08/10/2026
The Story Behind the Honu
Every evening while we were in KauaÊ»i, we would go to PoÊ»ipĆ« Beach at sunset and wait for the green sea turtlesâthe honuâto come ashore.
Volunteers from MÄlama i nÄ Honu watched over their arrival. They placed cones and small signs around the turtles, keeping visitors at a safe distance where they wouldnât disturb them. People were naturally drawn to the turtles and sometimes tried to crowd closer, but the volunteers quietly protected the space the honu needed.
The volunteers could even predict roughly how many turtles would arrive. They might say that 10 or 14 were expected that evening, and sure enough, something close to that number would eventually make its way out of the water. Watching this nightly ritual, I became fascinated. Why did the same turtles return to the same beach night after night?
At first, I assumed it was connected to breeding. I thought perhaps PoÊ»ipĆ« was where they had been born and where they would someday return to lay their eggs. But when I began researching Hawaiian green sea turtles, I discovered a story far more remarkable than I had imagined.
The turtles at PoÊ»ipĆ« come ashore to rest. When it is time to reproduce, mature Hawaiian honu travel hundreds of miles northwest to remote, low-lying islands and atollsâprimarily Lalo, also known as French Frigate Shoals. More than 95 percent of HawaiÊ»iâs green sea turtle population nests in that region.
But what amazed me most was what happens long before that journey.
Tiny honu hatchlings emerge from the sand, usually at night, and make their way into the enormous Pacific Ocean. The first several years of their lives are sometimes called the âlost yearsâ because scientists still know relatively little about exactly where they go and how they live during that time.
Eventually, the young turtles find their way to the coastal waters and reefs of the main Hawaiian Islands. There they feed, grow, and settle into familiar home ranges. Hawaiian green sea turtles may not reach reproductive maturity until they are 25 to 35 years old, and they can live for 60 to 70 years or longer.
That means the large turtles I watched resting on the sand at PoÊ»ipĆ« may already have lived for decades. Each one had survived an extraordinary journey: leaving the safety of its nest as a tiny hatchling, disappearing into the open ocean, finding its way to the Hawaiian Islands, and growing there for years. When the time comes, it may navigate back toward the remote part of the archipelago where its life began.
Everyone knows sea turtles are amazing. People are instantly drawn to them, and it is easy to understand why. But when you learn their real storyâwhere they start, what they go through, how long they live, and the journeys they makeâit makes you appreciate them that much more.
