A turtle or a tortoise? Which could it be? In less than half a year we would have seen both in their natural habitat and decided on which ones we found more fascinating. For me it was the tortoise, but this did not stop me from enjoying swimming in the ocean surrounding by the green sea turtle.
These animals are much larger than you would expect and camouflage themselves well in their natural environment. If respected they will swim close to you as they eat and graze on the rocks and seabed.
They glide slowly through the water with a look on their face that nothing in the world bothers them, and why would it living in the warm waters of the Hawaiian coast line.
B had the pleasure of coming across a green sea turtle very un-expectantly. He was out surfing the North Shore off Turtle Bay. As he came into shore it was covered in sharp rocks and you had to be careful not to cut yourself. B looked down and saw a perfectly shaped smooth rock on the ground, as he slowly went to place his foot down the rock moved. He jumped with a girly scream, much to me and my sister's surprise. We thought instinctively that he has just cut himself on a sharp coral, instead it was a sea turtle slowly moving about near the shore. (He did not touch the turtle with his foot – we love nature and think it should be left alone in it's natural environment, not touched or destroyed by humans).
This was not the only experience we had with sea turtles, they are all over the islands of Hawaii. The ocean is full of life, sea creatures, tropical fish and also humans. Snorkeling is the way to go to see the Hawaiian ocean life and many trips are offered from the different islands. We went on one trip to the Molokini Crater and the rest of the time we had our own snorkel and just went around off shore. You can see almost as much life snorkeling from the shore as you do going on an organised tour.
We will be heading back to Hawaii again and making sure we make the most of the beautiful ocean it has to offer. Until then, hui hou.
