Snorkeling with the Honu

Drew and I started this morning off early with a personal adventure for before our trip to Pearl Harbor: We went snorkeling with sea turtles!  Honu, as the green sea turtles are called in Hawaiian, are symbols of good luck, endurance and long life, and they are thought to have guided the first Polynesian settlers to the islands according to Hawaiian legends.

I’ve never been snorkeling before and honestly, I was a bit scared to jump out into the ocean with nothing to protect meme from the oceanic wildlife except for a plastic mask and a giant straw… But it was a great experience!  Sea turtles have always been one of my favorite animals.  They’re so peaceful!  It was amazing getting to swim a mere five feet away from a 300-pound turtle.  At one point I looked down through the water and there were five turtles lazing around below me, fish eating the barnacles off of their shells and a small sand shark hanging out on the ocean floor!  It was so awesome!