PO‘IPU — A turtle resting atop the rocks at the breakwater to the keiki pond at Po‘ipu Beach Park was first reported around 7 a.m., Friday. Millie Johnston, a monk seal volunteer, said she was at the park to monitor
PO‘IPU — A turtle resting atop the rocks at the breakwater to the keiki pond at Po‘ipu Beach Park was first reported around 7 a.m., Friday.
Millie Johnston, a monk seal volunteer, said she was at the park to monitor the movements of a large male monk seal when a female beach-goer reported the turtle.
“I did go over once we roped off the seal, and the turtle was still in the same spot it was reported at,” Johnston said. “The lifeguards went over and examined it closer, but it only did a few movements. It’s been there ever since.”
Johnston said there appeared to be no physical injuries to the turtle.
“It’s a pretty big turtle,” Kaua‘i Ocean Safety Bureau water safety officer Roy Yamagata said. “Its shell has be about three feet in length, but it has no tumors and just wants to sit on the rocks.
Johnston said a call was put in to state biologist Don Heacock who said it could be a turtle dying of old age, but would be by later in the day to remove it from the rocks.
During the interim, water safety officers from the Po‘ipu tower roped off the area.
