By Louie Ferrera

At a beach on Kauai’s south shore, turtles and tourists share the sand.

The Hawaiian green sea turtle is a year round resident of the Hawaiian islands. These massive reptiles can be seen gracefully plying the waters all throughout the islands. The highlight of any snorkeling trip is coming face to face with a turtle, their flippers move as if in slow motion and they appear to be flying through the undersea blue. While standup paddleboarding along the beach on Maui I’ve had the good fortune on many occasions to glide alongside a green sea turtle, their intricately patterned shells visible just below the surface, their heads popping up every so often to take a breath. These turtles get very big. Their shells can be upwards of four feet long and they can weigh upwards of 250 pounds.

If you don’t want to get into the water, the main beach at Poipu, on Kauai’s south shore, affords us tourists a unique opportunity to observe green sea turtles up close. As sunset approaches, turtles begin to slowly crawl out of the water and onto this sandy beach to rest for the evening. This is Carol’s and my first time visiting Kauai in winter. Our past trips have always been in June. The turtles are here in summer but in much smaller numbers. The most we’ve seen on this beach at any one time has been five or six.

It’s our first night here, so down to the beach we head at sunset with drinks in hand and smiles on our faces. Needless to say we were quite surprised to find a dozen turtles already tucked into the beach for the night. We watched in awe as one after the other turtles began to emerge from the water. Whereas they’re as graceful underwater as birds in flight, once on the sand their movements are slow and laborious. They use all four of their flippers to slowly inch their way onto the beach until they find a spot to their liking. By the time it got too dark to make them out clearly, we counted perhaps 40 turtles at rest. They were packed so closely together, the beach appeared to be strewn with large boulders. Seeing so many turtles in such a small space was an incredible experience. We found out the next morning that eventually over 70 turtles spent the night here. 

A team of volunteer docents staff the beach day and night, setting up a coned perimeter to keep people at least ten feet away from the resting honu (Hawaiian word for turtle). They also answer questions, solicit donations and provide information about these gentle creatures. 

The Hawaiian green sea turtle is a threatened species, it is protected by state and federal laws. By habitat destruction, hunting and dumping trash into the ocean, humans have been instrumental in their listing as threatened. It’s ironic that the honu on Poipu Beach find a safe haven here among the very species that have done them so much harm. By showing up in such large numbers every night, maybe the turtles are here to teach us humans a lesson in forgiveness? Given the opportunity to interact up close with such marvelous animals, you can’t help but gain a deeper appreciation for them and their place in the grand scheme of things. 

I think coming here to pay our respects, as it were, is a way for us humans to atone  for the harm that we’ve caused. Meanwhile the evening deepens, the turtles keep coming , one by one slowly emerging from the water, a timeless mystery.