The Magical "Turtle Aquarium"

 

There’s been so much darkness this year. A lot of things that either personally or globally have been hard to bear. Any moment of lightness and of connection is especially precious, more than a silver lining in a gray cloud, but like a lifeboat heading to a safer shore. For me, that’s been the turtles at the beach. They are a lifeline out of my own abyss. 

Turtles galore in a shallow section of exposed reef... right along the shore. 

While I’m not generally one of those crazy morning people who likes to hit the beach before the sun rises, I’ve made an exception on Friday mornings to participate in Dawn Patrol with some friends.

Set the alarm, get up at 4:30 am – or 5am when the sun rose later this summer - and heave myself out of bed. Get to the beach in the inky darkness and walk along the coastline looking for signs of turtle nesting activity. I was an unofficial volunteer but a few weeks into it, decided to become official.

The nonprofit organizing the turtle watching volunteers is Hawaiʻi Wildlife Fund. They monitor turtle nesting behavior through the summer and fall months when the Green Sea turtles and endangered Hawksbill turtles lay nests on the beaches. Volunteers look for turtle tracks and disturbed sand in patterns that indicate possible nesting. Once a nest is confirmed, volunteers continue to monitor it more closely and even watch over it 24/7 until the eggs hatch. Nests are later excavated and counted for hatched eggs, unhatched eggs, and unsuccessful hatchlings (dead baby turtles). The unhatched eggs are carefully removed for offsite incubation in hopes they eventually hatch.

The curlicue pattern of a turtle track in the sand.

The beach is incredible in the morning. The light is the most beautiful. The colors are saturated and glowing. The sunrise unfurls itself over the sky, seeping color into the clouds then over the water.  There are few people around, maybe the occasional homeless person sleeping on the beach, huddled under a blanket, under the open sky. Or a walker or a swimmer, a small presence in the vastness of the early morning. Everything feels possible in the early morning. There is no one around to say no. Only the sky and sea to answer to.

Dawn's early light along Maui's north shore. 

The first time I walked for the Dawn Patrol was in August. It was a Lono moon in the Hawaiian moon calendar, considered an auspicious day for planting and fishing. The tide was so low that a large section of reef was exposed that normally is well under water. We walked to an area of the beach I have been to many times before, but never had any of us seen so many turtles of all sizes mingling in the water along this bare reef. The water was so clear. 

We counted at least 13 honu (Hawaiian for turtles). Some sections of the water were so narrow, that the turtles pushed their flippers against the reef to propel them forward above or below another slower turtle that was obstructing the waterway. We could have watched them all day, if we had had all the time in the world to gaze at turtles.

My friend called it “Turtle Soup.” I think of it as our private “Turtle Aquarium.” They were so close to shore, we could have reached out and touched them, but that isn’t appropriate. Turtles need "social distancing" from humans, because they can actually catch diseases from us.

This experience of seeing so many turtles so close to shore was magical. They hypnotically glided back and forth through the clear waters. For me it was a lifeline after a lot of very rough days this year. Let it buoy you up during any dark days you may have.  

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