Honey Honi for Honu

The highlight of my week vacation at the North Shore was seeing turtles basking on the sand for the first time in my life!  I would see Honu (or Hawaiian Green Sea Turtles) swimming in the sea before, but never have I seen something amazing like this.  Before, I never knew about Laniakea Beach (also known as "Turtle Beach") and that there were turtles basking anywhere on O`ahu.

Just last month, a turtle named Honey Girl was mutilated for its meat.  It was heartbreaking to see the images of the mutilated turtle.  How could someone do this to a gentle and defenseless animal such as the honu?  Though, this is the most amazing and touching thing I have ever seen about animals since the Christian the Lion video clip.   Watch it.  It's so touching.

On August 20, my sister-in-law, niece, and I went to Laniakea Beach around 2:00 pm after visiting Hale`iwa.  We arrived at the beach and we saw not one but three turtles basking!  Wow!  Well, it is said that the honu brings good luck and I felt very fortunate to be able to go to Turtle Beach and see three honu and it was the first time I ever stopped by this beach!  The turtles also appeared to be bigger than I expected.  There were red ropes around each turtle creating a border.  So, look but don't touch these turtles.  It is against the law to touch the turtles.  I would've loved to touch these cute creatures, but I was happy to see them just relaxing under the sun anyway.

The next day, my brother joined us to visit Turtle Beach after visiting Hale`iwa again.   We arrived there around 4:00 pm and this time there weren't any turtles basking but they were swimming near the coast.  The turtles seemed like they were eating.  There were times when the turtles would end up on the shore but that is only because the waves would push them to shore and then the turtles would go back into the ocean.

Anyway, I only could identify one out of the three turtles I saw that day based on this webpage from the Malama Na Honu website that lists all the turtles who are frequent visitors of Laniakea Beach.  The turtle I am certain that I saw was L-2 also named Hiwahiwa (Precious).  If you look at one of the photos I have of a turtle basking, she has a crack on top of her shell and that's the only turtle to be described with a crack on top of the shell on that webpage.

Sooner or later, I am going to snorkel at Turtle Beach.  I want to see the turtles swimming in their habitat and I want to swim with them too.  I have never snorkel with turtles before and that is something I really want to do now.  I love honu! =)