Basking Honu, Rare Nests, and the Ten Feet Everyone Is Meant to Keep

Two different things get called turtle season on Maui and they are not the same.

Basking, which happens all year

Green sea turtles, honu, haul out onto the sand to rest. On Maui the reliable place is Hoʻokipa Beach Park on the north shore, where they come ashore at the eastern end most afternoons, often in numbers, and there is an overlook above the beach to watch from. Maluaka at Mākena sees regular activity in the water.

A basking turtle is not stranded and does not need help. What it needs is space. Federal guidance is 10 feet on land and in the water. A semicircle of people between a turtle and the sea will keep it on the sand, and dogs are a genuine hazard. Volunteers often rope resting animals off; stay behind the tape.

Never touch, ride or chase a honu. Give a surfacing turtle in the water a clear path to the air.

Nesting, which is rarer than people think

Most Hawaiian green turtle nesting happens far out in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands rather than on the main islands, so a honu nest on a Maui beach is uncommon.

The nests that do turn up here are more often honuʻea, the Hawaiian hawksbill — a critically endangered species with an estimated average of only around 20 to 25 females nesting across the state annually. Most of those nest on Hawaiʻi Island's remote southeastern coast, with a small number of nests recorded on isolated beaches on Maui, Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi and Kauaʻi. Nesting season in Hawaiʻi runs broadly from around May through December, with clutches of roughly 130 to 160 eggs.

What that means on the beach

Because nests here are few and scattered, they are not marked the way a Florida or Carolina beach would be. Practical courtesies that cost nothing:

• Fill in holes and knock down sandcastles before you leave. A hole is a trap for a hatchling.
• Take chairs, umbrellas and toys off the sand overnight.
• Keep lights off the beach after dark. Hatchlings orient to the brightest horizon and a bright deck sends them inland.
• Report a turtle crawl, a nest or an animal in distress rather than approaching it.

Monk seals follow a different rule: 50 feet, and 150 feet for a mother with a pup.