TURTLE INDEPENDENCE DAY

This is me with a little green turtle “(honu” in Hawaiian), placing it in the Ocean on it’s first day of independence! The Mauna Lani Bay Resort on The Big Island of Hawaii is a beautifully Earth-friendly resort in so many ways. One of my favorite initiatives is their juvenile turtle program, where they receive 3-month old turtles from Oahu’s Sea Life Park and raise them in the salt water ponds of the resort. They are cared for until they are strong enough to be released into the ocean and the official release and celebration always takes place on July 4th. My turtle is called  Kahiwahiwa, meaning precious, beloved, favorite, and as soon as I placed him/her (you can’t tell until they’re older,) the 17 lb turtle took off into the vast open blue. In Hawaii, they say that a part of your soul goes out with the turtle. Watch the release here.

It was so heartening to stay at a resort, which doesn’t just pay lip service to being “Green”. These guys really respect the Earth and treat all of it’s inhabitants with great compassion. The children were a huge part of this celebration and I just love that they get to see first-hand that marine life is best seen in it’s natural habitat

My husband, Lola and I have been snorkeling crazy over the past few days and it just fascinates me to see the perfection of how everything works symbiotically in the ocean depths. Lola and I love to see how in the deep, the turtles have a “Cleaning station” – a spot where they go to have certain fish comes and eat the algae of their shells and even specific fish to swim into their mouths and clean their teeth. The turtles can’t survive without them and they can’t survive without the turtles.

Fortunate as we are to be able to swim around in these crystal waters, I can’t help but have nightmares about the Oil Spill in the gulf. It really brings home the complete and utter devastation. Just as in the gulf, the fisherman and the islanders here, depend on a clean ocean for their lives. We are all interdependent – there is no separation between man and nature. The health of humans and the health of the planet is inextricably linked. It’s hard to remember, to feel this connection back in my everyday life in an urban sprawl. I just hope I can keep these ocean memories alive – just to remind me that every action I take has a direct impact on every living thing.

If you want to try to do something about the Oil Spill, take action here!

(A full review on the Mauna Lani Resort to follow)