Sea Turtles

The big heat gripping Southern California leaves me daydreaming about big ocean adventures, like this one in Honolulu. It's described as an underwater scooter and snorkeling experience in Maunalua Bay, where you can see fish and sea turtles up close. For a limited time, the excursion is on sale for $99 per person, courtesy of Travelzoo . The deal: The Travelzoo discount cuts the cost of this two-hour excursion in half. As always, you purchase a voucher that can be redeemed with the dive company Island Water Sports based in Honolulu.

Consider the baby sea turtle: Just a few inches long, it emerges from its sandy nest and, using the moon as its compass, runs down the sandy beach away from its many predators and into the relative safety of the ocean surf. The faster these little guys run, the more likely they will survive sea gulls, crabs, snakes, rats and a long list of other animals waiting to eat them. And so, these primarily aquatic animals have developed mechanisms that allow them to move at speeds of several body lengths per second on both sandy and firm terrain.

It's too early to say whether President Obama has the upper hand in campaign 2012, but the verdict is in on one point: Obama is having the more relaxing week. As the Republican presidential field jockeys for advantage in the final days before the Iowa caucuses, the Obamas move from one really fun sun-splashed outing to the next. Tuesday found the first family releasing four green sea turtles into Hanauma Bay. The turtles, each 18 months old, were born at Sea Life Park north of the bay. The bay is closed on Tuesdays for routine maintenance, giving the Obamas privileged access to a tourist spot famous for its spectacular snorkeling.

Happy Earth Day! It's been 43 years since Wisconsin Sen. Gaylord Nelson celebrated the very first Earth Day on April 22, 1970. It's not yet a federal holiday, but Earth Day is celebrated by schoolkids from coast to coast (along with many adults). Of course, it goes without saying that for some folks, every day is Earth Day. Here are seven things you might not have known about Earth Day (and the spirit of environmentalism it represents): * More than 1 billion people in 192 countries are doing something to mark Earth Day this year, according to estimates from the Earth Day Network . In Veracruz, Mexico, volunteers will clean up beaches to improve the habitat for sea turtles.

Each summer, a ritual millions of years old unfolds on this beach, next to the high-rise condos and beach chairs, the T-shirt shops and the Hooters across the road. A 300-pound loggerhead turtle drags herself out of the water for the first time since her birth, probably on the same beach, 18 years ago. Under the moonlight, she kicks a 2-foot-deep hole into the sand, drops in a gleaming heap of eggs, covers it and then lumbers back out to sea. Two months later, 100 or more tiny turtles will scratch their way up through the sand, glimpse the shine of the moon and stars on the water that serves as some kind of celestial GPS, and head for the sea. Fishermen's nets, children with sand shovels, confusing waterfront lights and pollution have plundered the sea turtles, leaving all five species that inhabit the Gulf of Mexico endangered or threatened.

Turtles are the oldest reptiles on Earth, lethargic in fable, yet surprisingly graceful in reality. These lumbering, air-breathing, peaceful creatures are unlikely candidates for controversy. Yet, the languid sea turtles are the focus of a delicate political and economic ballet involving the U.S. shrimping industry, the U.S. Department of Commerce and environmentalists--a ballet that demonstrates a growing clash between protecting endangered species and maintaining precarious marine industries.

[ CHELONIA MYDAS ] Although there may be an odd sighting once in a while, sea turtles are not typically associated with California. Restricted to warm tropical waters, the rare green sea turtle that wanders north in summer must retreat south with the coming of winter. Imagine the surprise of scientists when they discovered 50 to 60 of these turtles living in south San Diego Bay in 1976.

Consider the baby sea turtle: Just a few inches long, it emerges from its sandy nest and, using the moon as its compass, runs down the sandy beach away from its many predators and into the relative safety of the ocean surf. The faster these little guys run, the more likely they will survive sea gulls, crabs, snakes, rats and a long list of other animals waiting to eat them. And so, these primarily aquatic animals have developed mechanisms that allow them to move at speeds of several body lengths per second on both sandy and firm terrain.

A cold snap has caused a high number of the world's most endangered sea turtles to wash ashore dead on Cape Cod beaches. Thirty Kemp's Ridley sea turtles have been reported on the beaches since Thursday. Nineteen were dead. Sea turtles suffering from hypothermia often wash ashore in November and December. When the animals' heart rate and body temperature fall, they become immobile. Wind blows them to shore, where they risk freezing to death.

An advocacy group working to save endangered sea turtles unveiled a campaign Tuesday to discourage visitors to Baja California from eating the reptiles. The campaign coincides with the season of Lent, when the turtles -- which live on beaches and in the water off Mexico's Baja Peninsula -- are often eaten by visitors and residents who mistakenly consider the reptiles an acceptable substitute for meat during the religious period.

The end of the holiday season sparks some great deals for travelers in Mexico 's Baja, including lodging and spa packages at Hacienda Beach Club & Residences in Cabo San Lucas . And the lodging specials at the resort include an opportunity to help with a conservation program. The 2-year-old Hacienda offers a long list of family-friendly activities, including a save-the-turtles program, which gives visitors a chance to release baby turtles to the sea. Within the last few months, guests have helped send more than 1,400 turtles on their way.  "We work closely with local officials on the turtle release program," said Ricardo Ramirez, Hacienda Beach Club & Residences general manager, who described the activity as a "one-of-a-kind experience" for guests.  Every year, female turtles, many of them Olive Ridley sea turtles -- also known as Golfina turtles -- lay thousands of eggs in nests on the beach.

Explore Hawaii 's Big Island on a two-wheel tour to see the rim of Kilauea Crater, sea turtles at Walohinu and Kona's lush coffee country. The seven-day Hawaii Classic Bike Tour from Bicycle Adventures features a circumnavigation of the perimeter of the island, with rides averaging 45 miles a day. Off-bike activities include a hike into Kilauea Crater, with two nights spent at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park , and a catamaran trip to go snorkeling. The tour begins in Waikoloa.

KEALAKEKUA, Hawaii - My husband, Eddie, was allergic to his wedding ring. I know that sounds like a bad opening to a novel, but aside from the traditional growing pains, we were solid. So instead of overanalyzing the fact that his skin became irritated whenever he slipped on the white-gold band, I decided to remedy the situation. We had been together for 12 years, and Hawaii was the place we escaped to whenever we needed to slow down and forgive each other for life's minor squabbles.

The big heat gripping Southern California leaves me daydreaming about big ocean adventures, like this one in Honolulu. It's described as an underwater scooter and snorkeling experience in Maunalua Bay, where you can see fish and sea turtles up close. For a limited time, the excursion is on sale for $99 per person, courtesy of Travelzoo . The deal: The Travelzoo discount cuts the cost of this two-hour excursion in half. As always, you purchase a voucher that can be redeemed with the dive company Island Water Sports based in Honolulu.

California has a state bird, a state flower and even a state fossil — the saber-toothed cat. Joining the bunch could be an official state marine reptile. A bill introduced last week by Assemblyman Paul Fong (D-Cupertino) would name the endangered Pacific leatherback sea turtle to a growing list of symbols that includes the California quail, the gray whale, the California poppy and the garibaldi — the state marine fish. The leatherback, the world's largest sea turtle, would claim an entry in the law books right below — and not to be confused with — its relative the desert tortoise, a landlubber that has held the title of state reptile since 1972.

It's too early to say whether President Obama has the upper hand in campaign 2012, but the verdict is in on one point: Obama is having the more relaxing week. As the Republican presidential field jockeys for advantage in the final days before the Iowa caucuses, the Obamas move from one really fun sun-splashed outing to the next. Tuesday found the first family releasing four green sea turtles into Hanauma Bay. The turtles, each 18 months old, were born at Sea Life Park north of the bay. The bay is closed on Tuesdays for routine maintenance, giving the Obamas privileged access to a tourist spot famous for its spectacular snorkeling.

Is it possible to save a generation without breaking any eggs? That's the tricky question the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, FedEx and hundreds of volunteers are beginning to answer this week as they dig up more than 70,000 turtle eggs on the gulf shore and transport them to the oil-free beaches of Cape Canaveral, Fla., where they'll be hatched in a warehouse and released into the ocean. It's one of the most ambitious wildlife nest relocations ever attempted, biologists said, a risky experiment to prevent widespread mortality of five threatened and endangered turtle species.

Nicaragua has deployed machine gun-toting police force dressed in battle fatigues and combat boots to make this Pacific coast beach safe for sea turtles. Each year, guided by moonlight, tens of thousands of sea turtles crawl out of the surf to lay hundreds of thousands of eggs in the beach at Chococente and elsewhere along the coast.

Federal agencies have changed the designation ofloggerhead sea turtles from a single threatened species to nine distinct population segments; five are listed as endangered and four are listed as threatened. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said the change will help scientists tailor conservation efforts to deal with threats faced by genetically distinct groups of the species in regions around the world. The decision Friday was in response to legal petitions filed in 2007 by the Center for Biological Diversity, the Turtle Island Restoration Network and Oceana for additional protections for the loggerheads.

In Tennessee Williams' play "Suddenly, Last Summer," the hatching of sea turtles in the Galapagos is described in desperately lovely detail by a woman who has just lost her son. "The narrow beach, the color of caviar, was all in motion, but the sky was in motion too ? as the hatched sea turtles made their dash to the sea while the birds hovered and swooped to attack, and hovered ? and swooped to attack!" The image haunts the play, symbolizing her son's fate, the fleet brutality of nature, the perilous race of survival, the fickleness of God. It lingers long after the details of the story have blurred.