Don’t Be Afraid of the Light Within You*
*Luka Bloom music…..Don’t Be Afraid of the Light Within You
A Book with a Mission
She arrived early, delivered October 31st. She weighed 605 pounds…all 1500 copies. Stella the Sea Turtle was birthed and is already making waves in the world.
The book was conceived from many hours spent under starlit skies on white sand at the Gulf of Mexico as loggerhead sea turtles taught me about instinctual wisdom. In my desire to share stories of nature with children to help them develop compassion and care, this story wanted to be told.
I sat in my meditation space with my laptop and waited for it to unfold. The words came, I listened and typed and never read it through. After the story finished, I still didn’t read it. I emailed it to my awesome illustrator friend and asked her to read it. She texted me back…. I’m crying! I thought maybe I should read it. I did…texted her back….I’m crying, too.
Both of us have been sea turtle volunteers for several years. The story that wanted to be told captures the essence of what it’s like to witness the birth of sea turtle hatchlings. It educates about their lives yet goes deeper into the greater mystery of life that we all face….finding our way back home.
Finding Home: The Life of Stella Sea Turtle has a path. Linda and I were simply the midwives that gave it form. Now it glides into the world with much grace and beauty.
You can order from my website SimoneLipscomb.com, purchase at the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge, Tacky Jacks locations, Coastal Art Center of Orange Beach, Copper Kettle in Foley, Art Center of Foley….and other locations coming soon!
For each book sold, $3 goes to Friends of Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge for sea turtle conservation on public lands.
Thanks for supporting kids, artists, public lands….and of course sea turtles.
Finding Home: The Life of Stella Sea Turtle
It’s always fun to see a project come together. The latest is another children’s book about sea turtles. It’s illustrated by my pal Linda-Bell Schorer and we are donating a portion of each book sold to the Friends of Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge for sea turtle conservation on public lands.
If you love sea turtles, children and public lands I invite you to support this project by pre-ordering the book and/or sponsoring the project. We raise all printing costs before going to press so order now to help the project move forward for an early-December release.
Thank you as always for supporting the work of my heart. Visit the info/order page.
Ocean Adventure & Fun…Video
Click the video link to sink into some saltwater bliss.
Sea Turtle Magic
The first dive was amazing. We were winding through the coral caves of Palencar Reef. Sponges and corals were pristine. The arches, alive with color, were surrounded by blue…ocean blue…the color that seems to run through my veins
As I was meandering through exquisite passageways I thought it was most likely the most beautiful dive I’ve ever done. Over 600 dives in magnificent caves of the Yucatan, reefs of the Caribbean, the Pacific kelp forests….none were as deeply beautiful as this colorful swim through winding tunnels of reef.
The surface interval was relaxed and fun and then the second dive….”Duck in a canyon to get out of the current,” he said. It was Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride with current that wasn’t bashful. But that’s not what I remember so much. It’s the three hawksbill sea turtles that were casually munching along the top of the reef….where the current was ripping.
The first one had two friends greedily watching for tiny creatures uprooted with the amazingly strong foraging jaws of the turtle. In order to stop and take video and photographs I had to touch the sand….and thankfully with gentle kicking I was able to stay within inches of the huge turtle and capture the best video of my life. Not to mention the absolute thrill of being within inches of the strong jaws of the turtle….who completely ignored me.
The gray angelfish kept blocking the camera, swishing their tails against my mask and hands. What a problem to have…right? Photobombing fish.
The third hawksbill was massive in size. When I swung around to face the current the turtle walked on the bottom just beneath me. I could sense the sea turtle’s energy even though we never touched. My belly hovered just inches above her massive back as she munched on a sponge.
Hours later I still feel it, the strength and fortitude this being has. To survive from a golf-ball sized egg to this size took wits, strength and perhaps a lot of luck. But I’m the one that feels lucky….so amazingly lucky.
After spending five years as a sea turtle volunteer working mostly with unhatched nests and hatchlings as they crawl to water, this was a special treat. And while I’ve had nice encounters with sea turtles while diving, none have come close to any of the three connections I had today.
My mask was inches from the back of the largest turtle and the colors and details of the plates on the shell were incredible. The spotted skin of the head and flippers was brilliant and the eyes looked at me with unconcern…which made me so happy. I was an accepted part of their world, not something to be feared.
Most of what I experienced was visceral and so I reach for words that don’t seem to be there. Somehow I came away feeling the strength of these sea turtles had been shared and my bones now know a little bit more about what being a sea turtle is all about and I carry a little more of their magic in my heart.
