THE TRIUMPH OF THE TURTLES

 It may not have been the most majestic sight I saw in Hawaii or the most picturesque, but the perseverance and unflinching courage of the green sea turtles flapping their flippers on the shore of Ho’okipa Beach to lay their eggs is surely among the greatest testaments to the resiliency of life in Maui. The turtles don’t even make it look easy. They lay on the sand protecting their soon to be hatchlings, patiently awaiting the day the new generation of green sea turtles will accompany them back into the ocean. Before that day comes the parents put on a truly inspiring show of making their way back. Revolving their flippers they wade the rocky sand, slowly inching their way to the water. When they are close enough the waves sweep them back in and they are lost to the hundreds of spectators as they swim gracefully in the shielding blue waters of Ho’okipa. 



Resilience was needed on the day I arrived at Ho’okipa Beach. A heavy rainfall began almost immediately after I parked my rental car and made my way to the overlook to observe some humpback whales in the distance. The storm started gradually, with winds and then a soaking rain. I withheld while I could, but not having rain gear with me that would not be for long. I made my way back into my vehicle and within minutes the rest of the spectators had as well. Even the chickens that ran free around the island took shelter under bushes. The rain did nothing, however, to deter a handful of intrepid surfers who took up the challenge to ride the wild waves. 

                                                                 Ho'okipa Beach


Gradually the storm faded, the clouds began to clear and the spectators emerged from their vehicles. 



I made my way down the overlook and closer to the beach where much of the crowd was gathered watching the life cycle of the turtles, while a band of locals that had taken shelter under an overhang played hits from the 70s on a radio. Once down by the turtles I got to talking to a family from Seattle who recommended other great areas for sightseeing on the island. There was a unifying result in watching the dedication of the adult sea turtles; a species so unlike us in so many ways and yet risking injury and death to breed new life. 

Seeing so many turtles dotting the shores of Ho’okipa Beach one may be forgiven for forgetting that the green sea turtle is classified as an endangered species, hunted in much of its native range for its meat and shell. But in Hawaii, a state with an exemplary record for conservation, the natural world prevails. There, even the green sea turtles remind humans of the triumph of life. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

SALVATORE MARANZANO: THE KILLING AND ERASING OF A MOB BOSS

  The modern Mafia was born with the assassination of Salvatore Maranzano on September 10, 1931, and yet not a single photo of Maranzano alive has surfaced. There is but one verified photo of Maranzano, after he was stabbed to death by Lucky Luciano’s gang at Maranzano’s office in New York Central Building, a bloodied corpse spread on the floor with his face mutilated beyond recognition. From this photo a face impression was recently stitched together by computer wizards but the limits of technology show. One mystery the technicians, with all their skill, could not crack is the identity of the assailants who brought Maranzano down.   This lack of record is baffling considering the pivotal role Maranzano played in the history of the Mafia, his rise to power coming at a pivotal time in its transformation. Maranzano saw opportunity playing upon the growing rift between the new generation of mobsters and the old guard but instead became its second victim and kicked off a purge o...
Read more

MY UNFINISHED NOVEL

 Perhaps what fascinates me most about unfinished works is that they leave so much to the speculation. What is left to us are clues to a mystery that, if they could be solved, would tell the full story that exists only within the artist’s imagination. I make a point of seeking out examples of works left incomplete deliberately (a decision often born out of artistic frustration) or as casualties of finances, destruction or death of the artist. It’s become a hobby to fit these tantalizing pieces into an artistic canon and patching together what the artist envisioned. What if Jane Austen had finished Sanditon and what was the true ending (though letters left behind have officially confirmed the identity of the murderer) of Dickens’s The Mystery of Edwin Drood ? Though it takes turns conventional and breathless soon after Henry James’s The Sense of the Past begins so atmospherically one wishes the author had not abandoned it. Even cinema has its ghosts. Existing scraps from Orson Wel...
Read more

THE BLEAK FASCINATION OF SIX FLAGS NEW ORLEANS

Image
 Urban exploration, as the term is used by the seekers of crumbling architecture, has a distinct appeal from the more popular and not specifically named spectacle of ancient ruins. The latter offers clues to a long-vanished world, a life so abstracted from our own that any narrative assembled from the remnant pieces is fueled by speculation. Urban exploration hits closer to our shared cultural home. It offers pieces of a familiar world and a life we know. For some an abandoned urban landscape evokes specific memories but, even for those visiting the shattered remains of a once thriving location, there are enough commonalities to imagine the place at its peak with relative accuracy. Whether or not we knew the now decaying place in person we bond over the shared history, a bond formed by remnants of a shared culture, history or routine. There is a haunting bittersweetness, then, to most such spots not entirely different from visiting a cemetery or a memorial. Most abandoned areas tel...
Read more