Hawaii: Turtle Spotting

One of the outdoor skill sets I have developed over the years is the ability to spot wildlife. If your pastimes include the act of pursuing game, this ability becomes innate.

While vacationing in Hawaii we saw lots of green sea turtles. It amazed me how they could blend with their surroundings - almost becoming invisible. The photo above was taken at a beach in Maui where Antonietta and I sat on a rock to have our lunch. Naturally with scenery like this we were captivated by the waves crashing in on the sand. But as I watched I soon detected shapes on the bottom moving. Initially they appeared to be rocks, but as time passed a few of these seemed to shuffle with the waves. Rocks don't do that - especially ones the size of a coffee table. As this was our 15th day in Hawaii, I knew these were turtles, and eventually spotted these moving "rocks" coming up for a breath of air in the surf and then disappear to the bottom again. Turns out there was about a half-dozen turtles in front of us feeding on the bottom.

What was interesting is that all kinds of people walked past this spot oblivious to the turtles. We noticed this whenever we went to the beach in Hawaii. Inevitably there would be either turtles bobbing in the waves near shore, or hump-back whales breaching 300-yards out, and dozens of people would just walk on by.

On a few occasions I pointed out the turtles or whales to beach-goers. One was a couple with two young children sitting beside us on the beach. I figured they might like to see a large turtle to show their youngsters. After all the kids were jumping around in the waves 20-feet from one. So I kindly mentioned to the parents that there was a large turtle right in front of them in the surf. They put down their books, pivoted slightly forward in their chairs and began scanning the water. After about 5 minutes the turtle failed to materialize so they nestled back into their recliners and resumed reading. A few minutes later this large turtle - who I playfully named "Norton" - popped his head up and took two gulps of breath. He bobbed around on the surface for a bit so I said to the couple, "Look! There he is!" And pointed towards the turtle. But before they could spot him he silently sank to the bottom.

Then it dawned on me, "Norton is a Ninja Turtle!" "Damn he's good."

Can you spot any Hawaiian wildlife in this next photo?