Honu

By far one of the top must-do items on our Hawaii bucket list was to take a drive up to North Shore to see the Honu!

Honu, or Hawaiian Green Sea Turtles, are an endangered species, and are the only indigenous reptiles in Hawaii. These graceful ocean gliders are said to be wondrous to behold, and although elusive, they have been known to make appearances on the shores of Laniakea Beach, Turtle Bay, and Haleiwa Alii Beach Park, to name a few.

As always, any good adventure begins with the proper fuel! While waiting out some rain showers, we stopped in at Breakers for a bite before exploring the beaches. Fish Tacos and Pork & Pineapple Flatbread were great!

After lunch we stopped in at a couple of the shops nearby, one in particular seemed to by quite popular. I guess even Aquaman needs to pickup a few souvenirs now and then.

We also stumbled upon a HE>i (He is greater than I) shop. Apparently this is where they originally launched from and operate out of, who knew! If you haven’t heard of this brand before, or maybe you have seen the logo on someone’s car but didn’t know what it was, the logo is based off of the Bible verse John 3:30 – “HE (Jesus) must increase, but I must decrease.” Their logo merchandise is meant to be a conversation starter, with their mission being to provide opportunities for people to share the Gospel. Danny got a new t-shirt, I got a new sticker for my water bottle. And yes, I even made friends with some more chickens.

Rain finally letting up, we went on over to Laniakea beach, a well known place for spotting Honu. There were no lounging half-shelled wave riders on the beach when we first arrived, but we certainly enjoyed the view as we waited and watched the water expectantly.

It didn’t take long before we started seeing little turtle heads pop out of the water! We were instantly delighted with these guys! They can be hard to spot sometimes since the area is pretty rocky which provides a natural camouflage for them to blend in with. For this Honu however, the rocks had the opposite affect, getting a bit stuck out there for everyone to see until the next wave came to carry him back out into the ocean.

Although hard to capture on camera, we did see many Honu swimming through the waves, a truly splendid sight! Then after a little while, another one made an appearance close to shore, giving us a better opportunity to snap his picture before he went for cover back into the water again. He was so fun to watch!

What a cherished experience watching these beautiful sea turtles, as well as taking in the rich scenery of the beach around us with its vivid aqua waters and stunning volcanic rock.

Haleiwa Alii Beach Park was the second destination on our expedition to find the Honu. But of course, I had to take a picture of this mama chicken and her adorable chicks first!

Somewhere upon entering the beach park, this little dog decided it was going to follow us everywhere for the next hour or so.

He seemed especially interested in Danny who was interested in the tide pools. It was way too cute, I thought my heart was going to explode!! ❤

Tide pools thoroughly explored, we went left over a grassy hill, and came to the beach on the other side. There, we finally found a Honu relaxing in the sand!

We could not contain our excitement! How can you look at that face and not be happy? lol We would have loved to get closer, but we gave him his space. Don’t let these photos deceive you though if you think this turtle looks small! He was actually pretty big, at least a few feet long.

After this unforgettable experience getting to see these wonderful creatures, we wrapped up our adventure at Haleiwa Beach House with a sensational dinner and a stunning view of the sunset on the beach.