herself in the mud and doing the reptilian version of  hibernating.

• Don’t waste time looking for Virgil. You won’t find her. She will, however, find you. We can’t tell you the number of times we’ve seen someone down on the platforms, looking in all directions for Virgil. Meanwhile, Virgil is right behind their backs, craning her head in all directions, and going “What is this guy looking for?” We generally encounter Virgil on one dive out of every three.

• The video says we get Virgil’s gender wrong in the Blue Grotto orientation video. We’ve since fixed that.

• Turbo is showing up more regularly these days. It’s actually kind of sad to watch. Turbo desperately wants Virgil to pay attention to him and she just ignores his advances. Unrequited love. So sad…