10/01/2026
🐢 HONU - Sea Turtles
Four honu. One quiet Molokaʻi morning. And about a hundred questions. 💚
Last week I saw honu along the shore. Then yesterday, for the first time, I saw four together resting among the rocks.
Of course my curious brain immediately started: How old are they? Male or female? Why are they here? How much can we really tell just by looking?
The answer to some of those questions is surprisingly complicated.
A photograph usually can’t tell us a honu’s exact age. And unless we can clearly see the longer, thicker tail of a mature male, determining s*x from a distance can be difficult too.
What we can do is learn how they live — and give them the space to do it.
Hawaiian green sea turtles spend much of their lives feeding in coastal waters, grazing algae and seagrasses, traveling between feeding and nesting areas, and sometimes coming ashore simply to rest and bask.
Watching them reminded me of something I love about nature:
Sometimes curiosity doesn’t give us a definite answer. It gives us a reason to look closer, learn more — and interfere less.
These photographs were taken on Molokaʻi. And yes… I stayed very happily behind my zoom lens. ♥️
Look. Learn. Respect the distance. Let wildlife stay wild.
