Turtle buddy!

It was a perfect morning for paddling and I had four more photos left on my camera, so off I went!  The wind was threatening at first, but then it backed off and got perfect.  I paddled down to the boat ramp and there were two paddlers already there, so I sat just north of them, but no turtles were around.  Pretty soon the other paddlers got bored and left, but I hung around.  I spotted my first turtle out farther so I paddled out to it.  It was so friendly, coming right up to my board (see picture), so I got a good picture of it!  The turtles were surfacing one at a time, so I was able to personalize their visits with me…..until they started coming up in two’s and three’s!  I was surrounded several times and a paddling friend joined me, and at one time we had a turtle on one side of her, one turtle on my side and then one turtle surfaced right in-between us!  Before I knew it, I had easily counted twenty turtles, so I quit counting.  More people started to notice all the activity and soon we had quite a group there at the boat ramp!  My friend and I decided to paddle more south, away from the crowd.  More turtles started to surface there too, and I gave up on counting them!  We even saw a school of pretty blue fish too!  It was quite a turtle day…..one turtle surfaced as I started out paddling; then all the turtles down at the boat ramp; and then I ran across a turtle as I paddled back past Kam II!  And it didn’t end there….when I went for my swim, I was headed back when I ran across another turtle!  I swam over it for a while and then let it go on by itself.  It was quite a day!  I can’t wait for tomorrow!