“Something told me to turn around …”
Just before sunrise, Miss Sayé Yabandeh was finishing her morning meditation on the beach, ready to head back inside, when an unexpected instinct made her pause. Something told her to turn around — and when she did, she spotted a small, dark shape nestled in a tangled mound of seaweed.
Curious, she walked closer and realized the “blob” was actually a tiny baby sea turtle, barely moving. “Something told me to turn around, just to see you, baby,” Yabandeh said in a TikTok video. She gently scooped him up, cradling the fragile hatchling in her palm as she started toward the water.
Typically, newborn sea turtles begin their first great journey by crawling straight to the ocean. But that morning, a thick wall of seaweed blocked the way — and a seaweed-clearing tractor was due to pass by soon, which could have harmed the little turtle. “On this particular day, the thick seaweed posed a grave threat,” explained Bonnie Mai, a representative for Yabandeh.
Reaching the shoreline, Yabandeh lowered her hand to the water. Almost instantly, the hatchling found his strength and began swimming into the waves. She watched until he disappeared into the Atlantic, her heart full of relief.
“The experience was a beautiful testament to interspecies connection and healing,” Mai said. Afterward, Yabandeh stayed on the seaweed-covered beach, taking a few quiet moments to send gratitude and healing energy to the ocean, honoring the timeless cycle of life she had just witnessed.
It was, in every way, a perfect alignment with the compassion and message she strives to share with the world.