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BACK in the old days, writing this column was a lonely job. For hours, I would labor over a piece, getting the words just so, wondering all the while if anyone other than my editors and relatives would ever read them. And if people did read the columns, I wondered who they were and what they thought.

Today, with the Star-Bulletin on the Internet and my email address published each week, I now know lots more about my readers. (Yes! There are some unrelated to me!)

A particularly friendly batch of letters comes from former Hawaii residents living in other parts of the world who want to keep up with island news. One such person is Michigan resident Roger Peterson, one of the first graduates of the University of Hawaii's Marine Option Program in 1973. His connection to the ocean is an interesting one that illustrates the wide range and usefulness of the program.

While at UH, Peterson, a business student interested in transportation, joined the program and participated in several marine-related projects. Later, as a graduate student, he published a paper on oil transport from Valdez, Alaska, predicting that something like the Exxon Valdez disaster was bound to happen. This led to a dissertation on maritime oil tanker accidents and finally a teaching post at Eastern Michigan University in business administration, where he is today.

Roger shared some other interesting information. In my July 31 Oceanwatch, I wrote that saw sharks live in Lake Nicaragua. According to one of Roger's graduate students, these remarkable fish also live in Venezuela's Lake Maraicaibo where, unfortunately, they are being threatened by pollution.

I wrote about saw sharks because I saw my first one recently at a tunnel aquarium in Hong Kong. Two readers wrote to tell me that Vallejo, Calif., has a tunnel-shaped aquarium and so does a Las Vegas hotel. I now have a mission during my next visits to those areas.

Most of my emails are like those above: upbeat and informative. But some present a problem I didn't anticipate. Because years of Oceanwatch columns are stacking up on the Internet, old pieces appear during subject searches. Thus, I sometimes get letters like this: "I live near a boat ramp in Queensland Australia and I have often wondered the same thing." Or, "Could you please give me more details about that snorkeling site? I would love to go there."

OTHER messages that make me smile are from people who say my columns have made a difference in their lives. One Michigan woman (lots of letters come from Michigan) wrote that during a recent visit to Hawaii, she went snorkeling on the North Shore and saw two turtles within reach. "I always dreamed as a kid that it would be neat to ride a sea turtle. Don't worry, Susan! I didn't do it! I know from your columns that they are protected and I respect that."

I wish more people would respect our turtles. Last year, I wrote about an Oahu beach where dozens of big, tame turtles were coming to the shoreline to graze on seaweed. That piece generated dozens of letters, mostly requests for the exact location of this remarkable place.

Now I'm wondering if revealing the spot was a mistake. The last two times I went there, I saw no turtles and neither did my sister last week. A woman at the beach told her she has seen people teasing the turtles and sitting on them.

Oh well, some columns are better than others. But writing them is always fun and these days it's a lot less lonely. Thanks, everyone.