There once lived a family on a small island in the middle of the ocean. The family had everything they needed to survive and never left the island. The family had many children, the youngest of which was a girl named Coral.
Coral was very happy on the island with her family, but she was the most happy when she was with the animals of the island. She especially loved helping the animals, without interfering. Every year, Coral protected the baby turtles from the birds that swooped down to try to eat them. Under her watch, every turtle made it into the ocean and began its great life journey under the sea.
As Coral grew older, she wanted to know about more animals that just the ones on their island; she wanted to see new animals that only lived out in the deep sea, or on other islands. Her family told her that there were no other animals; their island had every animal the Creator had created. But Coral had seen strange creatures washed up on their island’s shores, and she knew there must be more out there.
Coral decided to disobey her family and created a rough raft for herself to go out to sea. She didn’t know what she was doing, but she was determined to see more. But Coral didn’t get far before her raft fell apart in the rough waves over the reef. She was tossed around in the waves, and hurt herself on the hard corals of the reef. She couldn’t catch her breath above the water, and was close to drowning until she felt herself being lifted up and moving through the rough water towards the calmer outer sea. When the water calmed, she looked down to see two giant sea turtles were carrying her in the water. They brought her seaweed so she could wrap her wounds, and then they helped guide her through the ocean to see all the creatures and all the islands. Wherever Coral went, the sea turtles were at her side.
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Yes, I watched Moana recently, but also- I love giant sea turtles!
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Photo credit: @spiritedpursuit
Photo source: https://www.spiritedpursuit.com/blog/30-photos-to-inspire-your-zanzibar-trip