Turtle Bay is located between Protection Point and Kuilima Point on the North Shore of the island of

Oahu Oahu () ( Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over two-thirds of the population of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The island of O� ...

in the U.S. State of Hawaii. Green sea turtles were known to feed in the bay, so residents renamed the area "Turtle Bay". This name predates the completion of the former Kuilima Resort Hotel and Country Club in May 1972, although it is not the bay's original name. The Bay is currently home to the famous

Turtle Bay Resort The Turtle Bay Resort is a resort with cottages on the North Shore of Oahu island in Hawaii. Description The resort is about a 50-minute drive from Honolulu, between Kahuku, Hawaii to the east and Kawela Bay, Hawaii to the west. The resort o ...

, which includes hotels, cottages and a golf course. The

James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. It was established in 1976, to permanently protect an ecologically-intact unit and to provide habitat for native and migratory fauna and native f ...

preserves a small pond adjacent to the golf course.

Geography and environment

One of the last undeveloped areas on

, Turtle Bay is recognized for its rock formations, wild coastal beaches, threatened

green sea turtles The green sea turtle (''Chelonia mydas''), also known as the green turtle, black (sea) turtle or Pacific green turtle, is a species of large sea turtle of the family Cheloniidae. It is the only species in the genus ''Chelonia''. Its range exten ...

and endangered

Hawaiian monk seal The Hawaiian monk seal (''Neomonachus schauinslandi'') is an endangered species of earless seal in the family Phocidae that is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. The Hawaiian monk seal is one of two extant monk seal species; the other is the ...

habitats, whale spottings, traditional fishing areas, small local agricultural lots and Hawaiian ancestral burial grounds. The beach is sandy but the swimming conditions are poor because the ocean floor near the shoreline is rocky. There is a large limestone shelf that spans almost the entire length of the bay. The coastal underwater formations are home to one of the most striking limu (algae) found in the Islands. '' Martensia fragilis'' grows on rocks in tide pools and on reef flats. This iridescent species ranges from light blue to pink and orange in color. The bay is surrounded by about of beaches and of trails.

Attractions

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

concrete bunker stands at the tip of the bay's western point. It is located at , just north of Route 83, which is known as

Kamehameha Highway Kamehameha Highway is one of the main highways serving suburban and rural O‘ahu in the U.S. state of Hawai‘i. Informally known as Kam Highway, it begins at Nimitz Highway near Pearl Harbor and Hickam Air Force Base in Honolulu, serves the ...

. To the west of the point is

Kawela Bay Kawela Bay is a census-designated place and small community in the Koolauloa District on the northern coast of the island of Oahu, City & County of Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. In Hawaiian, ''ka wela'' means "the heat". As of the 2020 c ...

, and to the east, the former site of

Kahuku Army Airfield Kahuku Army Air Field is a former wartime airfield in Hawaii. It was located in the northern part of the Island of Oahu. History World War II Possibly developed as an emergency field dating to the 1930s, but it was not until the United States en ...

. The

has the North Shore's sole large hotel. The resort rests on including the former airfield runways. Other accommodations on the resort include the beach front Villas (built in 2005) and the Kuilima Estates Condos (built in the early 1970s). The resort took the "turtle bay" name officially in 1983. Previously the area was called Kuilima, and the point was Kalaeokaunu. A $45 million deal to preserve nearly 630 acres of open space with the Turtle Bay Resort was finalized in October 2015.

Sports

Located just north of the famed Banzai Pipeline, Turtle Bay is the site of the Rainbows Break surfing spot. The bay is also one of a number of spots used for kayaking on the North Shore. Turtle Bay Resort has two championship golf courses, the

Arnold Palmer Arnold Daniel Palmer (September 10, 1929 – September 25, 2016) was an American professional golfer who is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most charismatic players in the sport's history. Dating back to 1955, he won numerous ev ...

Course and the

George Fazio George Fazio (November 12, 1912 – June 6, 1986) was an American professional golfer and a golf course architect. Life and career Fazio, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was a respected player in the mid-twentieth century and competed in seven ...

Course. In October 2015, Turtle Bay hosted "The Stand Up World Series", a professional platform for the world's best stand-up paddle racers to determine the legitimate men's, women's, and under-16 world champions.

Television and film

Turtle Bay is a common area for filming because of its still largely unspoiled landscape, natural environment, and large waves, along with its proximity to

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

. The prologue to the 1974 film '' Death Wish'', depicting Charles Bronson and

Hope Lange Hope Elise Ross Lange (November 28, 1933 – December 19, 2003) was an American film, stage, and television actress. She was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress ...

as a married couple on vacation, was shot in Turtle Bay. The area was the setting for the 2008 Universal Pictures film, ''

Forgetting Sarah Marshall ''Forgetting Sarah Marshall'' is a 2008 American comedy film directed by Nicholas Stoller and starring Jason Segel, Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis and Russell Brand. The film, which was written by Segel and co-produced by Judd Apatow, was released b ...

''. Produced by

Judd Apatow Judd Apatow (; born December 6, 1967) is an American comedian, director, producer, and screenwriter, best known for his work in comedy and drama films. He is the founder of Apatow Productions, through which he produced and directed the films ' ...

, filming began in April 2007 at the Turtle Bay Resort. With its rock formations and constant rolling surf, Turtle Bay served as a backdrop for the ABC TV series, ''Lost''. In addition to outside locations, a World War II-era bunker in the area was used as both an

Iraqi Republican Guard Iraqi or Iraqis (in plural) means from Iraq, a country in the Middle East, and may refer to: * Iraqi people or Iraqis, people from Iraq or of Iraqi descent * A citizen of Iraq, see demographics of Iraq * Iraqi or Araghi ( fa, عراقی), someone o ...

installation and a

Dharma Initiative The Dharma Initiative, also written DHARMA (Department of Heuristics and Research on Material Applications), is a fictional research project and organization featured in the television series '' Lost''. It was introduced in the second season ep ...

research station. On 25 March 2012, the Discovery Channel's MythBusters TV show episode, "marooned on a desert island" with only duct tape and a few other items, was filmed on location at Turtle Bay.

References

External links