Wild Side Specialty Tours

We quickly sailed over to Makaha Bay where we anchored. Tori explained that about 100 yards from the boat was a "turtle cleaning station" where Hawaiian Green Sea Turtles or Honu congregate to have their shells manicured.

The "turtle cleaning station" is actually a large coral head where the turtles go to have damselfishes, angelfishs, and other algae eaters literally eat the built-up algae off of their sensitive shells. As described by Wild Side, "As they hover patiently over corals or sit on the bottom, the hungry fishes, eagerly perform the task."

I was amazed by the large number of turtles present. I'd never seen that many Hawaiian green sea turtles in one place. There were large old turtles and small young ones as well. It was clearly evident which turtles had just arrived for their cleaning and which were just about finished being cleansed."

I found a number of the turtles particularly human friendly. Like dolphins you should not aggressively approach the turtles. There really was no need here. I found one turtle that eagerly swam alongside me for several minutes.

This was truly the highlight of my day.