Swimming with the sea turtles

[honobob]

Here's some pictures of a boat trip to swim with turtles I took when I was in Honolulu in July. Got the trip free for, you guessed it, attending a time share presentation. Happened to have my camera while walking on Kalakaua and was approached to get a $90 dollar value for just a couple hours of my time. I like real estate anyway and after the presentation I didn't "see the value" so just had to repeat that a couple of times to get this fantastic trip. Included a ride out to the Waianae Coast with some Aussie girls and some Japanese tourists and a boat ride watching spinner dolphins ride our bow and jump out of the water spinning in the air. Stopped and were let out into the 20-30 feet deep water where our guide Yoko led us to an area where there were 4 huge turtles resting on the bottom. Every now and then one would surface a few feet away for a breath of air and descend like an airplane landing on the bottom of the ocean. Back on the boat for lunch and the ride back into shore. On the way back to Waikiki just about everone was passed out in the van and the driver flirted with the Aussie girls asking about their knowledge of American politicians until the tables were turned with them asking him about Australian PM's.

A Good trip!

[lazygood4nothinbum]

if you ride them be careful where you put your hands. once a turtle arched his neck catching a friend's fingers between the back of the turtle's head and the shell and then decided to dive. my friend had gloves on and managed to slip out before the turtle got too deep.

[Texarkandy]

Went diving in Maui & Hawaii in July - lots & lots of sea turtles - they're really cool - also there's a black sand beach on the southern tip of Hawaii we saw a lot of them where they come on the beach to rest. I'll see if I can post some pics on this thread when/if I get them off my dead laptop's hard drive.

One really shouldn't handle the turtles IMO, dolphins either. I know in FL it's illegal to handle or even feed wild dolphins. We tend to leave the wildlife alone when diving, just observe (esp. the sharks!)

For anybody into diving I highly recommend the Manta Ray night dive in Hawaii. Incredible!

Funny thing about Hawaii though - diving costs approx twice what it does in Key Largo. Can't figure it out. Fuel costs about the same, high real estate, high food prices in both places.

Interestingly I didn't find food & lodging costs to be that bad in HI, but it seems it cost about $100 per person to do pretty much "any" activity in Hawaii. One reason I won't be back soon.

[lazygood4nothinbum]

oh really? and does that make your turtle soup taste any better? i just play with animals; i don't eat them. now who's got the moral high ground?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMCf7SNUb-Q