Green Sea Turtles

I'm on a trip to Hawaii's Big Island. I've been here before, but was disappointed by my bad luck finding the famous Green Sea Turtles. I'm having much better luck this time. Punalu'u Beach, famous for its black sand, is a spot for frequent turtle basking. We stopped for a side trip while driving past. When we arrived, there were dozens of people on the nearby beach, standing near a pair of turtles.

Basking on Punalu'u Beach

There's not a lot of action when they're basking. I spent a few minutes photographing and watching and moved along, happy to have finally seen them.

Later during this trip I visited a beach near Kailua-Kona. There were four turtles swimming in tidal pools. Their shells were easy to spot in the shallow water. Occasionally one of them would raise a head to breathe. But it wasn't possible to get good photographs because all I'd see was a bit of the shell. I wish I had brought a polarizing filter. Farther along on the sandy beach, I found a pair of turtles on the sand.

Basking on the beach at Kaloko-Honokohau National Historic Park

One of the turtles had the number 14 painted on its shell; there was no number on the other one. Again, not much action, other than the man in a ridiculously colorful and tight Speedo who came hustling up to us as my son and I approached the turtles. I think he was about to berate us for turtle harassment until he realized that we were keeping a respectful distance from the turtles. He stood there silently, pretending to watch the turtles when in fact he was watching us, and finally after a few minutes he went back the way he had come, having never said a word to us. Maybe we disappointed him by giving him no reason to scold us.

Green Sea Turtle

My son and I sat on the sand about 20 feet away from the turtles and just enjoyed the setting sun and the breeze. The turtles would occasionally move their heads and flippers and eyelids. One of them finally opened its eyes long enough for me to get a shot.

Eyeing Us

There are warning signs on every sandy beach that I've visited here informing people of the requirement to stay away from these large, endangered animals. I was able to get some very tight shots of them using my 300mm lens from a respectful distance.

On the Rocks

I returned to the same beach near Kailua-Kona for a total of three sunset visits. I saw turtle number 14 on all three trips. Each time, there were several turtles in shallow water, in pools in the lava rock. On my last trip, the tide was out, revealing much more rock and much more sand. There were at least six turtles swimming in the shallow pools, including number 89 and number 101, as well as several that were not numbered.

Green Shell? Or Green Slime on the Shell?

They mostly just rested motionless, with only occasional eyelid opening or head movements. Even in the water there wasn't much movement, just slow movement looking for and eating plants. I could see them feeding in the clear water in the shallow pools.

Fleeting Eye Openings

 This turtle below was resting on the rocks, unlike all the previous times when I'd seen turtles on the sand. This was also a cloudy evening; they weren't soaking any heat in.

On the Rocks

Green Sea Turtles ingest a lot of salt water. Their bodies have the ability to remove the excess salt through glands near their eyes. When they've been out of the seawater for a while, the salt dries and cakes below their eyes, making for a messy mixture of salt and sand on their faces.

Salty Sandy Face