May 19 2008
Swim With Hawaiian Sea Turtles - 200 Million Years Old
We love our Honu which is the Hawaiian green sea turtle. Three other Honu fans are the talented Claremont Trio who performed recently in Hawaii. While on Kauai, they filmed this wonderful video for their tour blog.
Last week’s Jaunted article on visiting Oman to observe sea turtles, inspired today’s post. If Oman is too far away for you, Hawaii offers three sea turtle species that you can see.
1. Green: Protected by the endangered species act, and weighing up to 500 pounds, their life-span is believed to be very long. Green turtles live close to the shores of our islands, feed primarily on seaweed and swim up to 35 mph. One of the most ancient species of the world, they existed prior to dinosaurs.
2. Hawksbill: The elusive, nearly extinct hawksbill, ‘ea’ in Hawaiian, is noted for its shiny shell. It is still hunted illegally due to its high value. There are only a few dozen hawksbills still found in Hawaii.
3. Leatherback: The largest of all living turtles (in fact all sea reptiles), this species has no shell and instead is covered by a black rubber-like skin and oily flesh. Leatherbacks dwell in deep water away from the island shores, and can weigh up to one ton.
You observe Hawaiian sea turtles on all the major islands: Best sites are on the Big Island’s Kona side. Likely beaches include Anaehoomalu Bay, Honaunau, Kahalu’u Beach, Kahuwai Bay, Kuki’o Beach, and Punaluu Black Sand Beach. Also, on Kauai at and around Poipu Beach Park and Brennecke’s Beach.
Observation guidelines: Turtles are generally not afraid of people. They are, however, protected by law and it’s illegal to touch them. Do not chase or scare turtles, hinder their movement, or swim within 20 feet.
If you’ve seen a Hawaiian Sea Turtle, please share your experiences.
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Whoops, Jeff. Noticed a little typo error on this piece. “Hono” means bay, as in “Honomanu.” “Honu” is the right word for turtle.
Otherwise, like the good info.
Geez, don’t you just hate a “Mr. Perfwect.”
Gene Perfect
Thanks for the correction Gene.
I’m seriously swearing off doing posts at midnight from here on. My worst typos happen when I’m too tired.
Yes Hono, as in sheltered bay: Honolulu.
Funny too, I have several turtle t-shirts with the word Honu plastered right on them.
Aloha,
Jeff
Most of our Hawaii visitors are fascinated with the Green Sea Turtle, even more so when snorkeling the clear Hawaiian waters.
Here are two more recommendations to encounter the turtles on a Big Island vacation, in the ocean and on land: Kiholo Bay (just click my name and you can read all about it) and of course, Puako beaches on the Kohala Coast.
Thanks Jeff for fun post. Aloha, Pua
Jeff here are some of those Omani Green Turtles http://blog.omanholiday.co.uk/blog/Photos/_archives/2007/6/27/3050894.html that Jaunted talked about - here in Muscat we dont get those so much but a couple of weeks ago I did swim with an Olive Ridley Turtle possibly after it had swum along the coast from Masirah where we sponsor tagging of them (it wasnt one of ours though