Lanaikea Beach aka Turtle Beach, North Shore, Oahu

What I like best about Hawaii, even when telling you the rules, it's friendly

Do you like turtles? I love them, so we were excited to learn that there is a beach on the North Shore of Oahu nicknamed Turtle Beach.

Rocks are good for climbing at Turtle Beach

The real name of the beach is Lanaikea.

Snorkeler at Turtle Beach searching for the sea creature

Besides turtles, the beach has is sandy and the water is relatively calm making it good for snorkeling.

No turtles on the beach in the morning, but plenty of their food source, green seaweed

We arrived at the beach early and there were no turtles on the beach. We walked around quite a bit, but were only able to spot a couple turtles in the water who surfaced briefly for oxygen.

Lanaikea Beach aka Turtle Beach, North Shore, Oahu

After a while, we decided to go down the road to Ehukai Beach and see if there were any surfers in the water. We had a good time there, had lunch at Kalua o Maua Beach, and went back Lanaikea Beach to see if any turtles had decided to spend some time on the beach.

Cheeky signs advertising where the green turtles (Honu) like to bask

We were in luck!

Honu posing for the camera

As we drove by, we saw a crowd of people gathered on the beach. 

Lots of people gathered around the turtle, but luckily I was able to get pretty close

Beach volunteers work on site educating tourists about the turtles and their habitat. And, when a turtle comes ashore, they set up a perimeter to protect the turtles.

Stay behind the rope, Mahalo

The turtles don't seem to mind humans being around, as long as they keep ten feet away.

One last picture before we go

I snapped some photos of the Honu (Hawaiian Green Turtle) and our day was made!

Busy street you have to cross to get to the beach

If you go: Parking is an issue at Lanaikea Beach. You have to park across the street, so you need to cross a busy street to get to the beach and there isn't a visible cross walk. That leads to people darting in front of cars. Be careful! If you can't find a spot in the parking lot across the street, you can park on the side of the street (there's a wide shoulder), but beware of no parking signs and don't block the driveways of local residents. That wouldn't be in keeping with the Aloha Spirit, now would it?
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