Turtle Beach

The turtles were completely safe. I promise. On yesterday's Wordless Wednesday post, I shared one of the most amazing natural wonders in Hawaii. I didn't mean to worry anyone. It was refreshing to know so many of you cared about the basking Hawaiian turtles!

On our North Shore of Oahu, just past Haleiwa but before Waimea Bay, there is an unmarked dirt shoulder on the right side of Kamehameha Highway (locals call it "Kam" for short). Across the two lane highway is Laniakea Beach, but it is known to locals as "Turtle Beach." This is not the same as Turtle Bay, which is a resort farther north. The traffic runs in both directions on Kam. However, drivers show Aloha and stop, yes STOP, in the middle of the highway, where there is no crosswalk for pedestrians. When our family crossed the street, we crossed right in front of a police officer's front bumper. It's completely illegal, I am sure, but completely acceptable. There is no other way to get to the beach but to cross the two lane highway. There are no traffic signals anywhere.

On the other side of the road, we climbed down a gradual sandy and rocky bank to the beach. Turtles weren't hard to spot. They average about 200 pounds. The most common turtles in Hawaii are the green turtles. Locals call turtles by their Hawaiian name, "honu," pronounced "hoe-noo." In Native Hawaiian culture honus are good luck. I don't really believe in luck, but I have felt a sudden peace when scuba diving and spotting honus in the water, except that one night dive. The Hawaiian green sea turtles are graceful swimmers, to me, at least. We had honus etched into the windows of the glass of our front door, and laid into the futura stone hardscape in our front and back yard. They are a cultural decoration you will find throughout the Hawaiian islands. Green turtles are native to Hawaii. Only eight years ago green honus started climbing out on the sand and rocks at Turtle Beach to loll and relax in the sun. This is completely natural behavior for Hawaiian green sea turtles.

Once we got to the flat beach, we spotted the volunteers. They are there all of the time. I have been to this beach even when no turtles are found, and the volunteers are still there. Most everyone that comes to see the turtles are respectful. But it was crazy at one point, and some people tried to sit on the turtles, ride them, and other horrible things like drag them from the water. So the volunteer organization Malama na Honu (look but don't touch the honus in Hawaiian) volunteers to educate the public about the honus. Our honus are considered a Threatened Species, and are protected both by federal and state laws.They put up signs all over the beach and answer questions about the turtles. They also have honu coloring sheets available for the keiki. In the sand between Son1 and the honu you can see how she pulled herself up the beach and onto the sand. The rule of thumb is to be one bicycle length from the honu. I know it is a she because the volunteer told me. The honus are marked with GPS and also with white numbers on their shells so they can be studied and preserved. They travel 1000 miles round trip to have their babies.

The voluntees laid out a red rope around the honus. If you look carefully you can see the rope in the picture below. The turtles aren't aggressive at all, and aren't really frightened by humans. People snorkel at this beach and are surprised when a honu brushes up against them. There are beaches with better visibility than Turtle Beach, but it is fun to snorkel with the honu. The volunteers also ask snorkelers to respect the honus.

Honus come to Turtle Beach in large numbers for two reasons. The rocks are covered with algae and seaweed (called limu in Hawaiian, lee-moo).

The other reason is that this beach is a protected sanctuary. The entire right side of the beach is lined with these rocks. A channel from the ocean juts into this cove and protects the honus from predators like tiger sharks. I don't really understand all of the science behind it, but the geography of the beach also makes it a great surf beach because of the way the channel cuts the ocean breaks. This day the surf was only a few feet. But in the coming weeks this whole beach will mostly be covered by the water when the swells hit between 12 and 20 feet high.We walked to the rocks. I had high hopes of looking for crabs in rocks with the kids. but we had one little issue. Son2 didn't understand we weren't getting in the water. Try to keep a kid born in Hawaii from the beach. It is an uphill battle. Hubby and I took turns keeping him dry. He had no appreciation for our efforts. Well at least my efforts.And then Son1 wasn't in a crab hunting mood anymore, and it was "that time."

So we climbed the hill and crossed the highway to our car, just like these strangers. I know these two guys, though.

The parking lot looks into this field. This is the "mauka" side of the road (mountain) and the beach was on the "makai" side (ocean). People don't use cardinal directions very much in Hawaii. Everything is either mauka side or makai side.
On the drive home we spotted a rainbow near the Dole Plantation. Son1 said, "I wonder if it will follow me home?"


We drove another fifteen minutes to our exit. Now instead of seeing a fragmented rainbow, we saw two full double rainbows. The second isn't visible in this picture. We drove home, another mile from the exit. The rainbows were arched high in the sky, past our home. It was such an enchanted moment for our family, witnessing the rainbow follow us home.