The common name for them would be Hawksbill sea turtles, but for the Hawaiians is ‘ea or honu’ea. This wonderful sea creatures nest on the main Hawaiian Islands, predominately on the Big Island of Hawaii. However, they also nest on beautiful Maui! They are most found in coral reefs, rocky areas, lagoons, and shallow coastal areas. They are known to pick the same resting spot night after night. Their favorite food are sponges, mm mm mm! Algae (reefs) are also part of their diet, which is interesting, since these elements can be toxic for us but not for them. I actually have seen them sun-bathing and swimming right close to the Maui shores. In the water you would probably see only one instead of a group, and the reason is because they are solitary most of their lives. Is a spectacle to see them, it truly gets to you because you probably have never seen one in the wild. They live about 30 to 50 years, and usually are able to start breeding when they are 25-35 years old, so is extremely important we take care of them, to have a chance to breed. If you see them, please keep a long distance from them. Mahalo!
