Teenage Green Sea Turtles

[rosaw]

Because the tides have been somewhat the opposite of primary waking hours, snorkeling in the bathtub has been limited. Yesterday, just to have some practice, we went to Waimea Bay. This is one of the most ferocious places on the North Shore during the winter and basically an inland lake during the summer. It seemed like a pretty good place to try out the gear and set of sense of snorkeling. So, after a Shrimp Truck lunch (yum!) we hopped off the bus at Waimea Bay. There we snorkeled for about 2 hours, spending about 1 hour of that time watching 2 or 3 green sea turtles feeding on the reef. They eat algae. One swam right toward me, which amounted in me squealing into my snorkel, which is a weird sound effect. The squeal had no effect on the turtles. This was a peak experience, so very cool. The turtles were completely oblivious to the other snorkelers, the swimmers, and the crazy young people jumping off the rocks just a few feet away from the reef. This site Waimea Bay Beach Park has a great shot of the bay looking pretty much like it did yesterday but without the swarms of people. That huge rock formation at the bottom of the picture is where the kids were jumping off.

Comments

[tenaya.livejournal.com]

Wow. You are on one extended vacation aren't you! Good for you!

So, when one snorkles for a couple of hours, does your back get sunburnt? Do you still have to stop and put on sunscreen? Very interesting about the turtles. I never gave it a thought as to what they ate. How wonderful and peaceful that sounds to watch them feed.

About your other post...I think I might have been eager to try sleeping on the beach that night. Sounds lovely. In theory anyway. Unless there were bugs involved.

[rosawestphalen.livejournal.com]

Yeah, we're here for 5 weeks with 4 more to go! It's really a dream vacation.

As for the sunburn problem, I rarely sunburn, even without sunscreen. But Rwr is very fair and he basically dipped himself in sunscreen for the first hour and then the second hour he had on a tee-shirt to cover his fair and now slightly tan back. Probably after an hour or so in the water, another sunscreen application is a good idea. I sunscreen in the morning and, if I remember to bring it, in the afternoon. So far, no sunburn or even faint redness.

I want to sleep on the beach but there I am truly alone. Rwr is very attached to indoor plumbing and doesn't really like sand. He has said every time we're at the beach (which is every day) "the only problem with the beach is sand." The sand seems to glom onto his sunscreen and build a homestead there. :-)

Come on over, we'll camp on the beach for a night!

[melodymuse.livejournal.com]

Yay for turtle and snorkeling! *I jumped off those rocks as a Graduation rite of passage. It was scary!

[rosawestphalen.livejournal.com]

As I have said many times, you are a strong, brave, wonderful woman! I cannot imagine jumping off those rocks. I can't even make myself climb up them, let alone leap off! Wow!