Creatures of the deep sea are being found close to our beaches
Kirstie McCrum Network Content Editor
11:10, 20 Jun 2025
A Devon freediver has shared incredible footage of a leatherback turtle swimming in our county’s waters. Grant Sinclair shared the “extremely rare sighting and first-ever video in the UK” from Seaton Bay on YouTube, and has shared it with DevonLive.
The diver said that he was told the turtle has been spotted on Wednesday, June 18, and immediately wanted to “go and capture an up-close video of the amazing creature”.
Grant said: “I’ve freedived and spearfished the local area for 20 years and after a little research about turtles I had a good idea where to find him.
“I arrived to the beach and got lucky immediately and spotted him surfacing about 3/4 of a mile from the shore. I always have my freediving gear in the car so suited up immediately and headed out to try my luck.
Leatherback turtle captured on camera
Grant Sinclair has shared incredible footage of swimming with a leatherback turtle in Seaton Bay, Devon(Image: Grant Sinclair)
“After about 30 mins the moment came, I saw him about 100 metres away. I swam as fast as I physically could to get close.
“It was just my lucky day, I managed to land directly over him and proceed to record a video. The bay is famed for large quantities of jellyfish which I know they eat. I managed some amazing videos of the jellyfish as well.
“It was an absolute blessing to have managed to gather this footage to share with everyone. It does raise some interesting questions, however, with more and more marine mammals sightings very close to shore personally having witnessed and videoed dolphins, seals, bluefin tuna, octopus and now a turtle, all within a mile of the shore.
‘What are we doing to our oceans?’
Grant Sinclair handdived a British record brown crab(Image: Grant Sinclair)
“I also the day beforehand dived a British record brown crab, yet another animal that should not be found so close in, to save what was probably a crab of over 30 years in age it was donated to the national marine aquarium in Plymouth.”
Grant said he has spent two decades perfecting the art of underwater foraging, spearfishing and, more recently, training in freediving to a certified advanced level at Delphi Pool, in Cornwall.
He said: “The techniques learnt whilst at Delphi helped me get close to the animal without causing any alarm or distress.”
Grant has sounded a note of caution despite his excitement: “Deep deep sea creatures within a mile of the shore, what is happening to our oceans?”