Monday, August 21, 2006

Swimming With the Turtles On North Shore Oahu

Daughters #1 & #3 joined me for a morning of snorkling at Shark's Cove (Pupukea) on Oahu's North Shore last Friday. That stretch of coast is both a marine preserve and one of the island's premiere scuba/snorkling areas. It was a state holiday and the area was jammed with people of all shapes, sizes, races, cultures, languages and nationalities. But the fish didn't seem to mind. In fact, they seemed to enjoy all the attention they were getting!

The morning's highlight was our encounter with three Green Sea Turtles. A "Daddy" sized one along with a "Mommy" and a "Baby" turtle, too. Sort of a family! With a cheap, disposable (non-flash) waterproof camera I came away with the following pictures. They turned out nice enough to want to share them with the world!

First come the turtle pictures!

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
"Mommy"
Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
"Mommy"
Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
"Mommy" & "Baby"
Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
"Mommy" again (sorry, no "Daddy" pictures)

Then some "fishy" ones.

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

A Moorish Idol

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Achilles Tang

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
I said it was crowded!

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Orangebar Surgeonfish

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
Another Moorish Idol

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
The infamous Humuhumunukunukuapua'a

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
A narrow spot between reef and the ocean's surface

And, lastly, a friendly wave from Daughter #1.

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Each of these photos was scanned from the original prints and color adjusted to look just the way we saw them under the water! Pretty good, huh?