It was a beautiful morning on Maui, with just a slight northerly breeze and comfortable temperatures.  As I was paddling past Kam I, I noticed a blue color of something moving under the water.  It was far enough down that I couldn’t make out what it was, but I thought it was a manta ray.  A paddling friend came by and she saw another one, so we followed them around for a few minutes but they never surfaced.  She decided to join me on my paddle down to the boat ramp.  The conditions were lovely and it was so nice down there!  Just as we were passing Kam III, my friend spotted a turtle.  I paddled over to it, but it was not interested in hanging around.  As we arrived at the boat ramp, another turtle surfaced and I paddled over to it.  It was a friendly turtle and hung around for a few minutes. Before we knew it several other turtles were surfacing, but the pontoon tour boat was cruising in too.  My friend decided to paddle farther south, so I sat by the tour boat and a turtle surfaced on my right!  I paddled away from the tour boat, and two other turtles surfaced.  One was really friendly and swam right up to my board and then dove under and swam under me!  That was about nine turtles altogether so I was really happy with that.  I started to paddle back and the conditions were still perfect.  My friend caught up with me and we paddled together.  I had just said wouldn’t it be great if a whale showed up….and all of a sudden we spotted some whales out in the distance splashing and spouting!  They were still out farther that we felt comfortable paddling out to, but then my friend spotted some whales out in front of where we were sitting and so we started paddling towards them!  That is when things started to get very exciting!  It was a mother whale and a calf!  I got right up close to them and it was amazing!           The mother whale and her calf turned south and I was right there, paddling right next to them!  I couldn’t believe how close I was to them.  I could see, hear and smell them I was so close!  I was hooting and motioning for my friend to paddle over, but she kept her distance.  Suddenly the mother whale and her calf abruptly turned right in front of me, and I had to gasp….there they were and I could have bumped right into them!  Luckily they turned south again and I kept paddling with them.  So many other paddlers and kayakers were suddenly surrounding us to get a look.  I followed them through Kam II, and then the mother and calf started to head out to sea.  I had enough excitement for one day, so I paddled home.  Just as I was coming in so was the wind,  and it really started to blow!  I knew I was in for a rough water swim, but I didn’t care.  Nothing could ruin the amazing day I had just had, nothing!!!!