Seeing the Turtles

Hanging with the turtle

Laura: Today we went to the beach and it was really sandy. We climbed on rocks. I went snorkeling. We saw 5 turtles. Two of them were swimming and three of them were laying in the sun. They were green Hawaii sea turtles and they are different from other sea turtles because they like to lay in the sun. After I showered, Mommy painted my nails white and sparkly. It was fun!

Alex: We went to a beach today. The sand at it was rocky and rough. We saw Hawaiian green sea turtles! We saw 6 turtles but daddy thinks we saw 2 of them twice. There were lots of rocks we climbed on. When the tide is high the water covers the rocks but the tide was really low today. We snorkeled a lot! We saw some strange but awesome fish! We went exploring after the beach. We found another beach but the waves were to strong we couldn't stay. When we got back we played in the pool! Tomorrow mommy’s going to paint my nails! TODAY WAS A FUN DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Emily: Well, in case you missed the notice, today was a really fun day! After some morning running around to find a few more things to get us settled here, we packed up food, water and beach gear and headed down to Kahalu’u Beach which is just a couple miles down the road from our condo. It was a lovely beach. The sand was a bit rough, but still nice to walk on and there were lots of big black lava rocks. As soon as we were settled and checked our valuables into a little van of lockers there on the beach (what a smart business!), we all headed out snorkeling.
Getting over the rocks was a little challenging, but we managed and then as soon as you put your face in the water there were colorful fish everywhere. I saw so many varieties and they swam so close. The water was crystal clear. I think one of my favorites was watching this mostly white colored fish pick up rocks with his mouth and toss them aside and then dig in the sand. But the colors were also amazing. I loved being able to see all the little details. The electric blue stripe on the back of this black fish, the little blue nubs sticking out of the side of a white one, the many colors on the wrasse fish. The reds, blues, greens, yellows, and more. Box fish, needle fish, trigger fish, goat fish, big ones, little ones. I wish I could hold it all in my head and our fish cards don’t even cover half of the fish we saw.

After a very short break to warm up on the sand – the girls were not into sitting still – we went on an exploration on the black rocks. There were many little tide pools created and then walking along, there was a turtle hanging out in a shallow part with his head out of the water, having his lunch. It was so cool to just stand there and be able to see every detail. This was our 2nd turtle sighting of the day. When we first headed in to snorkel one was up on the rocks at the shore sunning himself. At first we were worried that he was ill or something, but later in the day we talked to a reef specialist who explained that Hawaiian sea turtles will just climb up on the rocks for some sun. So very cool! The girls loved learning about it.

After lunch we did another snorkel and then Dan took the girls out exploring again and I sat still. Ahhh. A little reading, a little snoozing, a little doing nothing laying under the palm trees on the beach. All in all, a perfect day in Hawaii.

Tomorrow we’re heading out on a drive around the island and hoping to see some amazing sights. I believe that waterfalls, Hilo, and the volcano are on our agenda. It is probably an overly ambitious day, but we’ll just get a sample and then we’ll know what we’d like to do more of later in the week or on a future visit.