Green Sea Turtle, Chelonia mydas
Green sea turtles are found in warm water throughout the world. Here in Hawaii they frequent near shore habitats where they can find food (mostly algae), hide from predation (mainly sharks), and frolic in the warm beautiful water. However they will travel hundreds of miles from the main Hawaiian islands in order to travel back to their natal beach to lay their eggs.
We don't see any of the baby turtles until they start showing up in the eight main Hawaiian islands after 6-7 years. The smaller ones we see are about dinner plate size but grow to 400+lbs behemoths, making them the largest hard shelled sea turtle in the world. Only the leatherback grows bigger tipping the scales at nearly 2000lbs!
This medium sized turtle kept an eye on me as he came up for a few breaths of air. The water was so clear that I could almost see his reflection in the surface.
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