Turtle Time

Sunday morning I headed out by 6:30am to reserve chairs on the lawn – launchpad for our snorkeling adventure. Yesterday Cody and I had seen two turtles swim right by us. But today I was bringing the under water camera and bringing Clara and Tawny along as witnesses.

Tawny and Clara Snorkeling

Cody and Clara Snorkeling

After fresh papaya and toasted Hawaiian sweet bread we headed into the calm morning waters to snorkel before the trade winds set in. It wasn’t 5 minutes in before we saw our first turtle. A baby. So cute! Only perhaps a foot or two long. Following it was perhaps the largest male turtle I’ve ever seen! It was enormous. Whereas we had swam up to the little turtle we swam away from Papa and Big Mamma – both several feet across and possibly 4-5 feet long (meaning possibly up to 80 years old!). All told we saw at least 4 babies and 3-4 adult turtles today.

Green Sea Turtle

Green Sea Turtle

Green Sea Turtle

Green Sea Turtle

Green Sea Turtle

Green Sea Turtle

Green Sea Turtle

Cody and Tawny headed in earlier but Clara and I stayed out a bit longer. On our way back we saw a sting ray. In all my years snorkeling in Hawaii I’ve never seen one. I’ve seen them in the Caribbean and in Tahiti, but never in Hawaii.

Sting Ray

Sting Ray

By 9:30 am we’d already peaked our day….or so we thought…