Sea Turtles on the beach in O'ahu

Wednesday was our last day in O'ahu. We enjoyed smoked salmon, ahi and mahimahi, seasame seaweed, and tropical fruit for breakfast -- well I did...Kevin had the more traditional fare. I wanted to stop at a beach down the road a bit where I'd read the sea turtles come out of the water and lay on the beach much like the seals do in California. The directions from the conceirge were to "go to the Foodland grocery store, then look for the second place on the mountain side of the road where cars are parked. Cross the highway to the beach. The turtles lie on the beach there." We found the spot (after a couple rather dicey U-turns) and the beach and the posted government sign instructing us that the sea turtles are a "protected species" and you must not disturb them. Locals had a 4'x8' banner hung between a couple of trees telling people to leave the turtles alone. As the sun illuminates the surf-the water becomes translucent (like an agate) making it was easy to see the turtles eating seaweed off of the reef. One looked like it was headed for the beach, much to my delight. Then a family (mom, dad, kids) who were snorkeling saw it.

A local woman came down to instruct them to back off, but the dad couldn't hear because of the surf. She kept shouting. They kept getting closer until they got next to it, trying to touch it, as the surf was tossing dad, daughter and turtle around. The local never did get their attention. Then turtle started to swim away, practically running into the dad and his daughter which made her scream. (The book I have said that the sea turtles who come to this beach will actually swim after people who tire of watching them. This one had obviously read the book.) All was well in the end, with the local going back to her beach chair shaking her head and the daughter happy to be looking for little fish. I can see why the locals get protective of their island and don't particulary want the tourists around!

As we walked back to the car, a turtle was on the rocks just at the shoreline. His shell was black and really shiny. With his head tucked inside, he looked like a large abalone shell clinging to the rock. When you see them in the surf they look yellowish green because you're seeing their underside. Soon he swam away and we took our life in our hands to cross the highway again.