Great day to get back out there!

It was a gorgeous day on Maui today!  The last two days have been crazy windy and it was threatening this morning too.  I paddled down to Kalama Park and then made my turn south.  The ocean was on the bumpy side, due to the white caps that were out further,  but I was overjoyed to be out on my board anyway.  The last day I paddled had been Nov. 8th and then I traveled, so it was really time for me to get out there!  The clouds moved in and out as I rode the bumps down to the boat ramp.  The ocean calmed down a bit when I arrived and I was the only one there.  Initially I didn’t see any turtles, so I sat on my board and waited patiently.  Suddenly the first turtle surfaced in front of me, then I saw two more out farther and paddled out to them.  One of the turtles popped up, looked at me, and then dove under my board and surfaced on the other side of me.  Now I was in-between the two turtles!  They were very large turtles and amazingly friendly, swimming around under my board.  I ended up counting eleven more turtles and got surrounded a couple of times!  Eventually some kayakers showed up to see the turtles, so I counted my “14 blessings”…. and felt grateful, and then started to paddle home.  Just as I was passing Kam III, turtle #15 popped up in front of me.  Now I had 15 blessings to be grateful for!  Lucky for me the wind stayed Kona and pushed at my back on the way home.  I took my swim down to the rocks and reef and got the same boost back as I did paddling, thanks to the Kona wind!  By the time I left, the wind had completely backed off and it was a totally gorgeous day at the beach.  I am so grateful to be able to live on Maui and enjoy the ocean all year round!