Limited Time

This morning I did a scouting trip of some of the local beaches near our hotel.  At the first beach I noticed this Green Sea Turtle lying on the beach.  The tide was rising and this turtle was at the peak of the last high tide, 12 hours before I arrived.  The sun was starting to get warmer and I began to think the turtle was dead.

There was no indication that this turtle had moved.  The sand around it was pristine.  A fellow observer, a respiratory therapist, noted that it didn't appear to be breathing.  Through the lens, however, I noted that it's eye blinked, trying to shake off the small flying knats around it's eye.

Using a 70-200mm lens/tripod to observe the turtle, it was difficult to wonder how this turtle could eat and/or see.  A smaller tumor on the opposite side was also attached near the mouth.  I was heeding the 30 ft. safety circle and not disturbing the turtle.  They live to be 80-90 years, but I can't tell you how old this one was.

A local man, familiar with the beach and procedures for beached turtles, called the authorities.  Apparently it's been beaching itself once a week now.  It appears that it's time is limited.  I wondered what the cause of those cauliflower-like tumors was.  Marine beings are often harmed at the hands of humans due to tangled fishing line, broken netting around limbs, and of course pollution.

I would have loved to photographed a healthy specimen of this species, but I realized that I needed to share this photo anyways.  Not everything in nature is pretty, but the dignity of a green sea turtle beaching itself for might be one more time, was something that reminded me that all our time is limited.

That's why I'm in Hawaii - making the most of it!