Visiting turtles!

It was a perfect morning for paddling and I couldn’t wait to get out there.  The skies were mostly sunny with just some patchy clouds and it was clear on the top of Haleakala, and there was no wind.  I paddled down to the boat ramp and when I was passing Kam II,  a guy in a white one man canoe paddled by me and asked if I was alright and did I want a bottle of water!  I am not sure why he thought I might not be alright, but that was nice of him anyway.  When I got down to the boat ramp, two other paddlers were sitting in my spot, and then I noticed two snorkelers nearby too.  The morning was so perfect and the ocean was so glassy!  I paddled closer to the boat ramp and sat down on my board.  Me, and the two other paddlers sat there with no turtles for a few minutes,  and then the other paddlers got bored and moved on.  Then my first turtle surfaced right out in front of me, and then two more, one on each side of me and I was surrounded!  Then the turtles seemed to be coming up in two’s, and I got to sit between two more sets of two.   Then I spotted a turtle out farther, so I paddled out to it…when it surfaced I saw that it had tumors on both front fins and around its head.  It makes me so sad to see that because I know the turtle probably won’t live very long.  Then more turtles surfaced until I had counted twenty-one of them!  One of the turtles was such a small turtle and I saw it three times.  Then one of the snorkelers surfaced and yelled to me, “Hey, you won’t believe how many turtles are right under you!” I just laughed because I probably had seen all of them today and then some.  The conditions stayed perfect and I decided to paddle back, but as soon as I started to paddle, another turtle (#22) popped up and I had to paddle over to it and stay with it for a few minutes too!  What a great turtle day!  On the way back I ran into a paddling friend and we chatted for a while as we paddled, and then I went in.  The wind had come up a bit by the time I went swimming….but it was the current that worked me!  It really was a gorgeous Sunday!