Over a year ago I was talking turtles with a fellow surfer out in the water and I mentioned

an area where I have encountered many many turtles. This reef is not close to any shoreline

access points and as a result not visited that often. He was familiar with the area and mentioned

he was doing some reconstruction on a cliff house in the area and that on a small beach below

the house, he saw a couple turtles out of the water sunning themselves. As it turns out, I

misunderstood the location of this beach by enough of a distance that a couple explorations

of paddling to where I thought he had described turned was fruitless. Recently I spoke with a

friend who now lives in the private community nearby and we talked turtles and he had a couple

shots of some turtles on a small beach. I got a better idea of the location from him and decided

to go see if I could find the spot and if lucky, see a turtle or two sunning themselves. I paddled

up there after confirming the location using some binocs from a vantage point a good ways away.

I didn't find a couple turtles there. I found a bunch of them!?!

I took a camera with an 80mm lens figuring I could get some shots without getting too close and

bothering a turtle should I be fortunate enough to encounter one. I am glad I took the camera

with the long lens and I didn't disturb the turtles. To attempt to capture the scene which was larger

than expected, I had to be a good distance away.

With the exception of the one turtle in the foreground above and on the rocks, the others were

clearly taking a rest and on the warm sand. This little guy above ended up going back into the

water and I believe it was the same turtle that came into the beach a few minutes later. Some were

above the tide line and yet still wet which made me suspect that they had not been out that long. A

couple were completely dry and had been out for some time I would guess.

This large newcomer in the pics above and below had its eye on me and I used it as a gage

as to whether I was encroaching on them or needed to give them more space. It did some

moving around but eventually settled down and took a rest.

The one turtle above has some tumors on its neck and base of flipper. I wonder if the UV

provides any help.

I have seen some shots of green sea turtles sunning on the north shore of Oahu but not in the

density I encountered here. I would guess the owners of the house above this little beach have

a good idea of how frequent and in what numbers turtles visit here and presumably they cherish

this incredible back yard or theirs!! In consideration of their privacy and even more in consideration

of the turtles, I will be very guarded in disclosing this location and only to friends who I can count on

to be respectful and discreet themselves. There are some nice beaches not far from this place

but the turtles don't haul out there and I imagine this is due to people and probably dogs who are

present as often as not.

A couple days later and another visit with a fisheye lens on the camera:

A turtle done basking swims by me on its way out.

Another basker stops and feeds on the way out. She was completely indifferent to my presence.

In the harsh lighting and shadow, you can't see in the pic below that all four of these turtles had

their eyes closed.

All of the pics above were taken at a low tide. I was curious how much beach would be available

with a high tide and came back when the tide was on the rise and there was also some wind wave

surge hitting the beach. There was not much room and I took some video of two turtles who did

the best they could to stay high if not dry: