Turtle Talk
The Blog

Most people who snorkel at Turtle Canyon focus on the moment a sea turtle glides past them. That moment is real, and it is unforgettable. But here is what most visitors never think about: that turtle is not just drifting around looking graceful. It is working. Hawaii's green sea turtles, the honu, are active caretakers of the ocean around them. They graze algae off reef surfaces, cycle nutrients that feed coral, and help maintain the underwater world that makes snorkeling in Oahu so spectacular. This is the story of how one ancient animal keeps an ocean alive.

If you have ever watched a sea turtle nesting on a beach and wondered why it appears to be weeping, the answer is not what you might expect. Sea turtles do not cry from emotion. They are running one of nature's most elegant survival systems, and understanding how it works makes every encounter with a honu in the water feel even more extraordinary.

Hawaii's green sea turtles, the honu, spend most of their lives quietly feeding along Oahu's reefs, but their reproductive story is anything but quiet. Before a single egg reaches the sand, these ancient animals endure decades of waiting, dramatic courtship battles at sea, and one of the longest nesting migrations of any turtle species on Earth. If you have ever watched a honu gliding peacefully through the waters at Turtle Canyon and wondered what its life story looks like below the surface, this post will answer that question in full.

The numbers are in, and they tell a story no one would have predicted 50 years ago. In 1973, researchers counted just 67 nesting females at the Hawaiian green sea turtle's most critical nesting site. Today that number has climbed to nearly 500, and NOAA's 2024 field season identified more than 1,260 individual turtles at French Frigate Shoals alone. Here is where Hawaii's beloved honu stands in 2026, and why the recovery is real but not yet finished.

Hawaii is one of the best places on Earth to swim with sea turtles, but the green sea turtle known as the honu is part of a much bigger story. Sea turtles have claimed a home on nearly every warm coastline on the planet, nesting on beaches from Costa Rica to Oman and diving the reefs of the Galapagos and the Great Barrier Reef. Here is a look at six extraordinary places around the world where these ancient animals thrive.

The Big Island of Hawaii is unlike any other island in the chain. Lava fields meet the ocean, black sand beaches stretch along the southeastern coast, and right in the middle of it all, Hawaiian green sea turtles have made themselves very much at home. From the volcanic sands of Punaluu to the crystal-clear reef at Two Step near Honaunau, the Big Island offers some of the most unforgettable sea turtle encounters in the entire Pacific. Here is where to find them and what every visitor needs to know before getting close.