WHAT IS A HONU?

April 7, 2025

You’ll see postcards and tee shirts, mugs and candy bars, signage and paintings all over the islands…the honu is one of the predominant symbols of Hawaii.

A stuffed frog wearing a purple hoodie is sitting on a pile of stuffed animals.

A honu is a Green Sea Turtle and this species ( Chelonia mydas ) is the most common turtle you will see when you visit us in Hawaii. They have come to symbolize endurance, long life & good luck. Sea turtles are protected by law and so, remember to not harass or bother any turtles that you are lucky enough to observe, either in the water or on land.


Hawaii is one of the few populated places (especially the Kona – Kohala coast of the Big Island) where these turtles like to bask on the beaches and so, you will often see several turtles sunning themselves along the shoreline. The adults are herbivores that live on seagrass and algae (limu) and you can often find them resting underwater, on ledges or in caves. While they are reptiles and need to breathe air just like us, they can “sleep” underwater for up to 2 hours without surfacing! If you do spook one by accident, you’ll see them shoot away at up to 20mph!


Most of the nesting beaches for these turtles are in the Northwestern Hawaiian islands, away from the main centers of population. As with other types of marine turtles, the females will come onto land to lay their eggs (up to 100 at a time) in a deep pit which they will dig under the cover of darkness. About 2 months later, the juveniles will dig their way out & make their way to the sea, living primarily (as omnivores) on jellyfish for the first few years of their lives.


These turtles can reach a weight of 300-400 lbs and a length of 3-4ft.. While they can have some algae on their shells (carapace) giving them a greenish hue, these turtles actually get their name from the green color of their fat. While we are still learning much about the honu lifecycle, it’s believed they can live to be over 100 years old (and they take 20-50 years to reach sexual maturity).


Threats to these turtles include their natural predators tiger sharks but, they are suffering from more modern problems these days such as loss of secluded beaches for nesting (due to coastal development) and ingestion of plastics (how easily a discarded plastic bag or deflated balloon could appear like food to a hungry young honu, scouring the open ocean for jellyfish). Our oceans are also full of fishing gear, a major risk to turtles who can drown in nets. Some honu are suffering from a herpes type disease (fibropapillomatosis) which causes tumors to grow on their bodies.


Scientists are trying to find out what causes this disease – which can impact the foraging & digestive abilities of the honu – but it’s thought to have something to do with the overall degradation of their marine habitat. Other turtles that can be observed in Hawaii include the Hawksbill and less frequently seen leatherback, olive ridley and loggerhead turtles.


The honu of the Big Island looks forward to making your acquaintance!


Book a snorkel or dive trip with Kohala Divers to go to areas where Hawaiian Green Sea turtles are often encountered! Book Now! 

A scubapro scuba diver is swimming in the ocean
By Rebekah Kaufmann June 25, 2025
I began my journey into Scuba as a very nervous participant. I did not consider myself a very adventurous person and was coerced by a significant other to try Scuba. I was living in the pacific Northwest. Surrounded by cold and mysterious salt water bays, sounds and canals. I was fascinated by everything about the underwater world except going into an environment inhospitable to human life. When I finally was convinced to sign up for an open water scuba class I was terrified. I read the PADI manual cover to cover twice before the first class (this was before eLearning existed) I was sure there was so much technical skill and memorization I’d need to master to make it out alive from my first dive. The night before my first session I called the instructor to tell him this just wasn’t for me. I was terrified and I was pretty sure I did not have the ability to survive the pool session the next day. He asked me to please give it a try. He didn’t want to break his record of no student quitting on him and would I just get in the pool and see what happens. No pressure to continue after that. I reluctantly agreed. I over thought every skill in the pool and awkwardly made it through the skills development sessions. My instructor kept reminding me “relax this is fun”. So far to me the stress of getting it right was over shadowing any fun to be had. The weekend finally came to do the open water check out dives. We were going to a popular “easy” shore diving spot called Illahee state park. It was a pebble beach with a long wooden dock with tall tar covered pilings with muscles and seaweed growing off of the stretches exposed from the low tide. It was early fall so air temperature was mild but still we poured ourselves into double layer 7mm farmer John style wetsuits to keep warm In the frigid 44 degree water of the puget sound. 7 mm hoods gloves and boots and I no longer felt, looked or moved like a human. Our class of 5 waddled towards the sea fins in hand following our instructor and his assistant. As we donned Fin’s and defogged our masks I was mildly panicking trying to reenact everything I’d learned and imagining (dreading) going below the black surface of this frigid water. The plan was to start descending near a piling for reference. We did our buddy checks. BWRAF which of course I’d memorized from my panic studying. The other students raised their deflators. And carelessly dropped below with the dive pros. I added more air to my BC and started to cry. The assistant instructor stayed below with the other comfortable divers and my instructor re emerged from below. Did you forget which button to push to release air he asked? “No” I said “but I think I’m pretty cozy right here. Did you see how pretty the sky is today? Up here. Where we can breathe air? Without monitoring it? “ He laughed and asked if we could just put our regulators in and hold the pier and just let our heads go under. See what it’s like down there. No pressure. We can come right back up. Well ok I could handle that. As I released the air from the BC I found I didn’t drop out of control like I’d feared. In fact I could control it by exhaling. I was still pretty wide eyed and in my head but it was ok. Then Jim my instructor pointed at the piling. There on a slimy black mound of algae was the most fluttery, colorful nudibranch you could imagine. Just slowly sliming his way along the pier. He had spiral spikes coming from his head and soft feathers coming from his back. I’d never seen anything like it. I moved closer and saw scattered below that was starfish in multiple colors laying over each other in a kaleidoscope of colors. Below that anemones opened and closed as they swayed in a gentle back and forth motion. Keeping to his word Jim gave me the thumbs up to signal we could kick back to the surface from the 8 feet we’d descended. Before I could even get the regulator out of my mouth I was babbling about how cool the slug was and did he see the starfish and what was that soft sock looking thing with tentacles. I was giddy. He just smiled. Want to join the others for open water dive one. YES. Once I got out of my head I enjoyed every minute under water. The sinking descent controlled by an exhale. The tiniest touch to your Bouyancy device allowing you to position and stay weightless. The ease of sipping just the air you need without thought. The sound of bubbles that take over the chatter from above. I’d found my happy place and I’ve never looked back. Fast forward 25 years later and I own a PADI 5 star dive business on the big Island of Hawaii. I’ve worked as a dive instructor for my entire career and now get to provide an environment for other budding instructors to live their passion and bring more new divers into the world of SCUBA. To this day my favorite part of teaching diving is to those that it doesn’t come easily to. Bring me your terrified, your nervous, your overthinking land lovers that are curious about what it’s like beneath the sea and willing to try something they are scared of. When my good friend Christine expressed interest in giving diving a try I was drop jawed. Since I’d known her she could barely get on a boat. Swimming in a 4 foot swimming pool conjured up fears of the megaladon for her. Perfect I thought. I’m always up for a challenge.  Her drive to learn scuba was to be part of her family’s adventures since they were divers. Also she wanted to prove to herself she could face her fears. For many fear of deep water runs deep. Since it’s my passion to help new divers overcome fears and find peace underwater I wanted to learn more about where these fears come from. Here are the main reasons people fear deep water:
By Rebekah Kaufmann April 29, 2025
Exploring the underwater world for the first time can be life changing!!
A pair of serene scuba diving goggles laying on a hawaiian towel
April 7, 2025
Is this you?!?! Do you exhale in your socially-distant mask and fog your glasses? Well, the people who de-fog your scuba mask have some advice: