These two bragged about touching a turtle during a scuba trip.

Welcome to the first Tank’s Travels Hall of Shame posting for 2015.

This pic was snapped in late 2014 at a U.S. airport. I came upon these folks when I sat down next to them to charge my IPhone.

Took one phone call (their’s to a family member) to offend.

Seems they’d just been on a scuba diving trip. Assuming by what he said into the phone they must, IMHO, be:

A) new to the sport, having been trained by incompetents.

B) butt ignorant.

C) ugly travellers with a huge sense of entitlement and no shame.

The offending remark: “she touched a turtle underwater.”

• Is Manipulating Marine Life Ever OK? (Scuba Diving Magazine)

Now, touching marine and plant life underwater is a HUGE no-no in scuba diving. Divers are strongly encouraged to practice good buoyancy so as to not damage reefs, plants and coral accidentally.

Deliberately touching a marine animal is deplorable.

I’ve been on trips where diver-photographers have been blasted by divemasters and fellow divers for chasing marine life in an effort to get a good ‘shot’. Chasing and touching are likely to cause stress to animals.

I’ve seen divemasters move rocks to dig out octopus and cause pufferfish to puff up. As a result, I’ve stopped patronizing dive shops that condone divemasters handling marine life and passing them around so that tourist divers can get photos.

• Why You Should Not Touch Marine Life (Dive Report)

I’m pissed. There’s a special place in hell for people who touch marine life. An eternity, I hope, of being bitten by great white sharks.