I know it might sound boring, but it was another picture perfect morning on Maui!  Mostly sunny skies and no wind created perfect conditions for paddling.  I paddled down to the boat ramp and as I was arriving, two kayakers and three paddle boarders were just leaving.  The only people left there were a woman paddler on a board and her son on  another board.  Initially, I didn’t see any turtles, so I sat down on my board and waited patiently.  Pretty soon the turtle show began!  I recently bought a disposable under water camera, so I brought it and was hoping to get some photos.  Turtles started popping up all around me and I was surrounded a couple of times, but I tried to get some photos.  The turtles seemed to be posing for me, it was so funny!  The woman paddler and her son paddled over to where I was and she said to me, “Those turtles are posing for you!”….it was just what I had been thinking too.  They were so excited to see so many turtles that they told some tourists on rented boards to follow me because I had turtles all around me!  Uh oh…..it wasn’t exactly what I wanted to happen, but they did just that….they followed me around.  They were overjoyed at all the turtles, but they were so noisy so I tried to move away from them. By then, I had counted fifteen turtles, and a paddling friend showed up.  We decided to paddle more south, towards Keawakapu.  Just as we passed the boat lane, three more turtles surfaced and then we saw one swimming under the water along with at least three manta rays, who were trying to hide in the rocks and coral.  I decided to turn around and start back, and before I knew it a couple more turtles popped up!  I think I had passed counting twenty turtles, so I stopped counting.  As I paddled past the boat ramp, five more turtles surfaced and I was surrounded!  I had to stop for that!  I paddled back in nice conditions, except the wind was starting to come up.  I made it back before the wind got crazy and took my swim down to the rocks and reef, where I visited with the fish!  Even though the wind was coming up, I swam back in decent conditions.  It was quite a turtle day for Friday the 13th!!!