Sea Turtle Cruises Pipeline Lineup with Pro Surfers (Clip)
Seeing sea turtles in Hawaii is like seeing pigeons eating trash in New York.
Okay, they’re quite different, actually, from an experiential standpoint. One is graceful, stoic, nearly spiritual. The other is vile, aggressive, and rapacious. Can you guess which one is which? (Dumb question.) Although on polar opposites of the wild animal sighting spectrum, both are frequent, everyday characters in their respective domains.
But seeing a sea turtle amidst the lineup at Pipeline, chock full of hungry surfers, right before paddling into a bomb is next-level special. Take it from Koa Smith:
Captioning the clip, Smith wrote:
“Pretty special moment here, In the middle of the Pipeline chaos this Honu came up to me and said NEXT ONE KOA, GO!”
Special indeed.
In Hawaiian culture, legend, and mythology, the sea turtle (or Honu) is revered as a symbol of strength, wisdom, longevity, and fertility. For more, here’s a little history lesson from the National Park Service:
“150 million years before the fiery birth of the Hawaiian Islands, even before there was a Pacific Ocean, the first honu (green sea turtle, Chelonia mydas) raised its head from the water to breathe. Looking into the teary eyes of a basking turtle, we are literally looking at a survivor of the age of dinosaurs. From ancient reverence and utility to modern wonder, the turtle has fed our bodies and spirits.
“The honu is a powerful metaphor of the connection between people, land, and ocean. Hawaiian legend holds that the hero Aiai created honu by drawing marks upon a rock near the water turning it into a turtle. Because it is part earth, the creatures must return to land to lay their eggs.
“The honu has a place in myth and legend as a messenger, a monster sent to attack enemies, a living canoe that transports lovers to each other, and even as the foundation of some of the islands.”
The more you know.
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